King’s Lynn Young Stars are the 2025 National Development Trophy Champions. They seized the honour on Sunday afternoon at Iwade’s Old Gun Site circuit courtesy of a dominant performance that saw them defeat potential title adversaries, the Kent Eagles by a 59-31 margin on their own shale.

Though disappointing reading that will inevitably make for the Iwade outfit and their faithful followers they shouldn’t feel too despondent however, true to say they went into the contest beset and blighted by injury to key riders, namely Vinnie Foord, Nathan Ablitt and Jamie Etherington, had they been at full strength, the final outcome will never be known however, even they had been it is difficult to imagine a scenario in which they contained the freight train offensive and will to win possessed by the Young Stars.

The simple truth of the matter is that the Norfolk side were a good side well-crafted by team manager Jason Pipe at the seasons outset that have attained greatness as the campaign has progressed. Indeed, it is a team jam packed with raw and precocious talent, certain of whom it would come as no great surprise if they were to be seen gracing Grand Prix Finals in the years ahead.

Cooper Rushen continued his sublime Iwade form with a paid 12-point maximum and his final ride, following home Jordy Loftus for maximum points, both young riders having come from the back in heat 12 to deny Eagles guest Darryl Ritchings, one of the section’s top performers in exciting style to seize the match  for the visitors would have been worthy of the slogan ‘If Carlsberg did title winning rides’ on its own.

Number one Jody Scott produced a true captain’s performance, scoring 14-points and losing out only once to an Eagles rider as home hero Ben Morley led him to the chequered flag in heat eleven.

Fellow heat leader Luke Harrison proved no less impressive, a brace of victories and a further paid win being numbered in his paid 12-point return from five outings.

As for Loftus who guested for the Young Stars at reserve, well team manager Pipe had clearly done his homework by slotting him in as a replacement for the unavailable Harrison Rogers, the young Australian, like Rushen produced a paid 12-point maximum in a devastating display.

Though some might have raised an eyebrow and lightheartedly accused the Norfolk side of adding insurance, by contrast it was a genuine pleasure to witness a young rider in the formative stage of what promises to prove a glittering career. Max Perry and Ashton Vale each provided solid back up to the heavy hitters while Kenzie Cossey also added a couple of valuable points when needed.

The match had been billed as a potential title decider or certainly one that might have had a major impact on the destiny of the National Development Trophy. From the moment that Scott roared clear to win heat one, in the process lowering Morley’s track record by 0.8 of a second to 57.4, one sensed a flavour of how events were likely to unfold.

The Eagles battled hard but the visitors strike force proved relentless. Morley offered the chief resistance for the home side being responsible for each of their two heat wins in his 11-point tally, race four as he headed home Harrison and then in the eleventh as he ended Scott’s maximum hopes.

The hosts will remain grateful to both Ritchings and Dayle Wood for stepping in to help them out as guest replacements for Ablitt and Foord respectively, the latter in particular who answered David Graveling SOS at 9 o clock the previous night having just ridden for Berwick. He then drove through the night to be there on time, going into battle on, reportedly, only a single hour’s sleep.

Luke Harris was always in the mix as he amassed 6-points from his four outings while reserve duo Charlie Wood and Nathan Hargrave bagged a couple of points apiece. Unfortunately, Jacob Clouting remained out of luck, seemingly struggling on his return from injury, failing to score from three rides.

Despite the disparity in the scoreline however, it remained a wholly entertaining and well-run meeting played out on a warm sunny day in front of a healthy and enthusiastic attendance, somewhere in the region of 500 people.

A restarted first race saw Scott win in style from Dayle Wood in that new track record time, Perry fending off Clouting, getting things off on the right foot for the Young Stars with an opening 4-2.

That advantage swiftly doubled as Loftus opened his account with a win. Charlie Wood gave good chase in the early part, but he was to suffer a fall on the second bend of lap two. This left the visitors on a 5-1 with Cossey trailing his partner in second but Hargrave rode a determined race, coming through into second place to limit the damage to a second successive 4-2 to King’s Lynn, the scores now standing at 8-4 in their favour.

Harris produced a fast start to lead Rushen in the third, but the 15-year-old swiftly found a route part. Harris and Ritchings did combine to see off the challenge of Vale for a share of the spoils.

Morley offered the home fans a moment to celebrate in heat four as he got the better of Harrison, with Charlie Wood securing third place from Cossey for a home 4-2, the deficit halved to 2-points, (11-13) once more.

The visitors began to turn up the heat in no small way over the next four races, claiming two 4-2’s and two maximum 5-1’s to lead 31-17 after heat eight.

The first of these saw Scott power to his second win. Initially Perry retained close tabs on his team mate, but Ritchings swept past on the inside of lap two to claim second place, particularly impressive as just moments earlier a coming together with Perry on the first turn, one that necessitated a restart with all four, left him lying on the track for several minutes.

Lynn’s first 5-1 did follow on swiftly however, Harrison and Loftus combining to see off Dayle Wood and increase their advantage to 8-points, 22-14 progressively.

Rushen posted an all the way win against Morley in the seventh, but the Eagles skipper kept him honest throughout. Vale rode effectively unchallenged for third place and the 4-2 after Hargrave took a tumble on the first turn though, he remounted to finish.

This saw the difference move to double figures, 26-16 and this swiftly became fourteen, 31-17 as Loftus and Perry took charge of heat eight with the Young Stars unquestionably tightening their grip on the contest and edging ever closer to the title.

Harrison sped to victory with a gate to flag effort in the ninth, but Harris and Ritchings blocked the minor places to secure a split of the points, a result that offered momentary respite.

Dayle Wood got the drop on Rushen not once but twice in heat ten, the initial running having been called back under orders due to an unsatisfactory start, but Rushen blazed around his opponents outside down the back straight to grab another impressive win.

Both Charlie Wood and Ashton Vale suffered mechanical gremlins, but the visiting rider’s woes proved slightly less problematic as he did at least complete the four laps, the resultant 4-2 now seeing them lead by 16-points, 38-22 at that stage.

Morley’s victory over Scott proved most acceptable to the home supporters but it merely delayed the by now inevitable, as Loftus and Rushen produced a brace of powerhouse rides to overcome Ritchings and with the score now stood at 46-26, with that they now had both the match and with it the National Development Trophy title.

Though they could not now be caught they weren’t about to let up on the pressure however, Scott and Harrison combining to lead home Kent track specialist Morley.

The progressive score now standing at 27-51, this made sobering reading for the home contingent but even then the Young Stars weren’t ready to let up on their beleaguered and punch drunk hosts, Vale joining the party with a victory of his own, this over Harris, Cossey riding home alone for third place and the visitors sixth 4-2 of proceedings after Hargrave suffered a further fall, a race result that put them in sight, almost unbelievably, of the 60-point mark, the scores now standing at 55-29 in their favour with four laps of the circuit yet to run.

The same set of riders that had contested race thirteen, Morley, Dayle Wood, Scott and Harrison lined up to do battle in heat fifteen. Momentarily it appeared that the same outcome might be on the cards with Scott assuming the lead and especially after Harrison cut off Morley’s run down the back straight, first time around, in somewhat robust style.

Morley wasn’t about to take that lying down however and he swiftly forced his way back into second place by the time the race headed into its second lap.

There was to be no catching Scott however and he ended, just as he had started, winning at a canter and with a certain sense of style.

The match now concluded, the scoreline settling at 59-31, the Young Stars flirting with the 60-point barrier but not quite breaching it. They would hardly have worried about that, however, they were National Development Trophy Champions, indeed most worthy Champions and nobody, not even the hardest hearted of Kent Eagles, could claim that they did not richly deserve the honours.

As the dust settled, Kent Team Manager, David Graveling remained disappointed at the outcome but nevertheless magnanimous in defeat. ‘Congratulations to King’s Lynn for clinching the National Development Trophy at Iwade today. We thank all our riders for a sterling effort against a very good team. Special thanks to Dayle Wood and Darryl Ritchings for accepting guest bookings to mean we had a seven-man team’.

Eagles: Ben Morley 11(5), Luke Harris 6(4), Darryl Ritchings (Guest for Nathan Ablitt) 5+2(4), Dayle Wood (Guest for Vinnie Foord) 5(5), Nathan Hargrave 2(4), Charlie Wood 2(5), Jacob Clouting 0(3). – 31 (Aggregate 66)

Young Stars: Jody Scott 14(5), Cooper Rushen 11+1(4), Jordy Loftus (Guest for Harrison Rogers) 11+1(4), Luke Harrison 11+1(5), Max Perry 5+2(4), Ashton Vale 5(4), Kenzie Cossey (Guest for Callum Mitchell) 2(4). – 59 (Aggregate 112)