Thursday, April 23, 2026
OXFORD SPEEDWAY
Oxford Speedway

REPORT: A tale of two halves for Spires at Sheffield

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BETGOODWIN Oxford Spires suffered a 30-point defeat in their televised ROWE Motor Oil Premiership fixture on TNT Sports at Sheffield’s Owlerton Stadium last night (Monday) – despite a positive start to the meeting. There were only two points between the two sides after six races, but Sheffield Tigers pulled away to a decisive 60-30 victory.

Spires went into the meeting two men down. Popular German Erik Riss is likely to be out for some time, after a return of the debilitating illness he previously suffered in 2023, the year before he joined Spires.

But Spires received a further blow on race-day when it became apparent that Sheffield track specialist Craig Cook would also not be well enough to ride, after a hospital visit the previous evening due to a very high heart rate. Antti Vuolas was booked as a last-minute guest. Although the Finn recently rode well at Scunthorpe for the SD Timmo Car Sales Oxford Cheetahs powered by County Plumbing Supplies, stepping into the breach at No 4 at Premiership level proved a step too far.

Spires took the lead with a 5-1 from Maciej Janowski and Rohan Tungate in Heat 1, with Tungate fending off Tigers’ No 1 Jack Holder.

Tigers then moved into a 14-10 lead, before Janowski and Tungate almost took another 5-1 for Spires in Heat 5, until Sheffield skipper Josh Pickering overtook Tungate for second place on the third lap. A shared Heat 6, with Charles Wright and Peter Kildemand following home Jack Holder, meant there were still just a couple of points between the teams at 19-17.

But Tigers then started to pull ahead with a 4-2 and a 5-1. Spires’ team manager Peter Schroeck placed the unbeaten Janowski into Heat 9 as a tactical substitute, against the same Sheffield pairing he had defeated in Heat 5. But the Pole ran a last, and only a good run around the outside by Kildemand avoided a 5-1 to Sheffield.

Spires then started to run out of options, as Tigers powered away, scoring 5-1s in five of the final six races, including the last four. Young British rider Leon Flint completed his first-ever paid maximum in the top-flight, after scoring 13+2 for Tigers.

Spires’ manager Peter Schroeck said: “We shook Sheffield a bit at the start of the meeting, but we just couldn’t hang on.

“Towards the end, rider replacement really started to hurt us and we missed Erik and Craig. My thanks to Antti Vuolas for taking a last-minute booking.

“I don’t want to make too many excuses. Sheffield are a strong side, especially around their own track, and they were the better side tonight.

“We now switch our focus to our home meeting with defending champions Belle Vue at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium on Thursday. We pushed title favourites Ipswich all the way last week in our last home fixture and it should be another exciting night of action.”

The next meeting at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium sees Spires take on defending champions Belle Vue Aces in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership on Thursday (July 17) at 7.30pm. Tickets are on sale on the Oxford Speedway website at: https://oxfordspeedway.club/tickets/

Sheffield Tigers 60: Jack Holder 9+1, Anders Rowe 0, Josh Pickering 12+2, Lewis Kerr 9+1, Chris Holder 12, Justin Sedgmen 5+2, Leon Flint 13+2.

BetGoodwin Oxford Spires 30: Maciej Janowski 9, Rohan Tungate 8+2, Charles Wright 7, Antti Vuolas 0, Erik Riss R/R, Peter Kildemand 5+2, Luke Killeen 1.

PHOTO by Steve Edmunds