King’s Lynn manager Rob Lyon believes the signing of Czech star Jan Kvech will help restore the balance in the team as they head into the summer period.
The Grand Prix racer agreed to join the Stars last week, and assuming all paperwork is in place he is set to make his debut on Monday in the home clash with Oxford.
The 22-year-old is a rapidly developing talent who is already racing at the top level of the sport, and he is an exciting addition to the Lynn side.
Stars have used their established links with Kvech’s fellow countrymen Tomas Topinka and Filip Sitera, who both raced for the club, to help with the signing as he becomes the latest foreign star to commit to the UK.
Lyon said: “I’m pleased. It’s been about a month in the making from start to finish, and we think Jan will be a good addition to the team.
“He’s a rider on the up, he’s young, he’s in the Grand Prix and let’s hope he hits the ground running and starts piling in some big points for us.
“I’m sure he’s capable of that and he’s keen to come, which is great.”
Kvech is set to take the place of the injured Michael Palm Toft in the short term, a move which will have the double benefit of returning the free-scoring Patryk Wojdylo to reserve.
The Stars can then reassess the situation next month, when the position regarding No.1 Tobiasz Musielak should also become clearer.
Musielak is now racing in Poland following collarbone and ankle injuries but feels unable to return to the UK at this stage due to fitness concerns – meaning he effectively now serves a 28-day ban which prevents riders from dipping in and out of meetings as they choose.
Lyon said: “Obviously Michael is injured and I don’t know the timescales with him at the moment, but I’m guessing four to six weeks.
“We can look at that when he’s fit to race again, but Jan will come in initially in that position.
“You need a strong, solid team and the way our team was built at the start of the year was solid with always having a strong reserve. I feel like we can get back to that type of team now.
“Jan is on a 6.00 average so we have flexibility, we have points in the team to play with, so hopefully we can start shooting up that league a bit.
“We want to get a few wins and get a bit of momentum going, that’s certainly what we’re looking for.”
Last night’s scheduled meeting at Leicester fell foul of the weather.
After the visit of Oxford on Monday, Stars have away matches at Birmingham and then Sheffield in the KO Cup before the end of June.
And there are then two home fixtures in the same week on July 1 and 4 against Leicester and Birmingham before the league takes a short break for the Speedway of Nations.