PAIRS SUCCESS AT OXFORD

OXFORD co-promoter Jamie Courtney was delighted to reflect on a successful staging of the Championship League Pairs at Cowley on Friday.

Whilst the Cheetahs struggled on-track in the event, Courtney was able to look back on another big occasion for the club, who only returned to racing in April after a 15-year absence.

And a huge crowd packed into the Sandy Lane venue with supporters from all over the country taking in the action the night before Saturday’s British Grand Prix at Cardiff.

Courtney said: “I know the Oxford fans will be disappointed that we didn’t do better, but I think we’ve got to look at the bigger picture, and at the whole spectacle of the show, and realise it was a success.

“There were no injuries and no crashes and some good racing. There was a little bit of dust right at the end of the 23 races, but on a day when the temperature went up to 37 degrees here at midday, I thought the track held up really well.

“I measured the track temperature earlier and it told me it was 80 degrees! Steam came up when I put the first lot of water down on the track.

“I thought we ran a really good event. At times, it seems a surreal that we’re running speedway at all this year, because a sensible person would have said, ‘let’s open Oxford Speedway in 2023!’

“Earlier today, I had one of those moments where I was sat on the tractor and thinking whether if it was a good idea that we’d agreed to run a shared event in our very first year back, but then the whole thing ran so smoothly.”