Plymouth Gladiators v Oxford Cheetahs

PLYMOUTH roared to their first win of the season with an emphatic display to defeat Oxford 57-32 at the Coliseum on Saturday.

The Gladiators secured their first BSN Series points of the season and limited the Cheetahs to two race wins on the night.

Reserve Daniel Klima piled up 14+3 from seven rides whilst Ben Barker scored a 12-point maximum, Danny King notched 12 from five rides and both Joe Thompson (9+2) and Scott Nicholls (9) were in the major points.

Cheetahs made a disastrous start as Sam Masters and Luke Killeen both crashed out of Heat 1, and whilst Masters recovered to post ten points their deficit extended for much of the meeting.

Oxford boss Peter Schroeck said: “The track was very tough to begin with, following the rain. Sam twisted his knee quite badly in the first race. He continued in the meeting, despite being in pain. When your skipper comes off in Heat 1, it does have a knock-on effect on the rest of the team.

“If we rode like this as a team in the middle of the season, I’d be quite upset. But it was our first away meeting, so we’ll just brush ourselves off and get on with it. It’s the start of the season and we won’t get too carried away.”

BSN SERIES (SOUTH)
PLYMOUTH 57: Daniel Klima 14+3, Danny King 12, Ben Barker 12, Joe Thompson 9+2, Scott Nicholls 9, Tom Spencer 1, Tobias Thomsen r/r.
OXFORD 32: Sam Masters 10, Mitch McDiarmid 7, Anders Rowe 5+1, Erik Riss 4+1, Luke Killeen 3+1, Dayle Wood 2, Darryl Ritchings 1+1.

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Photo credit: SAM WHITFIELD

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