PREVIEW: Spires seek crucial victory over Birmingham at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium

BETGOODWIN Oxford Spires are seeking a much-needed victory when they host the Birmingham Brummies in a key ROWE Motor Oil Premiership clash at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium on Thursday evening (June 26) at 7.30pm.

Birmingham are currently in last place in the Premiership table, with Spires one place and two points ahead of them. A positive result on Thursday for either side could provide a springboard for the rest of the season.

Craig Cook is ruled out by the seven-day sickness rule, after missing a meeting at Berwick on Saturday with suspected Covid. Dan Thompson will cover him, having scored 10 points for Ipswich at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium earlier this season.

Peter Kildemand has cleared a fitness test, after recently damaging his knee while racing in Germany, and is set to take his place for Spires.

Birmingham have signed former Oxford rider Ben Barker, and he will make his debut for Brummies at reserve at Cowley.

It will be a poignant occasion, since Birmingham are closing at the end of the season and this will be their last visit to Sandy Lane for the time being. The greyhound operation will switch to Wolverhampton, while Perry Barr is due to be redeveloped.

Oxford manager Peter Schroeck says: “It’s two weeks since the BetGoodwin Oxford Spires were on track as a team, while the match against Birmingham also represents the start of the second set of our home fixtures.

“The key is that we need to start winning consistently at home, starting with Birmingham. We beat them both home and away at the start of May, but every day is a new day and it is up to us to make sure that we get the job done again.

“I believe Spires will be stronger in the second half of the season. I won’t give up on Spires. There is a lot of quality within the side and we just need to find consistency and for the team to start performing as a whole. We have to beat Birmingham and build up some momentum – and then things can change around very quickly in speedway.

“We’ve all heard the sad news regarding Birmingham at the end of the season. Oxford’s successful return in 2022 after a break of 15 years shows that anything is possible and we wish Brummies a speedy return in the future.”

Tickets are already on sale on the Oxford Speedway website at https://oxfordspeedway.club/tickets/

Admission is available at the early bird price of £23 for all adults, which increases to £25 on Race Day. All under-16s go free. A reminder that Oxford Speedway is online ticket sales only – tickets remain on sale on the website until the start-time of the meeting. Spectators are also reminded that they will need to pay £2 if they are planning to park in the Unipart car park.

There are two meetings at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium this week. The Real Mini Company Oxford Chargers powered by AW Mobbs host the Leicester Lion Cubs on Sunday (June 29) early evening at 6.30pm and tickets for this meeting are also on sale on the Oxford Speedway website. The issue of new averages for the majority of the Chargers means that Senna Summers will move up the main body of the side, while Darryl Ritchings – still on his old average – will replace him at reserve.

Teams:

BetGoodwin Oxford Spires: Charles Wright, Dan Thompson (G), Maciej Janowski (C), Rohan Tungate, Erik Riss, Peter Kildemand, Luke Killeen (RS).

Curtis Sport Birmingham Brummies: Tobiasz Musielak (C), Paco Castagna, Jonas Jeppesen, Keynan Rew, Matej Zagar, Ben Barker, Sam Hagon (RS).

PHOTO by Les Aubrey