REPORT: Cheetahs fall away in final stages at Redcar

SD TIMMO CAR SALES Oxford Cheetahs suffered the agony of a 44-46 defeat at Redcar’s ECCO Arena last night (Friday), despite leading by eight points with just three heats remaining.

Luke Killeen and skipper Sam Masters put Cheetahs ahead with a 5-1 in Heat 1, with home No 1 Nicolai Klindt at the back, while further heat advantages were 4-2s from Anders Rowe and Edward Kennett in Heat 3, and Masters and Killeen in Heat 5.

In Heat 7, a battle on the opening lap saw Rowe and Kennett move either side of Allen on the third bend and the 5-1 took Cheetahs ten points ahead at 26-16.

Redcar Bears hit back with a 5-1 in Heat 9, after placing Klindt into the race as a tactical substitute. Cheetahs continued to battle for every point, such as when Killeen just snatched second place from Allen on the line in Heat 11.

With Bears back within four points, a 5-1 from Rowe and Darryl Ritchiings in Heat 12 looked priceless, since it extended Cheetahs’ lead back to eight points heading into the interval. The previously unbeaten Jake Mulford finished last in this race.

But Bears then hit back with back-to-back 5-1s in Heats 13 and 14 to square the scores at 42-42 heading into the final race. In Heat 15, Klindt trapped and won his fifth successive race. While Masters won a battle for second place with Allen, Bears still took a 4-2 to snatch victory.

Oxford were the better balanced side, with every Cheetah scoring four points or more, while Rowe top-scored for the visitors on 11 points. Redcar were more top-heavy, while providing 10 of the 15 heat winners – nine from Klindt and Mulford. Redcar had nine last places and Oxford six.

Cheetahs’ manager Peter Schreock said: “I’m naturally gutted – I’m most gutted for our riders because they put in such a determined effort tonight.

“Normally you wouldn’t be too disappointed if you kept it close away from home, but tonight we wanted to bounce back from the home defeat to Glasgow on Wednesday and start to build up our momentum again.

“The interval after Heat 12 was quite lengthy. The Redcar riders were out on the track, examining it, and the meeting did the turn around once we got going again. I felt Redcar won it, rather than us lose it.

“I can’t fault the effort put in by any of the lads tonight. They all contributed and they all put everything into their racing. It’s a hard result to take, but we move onto Plymouth tomorrow and start again.”

Cheetahs made the long journey south to Plymouth this evening (Saturday) at 7pm in further league action.

The next meeting at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium is next Wednesday (June 24) at 7.30pm, when the SD Timmo Car Sales Oxford Cheetahs take on the Redcar Bears in the return Cab Direct Championship clash with an aggregate bonus point at stake. Tickets are on sale on the Oxford Speedway website at: https://oxfordspeedway.club/tickets/

Redcar Bears 46: Nicolai Klindt 15, Ace Pijper 1, Simon Lambert 1, Jason Edwards 8+2, Jake Allen 8+1, Jake Mulford 12, Max Perry 1.

SD Timmo Car Sales Oxford Cheetahs 44: Sam Masters 8+1, Luke Killeen 8, Anders Rowe 11, Edward Kennett 5+2, Mitch McDiarmid 4, Darryl Ritchings 4+2, Dayle Wood 4+2.

PHOTO by Ian Wagstaff