PREVIEW: Cheetahs out to complete job in massive clash
MONARCH Oxford Cheetahs will be taking nothing for granted when they host Scunthorpe Scorpions in the second leg of the Cab Direct Championship play-off semi-final at Cowley on Wednesday evening (7.30pm).
The meeting – the biggest at Oxford Stadium since the venue re-opened in 2022 – was initially rained off last Wednesday. In the meantime, Cheetahs travelled up to Scunthorpe on Friday and recovered from ten points down after four races to snatch a sensational 46-44 victory in North Lincolnshire.
The play-offs are all-important and determine the Cab Direct Championship league champions. The aggregate winners will progress to take on Poole Pirates in the play-off final. Both Oxford and Poole are already in the Cab Direct Knockout Cup final, so if Cheetahs succeed against Scunthorpe, they will meet old rivals Poole in two major finals.
There was a major scare when both Sam Masters and Ashton Boughen were involved in the same crash in the Championship League Riders’ Championship individual meeting at Redcar on Sunday afternoon. Race-leader Masters suffered a broken primary chain, and Boughen was one of two riders who took avoiding action behind him. Both riders withdrew from the meeting – Masters with an arm injury and Boughen with leg injuries. But both have escaped serious injury and are due to line-up against Scorpions.
Cheetahs will track the same line-up that was triumphant at Scunthorpe on Friday, with Dan Gilkes guesting for the injured Jordan Jenkins and Oxford Charger Jody Scott covering for Adam Roynon, who is ruled out for the remainder of the season.
Oxford team manager Peter Schroeck said: “It was a brilliant performance from the boys to come back and win at Scunthorpe and it’s far preferable to go into our home leg two points up rather than, for example, 12 points down.
“But we’re not taking anything for granted. This is speedway and you need to be prepared for anything. Scunthorpe will try to come back at us – every team at this stage of the season is giving their absolute all.
“The balance of the team was right at Scunthorpe, so we’ve stuck with the same seven riders. We’ll see how the first five or six races go and then see what we need to do. The boys are fully focused on the task in hand of finishing the job against Scunthorpe and grabbing that final place, where we would face Poole.”
Tickets 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. A reminder that Oxford Speedway is online ticket sales only – tickets remain on sale on the website until the start-time of the meeting.
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.
Season Passes are NOT valid on Wednesday or for the remainder of the season. The passes did not include progression in any competition and all 28 meetings (12 Spires, 11 Cheetahs and 5 Chargers) covered by the Ultimate Pass have all taken place.
Teams:
Monarch Oxford Cheetahs: Sam Masters, Cameron Heeps, Ashton Boughen, Dan Gilkes (G), Scott Nicholls (C), Luke Killeen, Jody Scott.
Ellie Rose Travel Scunthorpe Scorpions: Michael Palm Toft, Connor Mountain, Simon Lambert (C), Jake Allen, Kyle Howarth, Nathan Ablitt, Luke Harrison.
PHOTO: Luke Killeen moves from third to first in Heat 14 at Scunthorpe (pic: Ian Rispin)