PREVIEW: Cheetahs look to overthrow Monarchs
MONARCH Oxford Cheetahs are seeking to maintain their 100% home record and record their fifth home victory of the season, when they entertain the Edinburgh Monarchs at Oxford Stadium in a Cab Direct Championship league fixture on Wednesday evening (7.30pm).
Cheetahs commenced their league campaign with an emphatic 53-36 win over Redcar at Cowley a fortnight ago. Subsequently, they were very close to victory at Workington on Saturday afternoon, before being edged out by 44-46 in Cumbria, with a controversial exclusion for Luke Killeen after he was skittled off his bike by Sam McGurk providing a major talking point.
Cheetahs continue to use rider replacement for Henry Atkins, who is out with a broken index finder. 17-year-old Jody Scott is named as No 8, after his exploits this season in the WSRA National League for the Real Mini Company Oxford Chargers powered by SD Timmo Car Sales.
Edinburgh’s Josh Pickering was due to return from a shoulder injury on Wednesday, but the Edinburgh management have confirmed that he is not ready and Craig Cook will come in as a guest rider for Monarchs at No 1.
Oxford team manager Peter Schroeck said: “We certainly won’t be under-estimating Edinburgh. A lot of the results in the Cab Direct Championship this season have been very tight and not always predictable.
“But we’d like to build up a nice lead to take to Armadale a week on Friday, as aggregate bonus points will again prove very important this season.
“Our previous home meeting for the Cheetahs, against Redcar, saw the boys dig deep and eventually end with a 17-point win, after a night of some terrific racing, and it was particularly satisfying to see both Luke and Ashton, our two young reserves, both being paid for double figures that night.
“I’m sure it will be another great night of action against Edinburgh that the fans don’t want to miss, as Scott, Sam and the boys look to add another two league points to our account.”
Tickets are already on sale on the Oxford Speedway website at https://oxfordspeedway.club/tickets/
Admission is available at the early bird price of £20 for all adults, which increases to £22 on Race Day. All under-16s go free. A reminder that Oxford Speedway is online ticket sales only – tickets remain on sale on the website until the start-time of the meeting.
Teams:
Monarch Oxford Cheetahs: Sam Masters, Cameron Heeps, Henry Atkins R/R, Jordan Jenkins, Scott Nicholls (C), Ashton Boughen, Luke Killeen, Jody Scott (No 8).
Edinburgh Stellar Monarchs (updated line-up): Craig Cook (guest), Lasse Fredriksen, Kye Thomson, Paco Castagna (C), Justin Sedgmen, Max James, Connor Coles.
PHOTO: Skipper Scott Nicholls and Luke Killeen (pic: Steve Edmunds,