Oxford Cheetahs v Scunthorpe Scorpions

SCUNTHORPE lost the Cab Direct Championship leadership but gained an important aggregate point after a 51-39 defeat at Oxford.

Scorpions skipper Josh Pickering put on a sensational display and he would have scored an 18-point maximum but for blowing an engine when leading Heat 13.

However, he then overtook Cheetahs captain Sam Masters on the third lap of Heat 15 to prevent the need for a Super Heat.

Oxford were the more solid side on the night with Masters scoring 11+2, Anders Rowe 11 and Mitch McDiarmid 9+2, whilst Michael Palm Toft was the visitors’ only other race winner aside from Pickering, although Jacob Hook made an encouraging debut with two paid wins.

Pickering said: “I haven’t ridden my second bike since we had the home meeting against Oxford a few weeks ago and I had an engine failure in that meeting as well.

“It’s a decent engine, but it needed a bit of fine tuning. I threw everything at Sam in the final race and fortunately it paid off.

“If that hadn’t have happened and we’d lost the aggregate point, I’d have been very disappointed, because we needed that point. We came here to win, and it was important we left with something.”

Rowe said: “It was another confidence boasting meeting for me tonight and long may it continue. I have been riding well recently. I’ve got some good things happening with engines, and had plenty of meetings recently, because bike time always helps.

“Scunthorpe are a really good team – who are riding high in the league table – and it was awesome for us to beat them by as much as we did. All the boys chipped in and we all scored points.”

CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP
OXFORD 51: Sam Masters 11+2, Anders Rowe 11, Mitch Diarmid 9+2, Luke Killeen 8+1, Darryl Ritchings 5+2, Dayle Wood 4, Edward Kennett 3
SCUNTHORPE 39: Josh Pickering 15, Michael Palm Toft 6, Jacob Hook 5+2, Nathan Ablitt 5, Luke Harrison 4+1, Connor Mountain 4+1, Ryan Ingram 0
Scunthorpe win aggregate point

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Photo credit: STEVE EDMUNDS

Watch the action from the Heat 9 (courtesy of OXFORD SPEEDWAY TV | https://livestream.oxfordspeedway.club) – see below