Skipper Sam Masters looking forward to opening meeting for SD Timmo Car Sales Oxford Cheetahs

SD TIMMO CAR SALES Oxford Cheetahs commence their 2026 season when they entertain a nomadic Coventry Bees team in an opening challenge match at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium on Wednesday (April 1) at 7.30pm.

Oxford Cheetahs returned to action to great acclaim in 2022, following a break of 15 years, after a long campaign to restore speedway to Cowley. There is a similar campaign to bring back the sport to Brandon Stadium in Coventry, which last staged speedway in 2016.

Coventry Bees are one of the most successful British clubs of all-time, including winning the top-flight in British Speedway eight times in 1968, 1978, 1979, 1987, 1988, 2005, 2007 and 2010.

Cheetahs are once again led by skipper Sam Masters, while Erik Riss and Anders Rowe complete a powerful heat-leader trio. Cheetahs will also track the upcoming pair of Mitch McDiarmid and Luke Killeen, plus Darryl Ritchings and Dayle Wood in the reserve berths.

Coventry are led by Chris Harris – a rider with legendary status with Bees. Four-time World Champion Hans Nielsen, who rode for both Oxford and Coventry, is the team manager for Bees.

Oxford skipper Sam Masters returns for a fourth successive season with Cheetahs. He has not missed an official fixture since signing for the club at the start of 2023.

Masters said: “It’s an honour to be captain of the Cheetahs again this season and I think we’ve got a team who can do it this year.

“Last season was tough towards the end of meetings. But this season, in Anders and Erik, we have two riders capable of joining me and scoring points in the big races, and I’m convinced that Luke and Mitch will also be stepping up. Dayle and Darryl are also at a club where we can help them progress. If we can all step it up like I think we can, we’ve got one hell of a team.

“We can only take one step at a time, which is to keep progressing in all the competitions and make sure we get into the play-offs at the end of the season.

“It’ always good having a challenge match at the start of the season. You can practice on your own all day long, but there’s only so much you can learn when you’re doing that. Things are very different when there’s three other guys on the track at the same time and you’re racing at night.

“We will still try to win in every race, and of course, we still want to go out there and win the meeting against Coventry, because it gives the confidence going forwards.

“I’m not one to change clubs and I never thought of going elsewhere this season. I’m happy here and had good fun the last three years. It would be really good if the Cheetahs can finally lift a trophy this season – we’d so much like to do that.”

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

Admission is available at the early bird price of £21 for all adults, which increases to £23 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.

Season passes will NOT be valid for this additional meeting.

If you bought a season pass with parking (either at the stadium or Unipart), please note that you paid for parking for all home speedway meetings this season and you can use your pass to park on Wednesday evening. BUT please note you still need to buy a ticket for admission to the meeting.

Full preview for Wednesday to follow on Tuesday morning