REACTION: “I thought we ran a really good event.”

OXFORD promoter Jamie Courtney has reflected on the successful staging of the Championship Pairs at Oxford Stadium last night (Friday).

In front of a bumper crowd, many of whom were en route to Cardiff for the British Grand Prix today (Saturday), the Redcar pair of Charles Wright and Lewis Kerr were the eventual winners, after defeating pre-meeting favourites Poole by 7-2 in the final, with Pirates’ Steve Worrall not even making it off the start-line after problems with his cut-out.

There was some excellent racing on display, much of it involving Berwick’s Chris Harris, who was as spectacular as always around Sandy Lane, while all 23 races were completed before 10.00pm.

The only disappointment was a poor showing by the Oxford Cheetahs pair. Scott Nicholls and Aaron Summers conceded three 7-2s against Berwick, Redcar and Poole, before a consolation 7-2 over Plymouth.

Courtney said: “I know the Oxford fans will be disappointed that we didn’t do better, but I think we’ve got to look at the bigger picture and at the whole spectacle of the show and realise it was a success.

“There were no injuries and no crashes and some good racing. There was a little bit of dust right at the end of the 23 races, but on a day when the temperature went up to 37 degrees here at midday, I thought the track held up really well. I measured the track temperature earlier and it told me it was 80 degrees! Steam came up when I put the first lot of water down on the track.

“I thought we ran a really good event. At times, it seems a surreal that we’re running speedway at all this year, because a sensible person would have said let’s open Oxford Speedway in 2023! Earlier today, I had one of those moments where I was sat on the tractor and thinking whether if it was a good idea that we’d agreed to run a shared event in our very first year back, but then the whole thing ran so smoothly.

“As for the Oxford performance, it wasn’t our day. Scott had a new engine in, but that didn’t pay off for him, while Aaron just wasn’t getting off the starts like he usually does.

“But you’ve got to take a step back, look it at from a neutral perspective, and realise we’ve hosted a shared event and done it well. I’m also glad Redcar won, because I felt they were deserving winners.

“In the meantime, the boys know that they need to get it together at home to Edinburgh at home next Wednesday, because we owe it to the fans for the Cheetahs to finish their season with a victory. We’ve had tremendous support this season plus there’s the work that everyone has put in to get the Cheetahs back on track, and for that reason, that meeting is a must win for us.

“That would finish the Cheetahs’ season on a high, before we switch over to the Chargers for the rest of the season and they take centre stage. I’m really proud of the Chargers team. I think there’s a real quality in that team and there’s some exciting times still to come this season.”

QUALIFYING SCORES:

GROUP 1

LEICESTER 26: Richie Worrall 15, Nick Morris 11.

GLASGOW 21: Benjamin Basso 16, Danyon Hume 5.

SCUNTHORPE 16: James Wright 8, Simon Lambert 8.

EDINBURGH 15: Paco Castagna 8, Kye Thomson 7.

BIRMINGHAM 12: Justin Sedgmen 12, James Pearson 0.

GROUP 2

REDCAR 25: Charles Wright 14, Lewis Kerr 11.

POOLE 22: Danny King 12, Steve Worrall 10.

BERWICK 22: Chris Harris 11, Jye Etheridge 11.

OXFORD 13: Scott Nicholls 8, Aaron Summers 5.

PLYMOUTH 8: Adam Roynon 6, Ben Morley 2.

SEMI-FINAL 1: S.Worrall, Morris, King, R.Worrall – [Poole beat Leicester 6-3]

SEMI-FINAL 2: Basso, Wright, Kerr, Hume – [Redcar beat Glasgow 5-4]

GRAND FINAL: Wright, Kerr, King, S.Worrall (ret) – [Redcar beat Poole 7-2]