Oxford Cheetahs v Berwick Bandits

Report

OXFORD are nine points clear at the top of the Cab Direct Championship after a hard-fought 53-37 home win over Berwick.

The final scoreline didn’t reflect the action at Cowley as the Cheetahs were pushed all the way and only pulled clear with 5-1s in each of the last three races.

Sam Masters struck a paid maximum with 14+1 for the league leaders and Lewis Kerr scored 12+1, with Rory Schlein scoring 11+1 for the Bandits and being involved in several close races.

Oxford boss Peter Schroeck said: “We knew Berwick had the capacity to push us hard and they did just that.

“We just started to establish a foothold in the meeting and they hit us with a maximum in Heat 9. Credit to Berwick, the final score doesn’t reflect how close the meeting was and we had to battle hard for the points.

“But I believe in the quality we have and that shone through in the closing races. Again, the crowd was fantastic – the good times keep rolling and we’ve got another big fixture against Edinburgh to refocus for next week.”

Berwick manager Scott Courtney said: “We’re on the wrong end of a much heavier defeat than our efforts on the night deserved.

“Rory in particular could have ended up with another five or six points to his tally, and he wasn’t the only one. In many cases the difference was barely a tyre’s width after the four laps.

“If you weren’t here the scoreline will have been pretty much as a lot of people predicted before tapes-up but it doesn’t reflect the quality of racing and the amount of effort put in, often for little or no return.”

CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP OXFORD 53: Sam Masters 14+1, Lewis Kerr 12+1, Scott Nicholls 9+1, Cameron Heeps 9+1, Jordan Jenkins 5+2, Henry Atkins 3, Ryan Kinsley 1 BERWICK 37: Rory Schlein 11+1, Thomas Jorgensen 8, Leon Flint 5+1, Jonas Knudsen 4, Jacob Hook 3+2, Jye Etheridge 3+1, Connor Coles 3 Oxford win the aggregate point OFFICIAL REFEREE SCORECARD Available here Photo credit: LES AUBREY