Cheetahs’ boss says: “No complacency”
PETER SCHROECK, the team manager of Monarch Oxford Cheetahs, insists there is still a job to complete, after the superb 46-44 away win in the first leg of their Cab Direct Championship play-off semi-final at Scunthorpe on Friday night.
Cheetahs were ten points behind after four races, but responded in superb style, with a performance led by top guns Sam Masters (12+1) and Scott Nicholls (11+1), as they closed in and then took the lead in Heat 14, a race in which Luke Killeen passed both Scunthorpe riders on his way to a 8+1 tally.
The second leg takes place at Oxford Stadium on Wednesday (September 18) evening at 7.30pm. The aggregate winners will progress to take on Poole Pirates in the Cab Direct Championship play-off final which determines the league champions. Both Oxford and Poole are already in the Cab Direct Knockout Cup final.
Schroeck said: “It was a great result at Scunthorpe and puts up in command of the tie.
“When I was speaking to Jamie (Courtney, Oxford promoter) in the lead-up to the meeting, we discussed how strong Scunthorpe are around their own track and that we could have ended the night 10 to 12 points down and needed to make that up at Oxford. To instead enter the home leg two points ahead is very pleasing.
“For the first few races at Scunthorpe, it did look a bit bleak. But we got the boys together after a few races and had a chat. We realised that this is it and we needed to get going and stay in it.
“The response from the boys was superb – to come back and win the meeting is unbelievable.
“It was a team performance. Ashton (Boughen) didn’t score as many points as he deserved – he rode his heart out and was worthy of more than 4+1.
“The boys all pulled together and gave their all. That includes Jody (Scott). The scorechart doesn’t show it, but he had a strong meeting. But one race was stopped when he was in a good position and he had a puncture in his last one while he was giving Simon Lambert a race.
“This team doesn’t know when to give up. We went 10 points down and the rules mean we can’t use a tactical substitute in two-legged ties, but we still came back into it, because this team just keeps on fighting until the end. The riders are all proud of what we’re doing at Oxford and I think it shows.
“But there will be no complacency from us. We don’t think we’ve got in the bag, far from it, because there’s still 15 races to go and a job to be done at Oxford on Wednesday.”
Tickets are on already on sale for the second leg at Oxford on Wednesday (September 18) 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.
Everyone in attendance for the rain off at Oxford last Wednesday will automatically have their ticket transferred to this new date. Supporters are reminded to bring back the programme from the rain off, since it will be used again. Further copies of this programme will be on sale on the night.
In other news, Oxford Spires’ Maciej Janowski finished third in the Danish Grand Prix at Vojens last night (Saturday), becoming the first Oxford rider to finish on the rostrum in a GP round since Greg Hancock in 2005. Fellow Pole Bartosz Zmarzlik became World Champion for the fifth time, while Britain’s Robert Lambert won his first Grand Prix round.
Sam Masters and Ashton Boughen will represent Monarch Oxford Cheetahs in the Championship League Riders’ Championship at Redcar this afternoon (Sunday).