The Readypower Panthers are now just three points off the play-off places with five meetings in hand after a hard fought win over local rivals Kings Lynn, giving them an excellent platform to go from as they enter a busy period over the Summer months.
The Showground men got off to a flying start against the Stars when Swedish star Linus Sundström and British Grand Prix runner-up Nicki Pedersen raced to an opening heat 5-1 and the lead was stretched by Troy Batchelor and Norbert Kosciuch in heat three.
After roaring into a ten point lead by heat seven, the home side were pegged back as the Stars utilised the tactical double rule to perfection as ex-Panthers Oliver Allen and Mads Kornelliussen raced to an 8-1, before an away 4-2 in the next heat cut the Panthers lead to a single point.
The home side showed great character, however, to maintain that slender advantage despite mechanical gremlins for Linus Sindström, who twice stopped when he looked favourite to grab a win.
The Panthers seem to have developed a steely core of late, though, and that again rose to the fore with Krzysztof Buczkowski, Nicki Pedersen and Troy Batchelor all claiming huge wins towards the end of the meeting, and Norbert Kosciuch and man-of-the-match Richard Lawson also chipping in with big points.
By the last heat, the Panthers had atleast two league points in the bag and team manager Trevor Swales entrusted his skipper Pedersen and the excellent Sundström to convert that to three, but a marvellous race ended with 2010 Panthers Niels-Kristian Iversen and Kenneth Bjerre grabbing a 4-2 for the away side and a precious point for the Stars.
Panthers team manager Trevor Swales was pleased to see his side show good character, despite several slices of bad luck; "I am absolutely delighted with every single one of the boys tonight, they all show just how much they want to win.
"That's the thing with the lads we have here, they all have a real desire to win and we showed that again tonight. If you were given points for bad luck, we would have had them all tonight but unfortunately you aren't and we have to give credit to Kings Lynn. They rode exceptionally well, as we thought they would, and they made it a great meeting. The fans won tonight.
"We see it as a point lost rather than two gained, but we knew how tough it would be and with mechanical problems, we were pretty happy to get the win. Hopefully we've got rid of our bad luck now!"
The Panthers next meeting promises to be just as explosive as title-favourites Poole roll into town next Monday (July 4) in a hotly anticipated fixture to be played out in front of the Sky cameras.
"Poole on Monday will be just as tough as tonight was, we know that. Poole are a strong side and they have a lot of boys who can ride this place well, so we'll have to make sure we are on the gas. It promises to be another classic."