PREVIEW: Oxford Cheetahs in must-win meeting against Berwick Bandits, as Friday night racing returns to the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium

SD TIMMO CAR SALES Oxford Cheetahs are targeting victory over Berwick Bandits in the Cab Direct Championship at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium on Friday evening (July 24) at 7.30pm.

It’s the first of two successive re-arranged meetings to be held on Friday evenings at Sandy Lane – ahead of a clash next Friday (July 31) with Poole Pirates.

Oxford are hoping for a bumper crowd against Berwick with plenty of families in attendance. Accompanied children are free throughout the season at Oxford Speedway.

With Anders Rowe riding in the Grand Prix Challenge in Teranzano, Italy this weekend – where the top four will qualify for the 2027 Grand Prix series – Cheetahs will use the rider replacement facility for their 23-year-old English star.

Berwick won the corresponding meeting in Northumberland on July 4 by 53-37.

Bandits have reached the MAXiCab Knockout Cup Final (for the first time since they beat Poole in the 1989 final), where they will face Plymouth in a refreshingly different-looking final, after Bandits knocked out holders Poole at the semi-final stage. Bandits are currently unbeaten at home this season, but have yet to win away.

Berwick have named a full side, despite recent injury worries for Nick Morris and Jordan Jenkins. Morris was a regular guest for Cheetahs in place of the ill Erik Riss earlier in the season, while Jenkins competed for either Oxford Cheetahs or Chargers between 2022 and 2025. Bandits’ No 1 is Peter Kildemand, a popular rider with the Oxford Spires last season.

Cheetahs’ team manager Peter Schroeck says: “We are using rider replacement for Anders Rowe against Berwick. Anders is in the Grand Prix Challenge in Italy on Saturday. It’s a very tough meeting, but there are four Grand Prix places on offer and we wish him the best of luck.

“When we looked at it, we felt rider replacement would work better than a guest, especially with six out of nine clubs in action on Friday. Everyone can take a ride, including our skipper Sam Masters. We’re using R/R at No 5, because when I looked at it, it meant we didn’t have to spilt up our pairings, plus it gives us a bit of flexibility.

“I have no doubt everyone has seen Erik Riss had a couple of meetings in Germany, and we wanted to see how those went. Unfortunately for poor Erik, he had to miss his meeting in the German League last weekend.    

“We brought Edward Kennett in for Erik. Ed is a class act, while it took him a few meetings to get dialled back into competitive league action. Ed is very keen to finish the season strongly for us. He has brought his experience to the team and is a big plus down the pits.

“We know we just need to keep winning. We have done that for our last couple of home meetings and – with our next four meetings all at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium – we intend on keeping that run going, while providing plenty of entertainment to the public.”

Tickets are 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. Spectators are also reminded that they will need to pay £2 when booking their ticket if they are planning to park in the Unipart car park. Parking at the Unipart car park is now fully restored and the club thank Unipart for their co-operation.

On Race Day, there is now also the chance to buy tickets by cash or card at the box office from 6pm.

Please note there will be no live stream of this meeting – please join us trackside at the stadium for an exciting night of speedway. And please leave enough time for your journey due to local roadworks.

Teams:

SD Timmo Car Sales Oxford Cheetahs: Sam Masters (C), Luke Killeen, Edward Kennett, Mitch McDiarmid, Anders Rowe R/R, Dayle Wood, Darryl Ritchings. Team manager: Peter Schroeck.

RED Campers Berwick Bandits powered by STS: Peter Kildemand, Jye Etheridge (C), Victor Palovaara, Jordan Jenkins R/R, Nick Morris, Jack Smith, Reid Battye. Team manager: Stewart Dickson.

PHOTO by Les Aubrey