KING’S Lynn Stars team boss Rob Lyon is confident his men are on track to again challenge for Premier League honours.

KING’S Lynn Stars team boss Rob Lyon is confident his men are on track to again challenge for Premier League honours.

Lyon’s troops face a re-arranged Premier Trophy semi-final, first leg tie at Newcastle on Sunday while last season’s treble winners are well placed in the league and through to the later stages of the KO Cup.

“I’m fairly content but there is always room for improvement,” said Lyon. “We look good in the league and we’re still in both cups.

“The team is starting to settle down now whereas a lot of other clubs have been chopping and changing. We have a solid seven and we will look to keep it that way although moving forward you always bear in mind you might have to look at certain things.

“Making sure the boys stay fighting fit is the most important thing and keeping them focused. If we do that then I believe we will be there or thereabouts.

“I’m not going to make any predictions and right now it’s just getting through each meeting. Maybe around two thirds of the way into the season we’ll assess it again but we need to be strong at home and not drop any more points. If we can also pick up a couple more three or four point wins on the road we’ll be very, very close at the end of the season.”

Lyon’s immediate priority is performing well at Byker over the weekend after an 18-day track absence due to weather postponements.

“Match sharpness is a concern but there is not much you can do about that,” he said. “The boys have kept busy abroad and one or two in this country and we’ve had a couple of lads down at the track having a practice. They do other things like riding mini bikes and off road stuff as well so it’s really about ticking over.

“Newcastle had a good start to the season and are a very strong team at home, although I notice they slipped up once or twice earlier in the season. I think it will be tough, if I’m honest, and realistically we will go and look to keep it tight and then hopefully our scoring power at home can get us through on aggregate - although we have already shown this season we can go and do very well away.”

Lyon believes the standard of speedway’s second tier continues to rise with his treble winners again the benchmark after dominating at Premier level in recent seasons.

“It looked competitive on paper last season but to be fair it didn’t turn out that way,” he said. “It’s settling down now again and I think four or five clubs will realistically be challenging, but that is good in the sense it keeps the standard up of the league and keeps it competitive.

“What I have noticed more and more is that clubs have become so much more professional. Perhaps they have seen what we have tried to do and of course we are there to be shot at every year. That brings its own pressure, but it’s the price for being successful.”