Oxford Cheetahs v Poole Pirates

Report

OXFORD edged out Poole 45-44 in a last heat decider at Cowley – to leave Plymouth very much in contention in the Southern section of the BSN Series.

Cheetahs skipper Scott Nicholls overtook Richard Lawson for second place in Heat 15 as the home side secured victory in a meeting which had earlier seen the Pirates come from eight points down to lead by three.

It means Oxford currently top the group but have completed their fixtures, so the winners of the aggregate point from the Poole/Plymouth meetings will qualify for the semi-finals.

Nicholls scored 12 points for the Cheetahs at Cowley whilst Tom Brennan impressed once again for the Pirates with 14, and Lawson scored 13 from six rides.

Oxford youngster Ashton Boughen, who took a vital Heat 14 win, said: “It was great that we beat Poole tonight. I tried some different things on the bike, and it worked. I had plenty of advice from the rest of the team. It’s all learning for me.

“We took the win tonight, even though we didn’t all have a good night together. When we’re riding well together, we can beat anyone. It’s still early in the season and we’ll just keep working together, while for me, I’ll just continue learning.”

Poole promoter Dan Ford said: “We didn’t quite manage to pull off the win, but we all knew it was going to be a tough place to come and get a result.

“Just last week here, they turned over Glasgow after being twelve points down from the first leg, so to run them as close as we did was a credit to the team as a whole and the meeting really came alive in the second half.”

BSN SERIES SOUTHERN
OXFORD 45: Scott Nicholls 12, Sam Masters 9, Cameron Heeps 8, Luke Killeen 6+2, Ashton Boughen 6, Jordan Jenkins 4+2. Henry Atkins 0
POOLE 44: Tom Brennan 14, Richard Lawson 13 Sam Hagon 6, Ben Cook 5+2, Tobias Thomsen 3+2, Zach Cook 3+1, Max Perry 0
Poole win aggregate bonus point

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Photo credit: LES AUBREY