BRITISH SPEEDWAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2024

(SPEEDWAY 1)

CHEETAHS MAKE A CAB BOOKING

OXFORD booked their place in the Cab Direct Championship Grand Final after a major scare in their semi-final against Scunthorpe.
The Cheetahs saw their two-point lead from the away leg wiped out in the early stages as the Scorpions led 18-12 on the night at Cowley, and it took until Heat 10 for them to regain the aggregate advantage.

Sam Masters and Scott Nicholls established a four-point gap overall with a 5-1 in Heat 13, and guest Dan Gilkes produced an excellent ride to win Heat 14 from the back with Luke Killeen third to make sure of progression.
The hosts won 49-41 on the night and by ten on aggregate, with Nicholls top-scoring on 13+1 and Masters on 12+1. Kyle Howarth scored nine for the Scorpions.

Cheetahs boss Peter Schroeck said: “We knew Scunthorpe would throw everything at us. They wanted to bite us, and it took us a long time to find our feet.
“Reaching the Final was never going to be easy, but we’ve got there and I couldn’t be any prouder of our riders – the lads had to dig deep tonight.

“A big thank you to our guest Dan Gilkes, who has fitted right in with the team over the two legs. Going into Heat 14, he knew what we needed him to do, and he did it. That was the match-winning ride.”
Dates for the Grand Final have been agreed with Oxford hosting Poole in the first leg next Wednesday (September 25) and the return is at Wimborne Road 48 hours later on September 27.

(SPEEDWAY 2)

SCUNTHORPE manager David Howe admitted the damage had been done at home after his side’s title dreams were finally dashed at Oxford.
The Scorpions had thrown away a ten-point lead to lose 46-44 at the Eddie Wright Raceway in the first leg, and despite a strong comeback in the return they lost out by ten overall.

But they still have the opportunity to go for honours this season as they remain involved in the BSN Series with a home clash against Edinburgh to come on Friday where they are strongly placed.
Howe said: “The realist in me knew Heats 13 and 15 were always going to be tough, and possibly it was a little bit of a far-off dream for us to come and win here.

“We lost this tie in our home leg. I must admit halfway through the meeting I almost dared to dream, but I’m proud of the guys.
“We let ourselves down, we let the fans down and we let the club down on Friday, but the guys have redeemed themselves tonight. We’ve missed out overall but I’m proud of every single one of them tonight.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

SHEFFIELD and Belle Vue are all set for a tense ROWE Motor Oil Premiership play-off semi-final decider at Owlerton tonight (Thursday) – with Leicester awaiting the aggregate winners.
The Aces came up with a big finish to win 51-39 at home on Monday, giving them a margin to defend which the history books suggest has generally proved to be sufficient at this stage of the competition.
The exception was in 2016 when Wolverhampton chased down an identical deficit in the second leg to defeat Poole and reach the Grand Final.

Both the Tigers and the Aces are unchanged from the first leg with Chris Harris again replacing the injured Tai Woffinden for Sheffield, whose home record against Belle Vue this season is strong.
Tigers star Josh Pickering said: “We will go into Thursday night with the winning mindset and mentality that we’ve had all season long and I’m very sure that with our home support there that we can excel.

“Of late around Sheffield, we’ve been turning everyone over and in our last few meetings, it’s been by some quite big margins.
“We turned this lot over by 22 points a few weeks ago so in our minds, 12 points is nothing. We’ll all rally together, we’re all being very positive and we’re all determined to get the job done.”
Belle Vue boss Mark Lemon said: “We’ve been in semi-final situations often enough to know what is riding on it, and we are fully aware we’ll have to be at our very best against Sheffield.   

“We know previous league performances mean nothing, and the play-offs are where it is at, it is now or never. I know the boys have worked immensely hard to be here at this point of the season.
“With utmost respect for the Tigers, we can be the better team over the two legs and we’ll have to let our racing do the talking for us at Owlerton.”

(FIXTURES)

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 19:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL 2nd leg: Sheffield (39) v Belle Vue (51) 7.30

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 20:
BSN SERIES SEMI-FINAL 2nd leg: Scunthorpe (49) v Edinburgh (40) 7.30
WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Middlesbrough (37) v Edinburgh (52) 7.30

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 21:
WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Edinburgh (34) v Leicester (56) 7pm

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 22:
BRITISH UNDER-19 FINAL: Oxford 3pm