REPORT: Riss and Janowski snatch dramatic victory for Spires
OXS Oxford Spires kept themselves in the crucial fourth place in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership table with an exciting 46-44 victory over Birmingham Brummies in a classic contest at Oxford Stadium last night (Thursday).
Spires won all three points on offer, including the aggregate bonus point, since they won 37-23 in a curtailed contest at Birmingham on July 8.
Spires entered Heat 15 two points down. It all looked over when current World No 2 Freddie Lindgren showed first from the tapes for Brummies. But Magic Janowski flew around the Swede back the back straight. Lindgren moved across to try to block the move and left room for Erik Riss on his inside on the third bend and the German moved through.
Spires now held a 5-1, but drama was to follow. Lindgren pushed back under Riss on the first turn of lap 2. His team-mate Tom Brennan followed through the gap, but there simply wasn’t room. There was contact and Riss came crashing down.
Brennan was booed by the Oxford fans and excluded from the re-run by referee Chris Gay. In the re-start, Riss made the start, while Lindgren went wide on the second bend to block Janowski. He didn’t appear to have left a gap, but the Pole didn’t back down and still managed to squeeze between Lindgren and the fence. With Spires on a 5-1, Lindgren tried hard but both Riss and Janowski rode the outside line to perfection and Spires snatched victory.
Spires have won all four meetings against Birmingham this season, but this was the closest contest, as Brummies belied their bottom of the table position.
Birmingham provided all four of the opening heat winners, as they moved 14-10 ahead.
Charles Wright became Spires’ first race winner in Heat 5. Janowski gave Lindgren a battle for second place and by the time the Swede cleared Janowski, Wright had pulled away.
There was some excellent racing on display, such as when Oxford skipper Chris Harris repassed Piotr Pawlicki with an outside pass on the final lap to win Heat 7.
A moment of controversy occurred in Heat 8. Spires trapped, and Leon Flint fell on the first bend, seemingly without any contact. Flint was allowed back into the re-run, but Riss and Luke Killeen took a 4-2 in the re-run, with Flint last, as Spires closed the gap to two points.
Janowski forced a route under the previously unbeaten Brennan in Heat 9, as Spires levelled the scores with another 4-2, and then Riss and Rohan Tungate placed Spires in front for the first time with a 5-1 in Heat 10.
Brummies were far from finished and they took a 4-2 in Heat 11, with Harris passing Wiktor Lampart to avoid the visitors taking a 5-1. Janowski was flying by this time, and used the outside line for a breath-taking double outside pass on Pawlicki and Michael Palm Toft to win Heat 12.
But Brummies then re-took the lead with a 5-1 from Lindgren and Brennan in Heat 13, with the charge of Harris coming to a halt with machinery problems on the final lap.
Wright edged in front in Heat 14, but he was relieved of the lead by the impressive Zach Cook. Meanwhile, Ashton Boughen took a crucial third-placed point ahead of Palm Toft.
That left Spires two points down, and facing two riders in Brennan and Lindgren who had dropped a single point apiece entering Heat 15, before the heroics of Riss and Janowski.
Janowski top-scored for Spires with 11+1, while Riss collected 11. The whole top five scored solidly, while Boughen and Killeen both chipped with vital points from the reserve positions.
Erik Riss said: “I’m very pleased with my own performance. The last three meetings I’ve gone really well around Oxford. I’m putting in strong performances at home, which is important.
“I had a bad meeting at Belle Vue last week, before I did okay at Sheffield. In speedway, you are always dependent on your machinery and it isn’t always working as it should. I was doing my best at Belle Vue, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen – that’s speedway.
“Around Oxford, I’ve found consistency. I have an engine set-up that now works. It was quite warm and muggy, and I didn’t feel that fast in my first ride. We went the wrong way with the jetting for my second ride, so then we changed it back, and I felt comfortable for the rest of the night and won my final three races.
“In Heat 15, there were a few people from the Birmingham side in the pits saying I went down without a touch, but I certainly felt something and the replay showed that there was contact. I wouldn’t have fallen without it.
“I lost my left footrest and I didn’t realise until I was at the tapes in the re-run. Fortunately, the right footrest is much more important and I still had that. I made a really good start and looked for Maciej in the first corner. I could see Freddie and Maciej really wide and really close, so I just put my head down to get the win and hope that Maciej would take second. I looked back on the final lap and Maciej was behind me.
“We had to win tonight, because to make the play-offs, the minimum we need is to win every meeting at home. It was probably closer today than it should have been. You want to pinch wins like we did tonight away from home – around your home track it should be more comfortable. It was stressful, but we got the win and that’s all that matters.”
The next action at Oxford Stadium is next Wednesday (August 7) at 7.30pm, when the Monarch Oxford Cheetahs entertain the Plymouth Gladiators in the Cab Direct Championship. Tickets are already on sale at https://oxfordspeedway.club/tickets/
OXS Oxford Spires 46: Rohan Tungate 5+1, Erik Riss 11, Maciej Janowski 11+1, Charles Wright 7+1, Chris Harris 7, Ashton Boughen 3+1, Luke Killeen 2+1.
Birmingham Brummies 44: Freddie Lindgren 11+1, Wiktor Lampart 4, Piotr Pawlicki 4, Zach Cook 8+1, Tom Brennan 11, Michael Palm Toft 5+1, Leon Flint 1.
PHOTO: Tom Brennan wipes out the leg of Erik Riss in Heat 15, earning himself an exclusion from the re-run (pic: Steve Edmunds)