REPORT: Cheetahs in close battle at Redcar

SD TIMMO CAR SALES Oxford Cheetahs powered by County Plumbing Supplies just lost out in a close-fought meeting in the Cab Direct Championship at Redcar’s ECCO Arena last night (Friday), with the Redcar Bears eventually winning by 48-42.

Oxford moved into a four-lead point lead with two 4-2 heat advantages from the opening two races – with Mitch McDiarmid winning his first-ever race at the ECCO Arena in Heat 2. Fellow reserve Luke Killeen was an impressive winner of Heat 4, ahead of Redcar’s Erik Riss.

Cheetahs led for the first half of the meeting, before Bears took back-to-back 5-1s in Heats 8 and 9 to move into a six-point lead.

Francis Gusts had plenty of pace and defeated Redcar No 1 Charles Wright in Heat 10, while Danyon Hume passed Jake Mulford for third place, as Cheetahs pegged back a 4-2, and then Sam Masters won a shared Heat 11.

Heat 12 was also shared, before Redcar stretched their lead to six points again with a 4-2 in Heat 13, after Riss flew around Masters on the opening lap.

Masters came into Heat 14 as a tactical substitute. Redcar new signing Jody Scott was the early leader, but Gusts bombed around him on the third bend. Masters found himself at the back, and then Danny King team-rode with Scott to ensure a match-winning 3-3 for Bears, as Masters ran a very rare last place.

With the aggregate bonus point still to be decided when the two teams meet at Oxford on August 6, Masters showed his class by bouncing immediately back to win the concluding Heat 15, while Gusts was fourth, after going slightly too wide in pursuit of the Redcar pair, drifting very close to the fence.

Masters top-scored on 13 points, while both Gusts (9+1) and McDiarmid (7+1) were hugely impressive on their first appearance at the track. Jordan Jenkins’ scoring was restricted by two burnt out clutches.

Oxford went into the meeting two men down, with Cameron Heeps recovering from a spectacular crash at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium on Wednesday night, while Jonas Knudsen was missing for the Danish Championship. Guest replacements Hume (4+1) and Sam Hagon (2) gave their all, but Cheetahs missed their two regulars.

Jody Scott – the captain of the Oxford Chargers in the WSRA National League – had a very impressive debut for Bears, scoring 7+2. Chargers are all about progression and riders graduating into the next level of racing in the Cab Direct Championship. Scott is back in action for league leaders Chargers in a WSRA National League fixture at Belle Vue’s National Speedway Stadium in Manchester on Sunday lunchtime at 1pm.

Cheetahs’ team manager Peter Schroeck said: “It was a very close meeting, and we just fell slightly short. But a six-point defeat isn’t much and we’ve kept ourselves right in the hunt for the aggregate bonus point, when Redcar come back to our place later in the season.

“Both Francis and Mitch were very impressive in their first meeting around this track. For Francis, it was a performance that should boost his confidence, since he beat both Charles Wright and Danny King during the evening.

“Everyone gave their all tonight. That included our two guests, Danyon Hume and Sam Hagon, whose points didn’t reflect their efforts.

“We could make plenty of excuses if we wanted to – we missed Cam and Jonas, while Jordan had problems with his clutch and he’s still getting himself back towards 100 per cent fitness. But, at the end of the day, we pushed a strong Redcar side around their own track. I believe we’re a strong team too and tonight we proved that.”

The next meeting at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium sees the SD Timmo Car Sales Oxford Cheetahs powered by County Plumbing Supplies take on 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/

Oxford Speedway Supporters’ Club have set up a GoFundMe to support Cameron Heeps, who wrote off a bike during his horrific crash at Sandy Lane on Wednesday. While Heeps avoided any broken bones, he was battered and bruised and is currently out of action, so any help to replace his bike will be gratefully received. The link for the Cameron Heeps Machinery Fund is: https://gofund.me/b1c0ba18

Redcar Bears 48: Charles Wright 8, Jake Mulford 3, Jason Edwards 9+1, Danny King 10+1, Erik Riss 11+1, Jody Scott 7+2, Ace Pijper 0.

SD Timmo Car Sales Oxford Cheetahs powered by County Plumbing Supplies 42: Sam Masters 13, Sam Hagon 2, Danyon Hume 4+1, Francis Gusts 9+1, Jordan Jenkins 3, Mitch McDiarmid 7+1, Luke Killeen 4.

PHOTO: Latvian Francis Guest scored an impressive 9+1 at Redcar (pic: Steve Edmunds)