REPORT: Cheetahs edged out of cup in Super Heat, after thrilling meeting at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium

SD TIMMO CAR SALES Oxford Cheetahs powered by County Plumbing Supplies just missed out on a place in the MAXiCab Knockout Cup final, after their semi-final against the Redcar Bears went to an extra race, following a 90-90 aggregate draw. Cheetahs won the second leg by 48-42 at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium yesterday evening (Sunday), but Bears won the subsequent Super Heat by 5-4 to progress to the final against the Poole Pirates.

The meeting had a scheduled start-time of 5pm, but racing eventually got underway at 6.45pm, after a heavy rain shower earlier in the day. Track curators Jamie Courtney and Wayne Hutt got the track back in top nick, and racing commenced after a test run by Mitch McDiarmid and Jason Edwards.

The racing was amongst the best seen at Cowley this season, starting with a blockbuster Heat 1, in which opposing Redcar captain Charles Wright burst through the middle of the Oxford pair of Sam Masters and Kye Thomson, only for Masters to recover first place with an outside move.

Cheetahs quickly wiped out the six-point deficit from the first leg at Redcar on Friday with a trio of 4-2s in the opening three races, but were unable to move into the aggregate lead at any point. Luke Killeen was an impressive winner of Heat 3, after streaking around Jason Edwards in the early stages.

Thomson was a very lively guest for the injured Jordan Jenkins, and he moved from last to first, to join Cameron Heeps for a 4-2 in Heat 8 which levelled the aggregate scores once more. But Killeen fell in Heat 9 and Bears moved back ahead with a 4-2 of their own.

Some of the racing was out of the top draw, such as in Heat 11, in which Francis Gusts did everything he could to keep Wright behind him, but Wright came under Gusts on the final bend.

Redcar were four ahead on aggregate, when Cheetahs took the only 5-1 of the evening in Heat 14. McDiarmid and Jonas Knudsen led for Cheetahs, but Redcar’s Jody Scott – already an impressive from-the-back winner in Heat 12 – passed Knudsen after a thrilling battle. Scott then tried an outside move on McDiarmid, but lost control and took a heavy fall on the fourth bend of lap three. Scott had been skipper of league-winning Real Mini Company Oxford Chargers powered by AW Mobbs on the previous day, and both sets of fans were relieved to see him get to his feet, feeling battered and bruised. The race was awarded and Cheetahs pulled level.

After Masters won a shared Heat 15, an extra Super Heat was required – with scoring 4-3-2-0. Oxford team manager Peter Schroeck won the coin toss and placed Cheetahs off gates 1 and 3. Masters beat Wright into the first bend, while Danny King got the drop on Thomson. After a lap, Thomson thrust under Wright, but Wright regained the advantage using the outside line on the second bend. Masters started to slow down the race as much as possible and all four riders were close on track. On the final lap, Thomsen almost pushed underneath Wright on the second bend and he tried to repeat the move on the final bend, but Wright held on and Bears won the race by 5-4.

Cheetahs’ skipper Sam Masters said: “I’m proud of the whole team over the two legs, because everyone put their whole heart and effort into it. We always knew it would be tough, but we put up an awesome fight. Redcar are a very strong team and my best wishes to them in the final.

“I could see what was happening in the Super Heat behind me. Massive thanks to Kye (Thomson) for coming in and giving his all for us, both in that race and across the whole evening.

“A lot of people didn’t think we would see speedway today, including myself, so well done to Jamie (Courtney) and Wayne (Hutt) on producing that track after the rain. The track was one of the best we’ve ridden on this season. Speedway was the winner tonight.

“I’ve been honoured to be the skipper of the Cheetahs. It’s such an awesome club and we’ve had a good bunch of boys. It was hard, because we’ve had a lot of missing riders and maybe that was our downfall. But we’ve had a lot of fun along the way.”

The Oxford promotion would like to apologise to the supporters and thank them for their patience at the start of the evening and hope they enjoyed a top-class night of speedway.

The elimination of Cheetahs from the MAXiCab Knockout Cup was the final official action featuring the three Oxford sides in 2025. Regarding the possibility of an October meeting at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium, plus the date of the End Of Season Party, supporters will be notified via the club’s social media channels and the official website at: https://oxfordspeedway.club/

SD Timmo Car Sales Oxford Cheetahs powered by County Plumbing Supplies 48: Sam Masters 12+1, Kye Thomsen 7, Luke Killeen 5, Mitch McDiarmid 8, Francis Gusts 4, Jonas Knudsen 7+3, Cameron Heeps 5+1.

Redcar Bears 42: Charles Wright 12+1, Jake Mulford 3, Jason Edwards 6, Erik Riss R/R, Danny King 14, Jody Scott 4, Ace Pijper 3.

PHOTO: Sam Masters ahead of Charles Wright and Danny King in Heat 15 (Image: Steve Edmunds)