PREVIEW: SCUNTHORPE v OXFORD (Champ)

SCUNTHORPE promoter Rob Godfrey has stressed the importance of tonight’s (Friday) Championship clash with Oxford.

The Scorpions lost their last home fixture against Plymouth, and also missed out at Birmingham last week, but are boosted by the availability of No.1 Ryan Douglas, who crashed in Poland last Sunday.

Meanwhile the Cheetahs once again bring in Chris Harris to guest for the injured Troy Batchelor, whilst Nathan Stoneman stands in for Josh Macdonald at reserve.

Godfrey said: “It’s an important match against Oxford, because we certainly can’t afford another home defeat, so we need to be on it.

“We were privileged to be the visitors on their re-opening night on April 13 – it was fantastic to see such a fabulous stadium staging speedway again in front of such a large crowd. Cheetahs won on that occasion, but we aim to return the compliment and beat them.”

Oxford star Jack Thomas said: “Scunthorpe is a testing track. Everyone feels fast when they practice there but being on track with three other riders is a completely different scenario.

“I’ve changed a few things for this season, hopefully it works and we can come away with some good points. It’s been a busy spell with three away meetings within the week plus two fixtures against Birmingham next week.”

*LIVE STREAMING: https://tv.scunthorpe-speedway.com .

SCUNTHORPE: Ryan Douglas, Jordan Palin, Zaine Kennedy, Jake Allen, Tero Aarnio, Ryan Kinsley, Simon Lambert.
OXFORD: Scott Nicholls, Kyle Newman, Jack Thomas, Cameron Heeps, Chris Harris, Dillon Ruml, Nathan Stoneman.