REPORT: Spires battle to draw against new league leaders in engrossing contest at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium

BETGOODWIN Oxford Spires took high-flying Sheffield Tigers all the way to a Super Heat in an enthralling ROWE Motor Oil Premiership contest at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium last night (Thursday). The main meeting ended as a 45-45 draw, gaining a league point for both sides, before Tigers won the concluding Super Heat by 5-4.

Tigers moved to the top of the Premiership standings, after also picking up the aggregate bonus point.

Spires were rocked by the withdrawal of the in-from Craig Cook at lunchtime due to a ‘flu bug. Australian Zach Cook came in as a replacement and scored a fine eight points, including wins in Heats 1 and 10.

Spires were much more competitive than the previous home meeting against Belle Vue,  and led 23-13 after six races against Sheffield.

That included two 5-1s for middle pairing Erik Riss and a revitalised Rohan Tungate, including a burst around the outside by Tungate in Heat 5 which took him from fourth to second around Jack Holder and Anders Rowe.

Tigers hit back back-to-back maximums in Heats 7 and 8, to reduce the deficit to two points, while from Heat 9, the racing really took off, with at least one overtake per race. Tungate stole third place on the line from Lewis Kerr in that race, as Spires stayed in front with a 3-3.

Cook regained first place from Josh Pickering after an engaging battle for first place in Heat 10. A hammer blow for Spires occurred in Heat 11. While Charles Wright did lose control on the first bend, it looked like a typical first bend bunching incident as Jack Holder came down, and Wright’s exclusion was harsh. Luke Killeen put in a tremendous effort in the re-run, but was pegged back by Holder and Anders Rowe, as Tigers took the lead for the first time with a 5-1.

Oxford hit back in Heat 12. Riss and Peter Kildemand held a 5-1 at one point, before Pickering steamed around the outside of Kildemand. Nevertheless, Spires levelled the scores with a 4-2.

Heat 13 looked ominous at one point, before Wright and Maciej Janowski battled past Chris Holder into the minor positions to ensure a 3-3.

Heat 14 left Spires in sight of victory, after Tungate – using the outside run to good effect – flew around Sedgmen on the third lap to join Kildemand for a 5-1.

Spires needed two points from Heat 15. There was contact between Jack Holder and Riss on the first corner and the referee decided to stop the race, while Riss was in the required second place behind Holder. Riss was again second in the re-run, but Pickering used the outside line to join Holder for a 5-1.

In the Super Heat, Spires won the toss for gate positions, and Riss and Tungate trapped in front. But both Holder and Pickering pushed under Tungate on the opening lap. Riss won the race, but Sheffield won by 5-4 under the 4-3-2-0 scoring system for this race.

Erik Riss top-scored for Spires with 11+1 and also won the Super Heat, while Tungate collected 8+3 and Kildemand scored 8+1 from reserve.

Riss said: “This is what I expect from myself. Last week I only scored six points and I wasn’t happy. I went out after the meeting last week and I tried a few things which helped me today.

“I don’t worry about who I’m against and I focus on my own starts and my own race. Of course, it’s nice to be battling against Jack Holder and be ahead of him in the Super Heat, because he won the Grand Prix round last weekend.

“We started off really well tonight and built up a bit of confidence. But they came back at us and we had a bit of bad luck when Charles was excluded. We were on the back foot, but then climbed back in front again. In Heat 15, Jack Holder slowed me down so Josh Pickering could get around me, but I would have done the same thing.

“There were a lot of positives for us to take from this meeting, because Sheffield are one of the strongest teams in this league. We are all trying our hardest and will keep going and continue to do that. We want to be dominant at home, not having Super Heats. We’re not clicking together at the moment, but we’ll keep on working until that happens.”

The next meeting at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium see the Real Mini Company Oxford Chargers powered by AW Mobbs entertain top-of-the-table Edinburgh Monarchs Academy on Sunday (May 25) at 3pm. Tickets are already on sale on the Oxford Speedway website at: https://oxfordspeedway.club/tickets/

BetGoodwin Oxford Spires 45: Maciej Janowski 4+1, Zach Cook 8, Erik Riss 11+1, Rohan Tungate 8+3, Charles Wright 5, Peter Kildemand 8+1, Luke Killeen 1.

Sheffield Tigers 45: Jack Holder 11, Anders Rowe 7+2, Josh Pickering 9+2, Justin Sedgmen 5+1, Chris Holder 5, Lewis Kerr 2, Leon Flint 6+2.

PHOTO: Action from the Super Heat, as Erik Riss (red) and Rohan Tungate (blue) get the initial drop on the first bend (pic: Steve Edmunds)