REPORT: Battling victory by depleted Cheetahs
SD TIMMO CAR SALES Oxford Cheetahs powered by County Plumbing Supplies commenced their Cab Direct Championship fixtures with a 49-41 victory over hard-riding Scunthorpe Scorpions at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium last night (Wednesday) – despite finishing the evening with just five riders.
Jordan Jenkins was brought down by Scunthorpe’s Jake Allen in Heat 11. Jenkins finished second in the re-run, but then withdrew from the meeting. He suffered a reoccurrence of a back injury and also had pain in his wrist.
A race later, Cameron Heeps suffered a spectacular fall in Heat 12. Zaine Kennedy swooped around Heeps on the third bend, but then cut across Heeps’ line. In the inevitable collision, Heeps lifted after his front wheel caught Kennedy’s bike and he straightened up, before ploughing into the air fence at high speed.
A hush descended over the stadium after such a horrific crash, but after the medics treated Heeps, the Australian amazingly hobbled off the track. The combination of the air fence plus the wire fence behind it did a terrific job in taking so much energy out of the crash – at many tracks, Heeps would have been left with much more severe injuries.
Kennedy was rightly kicked out of the race – his riding in two meetings against Cheetahs over the last week has been rather over the top and left much to be desired. Meanwhile, Heeps was unable to take his place in the re-run, after joining Jenkins in having withdrawn from the meeting. But Mitch McDiarmid took a reserve ride in his place and won his second race of the evening, after forcing a way past Luke Harrison, as Cheetahs edged eight points in front with three races remaining.
Cheetahs’ skipper Sam Masters had scored a number of his previous points from behind, including in Heat 10, when he overtook the Scunthorpe pair of Connor Mountain and Zaine Kennedy and then team-rode with impressive guest Danyon Hume to a 5-1.
In Heat 13, Masters fended opposing No 1 Steve Worrall on the opening lap, while Luke Killeen – coming in for Heeps – put in a brave effort until losing out to Jake Allen in a battle for third place. Earlier, Killeen had taken a morale-boosting victory in Heat 4, after he swept to the front on the opening lap.
McDiarmid secured victory for Cheetahs in Heat 14. The Scunthorpe pair had the better of the start, but the teenager cut to the inside coming out of the second turn and then pulled away.
The hugely impressive McDiarmid had also been leading Heat 11 at the time of stoppage, after charging around the other three riders down the back straight.
Cheetahs lost out on a number of points due to mechanical troubles, with Francis Gusts – on his home debut for Cheetahs – twice being forced to pull out of races. Jenkins and Heeps also suffered with the gremlins, with Heeps having to nurse his machine to third place in Heat 9, since Gusts had already withdrawn from the race, gifting a 5-1 to Scunthorpe.
Heeps had taken second place in thrilling fashion in Heat 5, flying around Worrall at the conclusion of the race to join Gusts for a 5-1.
Masters top scored for Cheetahs with 13+1, dropping just a single point, while McDiarmid clocked up 11+2 and completely deserved a sixth outing in Heat 15.
Skipper Sam Masters said: “When you lose two riders it always makes it hard, but we dug deep to win the meeting.
“It’s nice when you’ve got a reserve going so well. Mitch is doing an awesome job and he got Heat 15 tonight, which he totally deserved.
“It was tough tonight and Scunthorpe put up a good fight. We did well to win and we’ve also got an eight-point lead for the aggregate point when we go back up there.
“We’ve got a team of battlers. I hope the boys who got hurt tonight – Cam and Jordan – are okay soon. If we need guests in the meantime, hopefully we get some good ones, like Danyon was tonight.
“Cam went into the fence very hard. It’s a bit worrying when you see a crash like that and it was relief when he was able to walk back to the pits.”
Cheetahs are back in action on Redcar on Friday evening. Sam Hagon will guest for Jonas Knudsen, who is on Danish Championship duty, while both Heeps and Jenkins will face fitness checks.
The next meeting at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium sees the SD Timmo Car Sales Oxford Cheetahs powered by County Plumbing Supplies take on highly-fancied Glasgow Tigers in further Cab Direct Championship action on Wednesday (June 4) at 7.30pm. Tickets are on sale on the Oxford Speedway website at: https://oxfordspeedway.club/tickets/
SD Timmo Car Sales Oxford Cheetahs powered by County Plumbing Supplies 49: Sam Masters 13+1, Danyon Hume 8+1, Cameron Heeps 6+1, Francis Gusts 3, Jordan Jenkins 4, Mitch McDiarmid 11+2, Luke Killeen 4.
Scunthorpe Scorpions 41: Steve Worrall 10, Declan Kennedy 1+1, Zaine Kennedy 3, Connor Mountain 6+1, Jake Allen 10+2, Luke Harrison 6+1, Simon Lambert 5+3.
PHOTO: Mitch McDiarmid inside Connor Mountain in Heat 14 to clinch victory for Cheetahs (pic: Steve Edmunds)