PREVIEW: Oxford Spires out for revenge against league leaders
OXS Oxford Spires commence the second round of their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership fixtures this week when they entertain league leaders Ipswich Witches at Oxford Stadium on Thursday evening (7.30pm).
In the first round of fixtures, Spires won five out of their six home meetings – all by a 47-43 or 46-44 scoreline – with their only home defeat coming to Witches, who won by 48-42 at Cowley on April 11 after a last-heat 5-1 from Jason Doyle and Emil Sayfutdinov.
That was the meeting where Spires’ Lewis Kerr crashed out with an ankle injury in his third outing, after winning his opening two rides. Kerr returned to action for Spires last Monday in the nail-biting victory over Leicester, looked somewhat rusty and scored two points.
In the meantime, it’s been Ipswich’s turn to be hit by injury, with both Doyle and Danny King missing the clash on Thursday. In Doyle’s case, he is out for the season with a shoulder injury.
Oxford team manager Peter Schroeck said: “Over the last few weeks, the Spires has shown a lot of character to win some very tight home meetings and those victories have pulled us back into the play-off positions.
“Ipswich will be missing a couple of big hitters through injury, but we still have to treat them with respect, because they have still been getting the results and amassing the points at the top of the table.
“Witches are using rider replacement for Jason Doyle and that will mean at least six rides for Emil Sayfutdinov, who is one of the best riders in the world.
“All we can do is concentrate on our own job and make sure we continue moving forwards. Lewi is riding himself back into form – since he rode for Spires last Monday, he’s ridden for Berwick and in the British Final. Plus we identified a mechanical issue he had in last week’s meeting and that’s now been rectified.
“Maciej is now on different machinery and it’s taking him in the right direction. It was great to see him having a couple of really good rides that helped us get over the line against Leicester – he never gives up until the end of the race. No-one is harder on Maciej than himself, and you can see how much effort he is putting in – he works very hard.
“Ashton is starting to really contribute to Spires’ matches and his six points were also crucial in beating Leicester last week.
“Ipswich are the one away team that have won at Oxford this season. But if our lads all perform we can make sure that doesn’t happen this time around. The last few home meetings have provided incredible entertainment and I don’t see this match being any different.”
Tickets are already on sale on the Oxford Speedway website at https://oxfordspeedway.club/tickets/
Admission is available at the early bird price of £22 for all adults, which increases to £24 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:
OXS Oxford Spires: Rohan Tungate, Charles Wright, Lewis Kerr, Maciej Janowski, Chris Harris (C), Erik Riss, Ashton Boughen (RS).
Ipswich Tru7Group Witches: Jason Doyle R/R, Dan Thompson (RS), Adam Ellis, Norick Blodorn (G), Emil Sayfutdinov (C), Keynan Rew, Jordan Jenkins.
PHOTO by Les Aubrey