Wolverhampton 53, Oxford Silver Machine 37: The absence of the injured Charlie Gjedde led to Oxford suffering a heavy Elite League defeat at Monmore Green on Tuesday night, although they do claim the bonus point courtesy of their emphatic victory against the Wolves last month.

Silver Machine were always going to be up against it with Gjedde absent following an incident in the Oxford pits on Friday which left him with a hand injury.

With Jan Staechmann busy down the road at Reading, Oxford called on Leigh Lanham, and to be fair, he rode well in the circumstances for a paid four points.

Todd Wiltshire made a good start in the first heat, but home hero Mikael Max managed to find a way past.

Wolves followed this with a dubious maximum in the second heat.

The Silver Machine were set for a drawn heat, when Olly Allen forced his way through the inside of Kolenko. There was clearly contact, but to give Kolenko credit he held on.

On the next lap, Allen set his sights on Lanham and took his front wheel away to get the second place.

Lanham went clattering into the fence but the referee, Graham Reeve, allowed the move to pass without retribution.

Oxford ace Nicki Pedersen then fell on the first lap of heat four, after missing the start and getting his line wrong going into the third bend. This allowed the home side to pull eight points ahead.

Wiltshire and Travis McGowan reduced this to six in the next, but it was back to eight points two heats later.

Pedersen's tactical substitute ride in heat eight did not work, but Wiltshire came out in the ninth and partnered Pedersen to the Silver Machine's only maximum heat.

The joy was shortlived, however, as the Wolves pair of Max and Howe repaid the favour over Craig Boyce and the highly disappointing Sebastian Ulamek.

Two shared heats followed which guaranteed the bonus point for Oxford, but the home team secured victory with two more maxumums.

Wolverhampton: M Max 14, P Karlsson 13+2, D Howe 7+2, S Ermolenko 7+1, C Neath 5+1, A Skornicki 4, O Allen 3+1.

Oxford: C Boyce 11, T Wiltshire 10, N Pedersen 8+2, T McGowan 4+1, L Lanham 3+1, J Kolenko 1, S Ulamek 0.

HEAT DETAILS

Heat 1: Max, Wiltshire, Howe, McGowan. 56.82.

Heat 2: Neath, Allen, Kolenko, Lanham (f). 59.70.

Heat 3: Boyce, Skornicki, Ermolenko, Ulamek. 59.16.

Heat 4: Karlsson, Lanham, Allen, Pedersen (f) (rerun). 57.73.

Heat 5: Wiltshire, Ermolenko, McGowan, Skornicki. 57.98.

Heat 6: Pedersen, Max, Howe, Kolenko. 58.02.

Heat 7: Karlsson, Boyce, Neath, Ulamek. 58.56.

Heat 8: Howe, McGowan, Pedersen, Allen. 58.32.

Heat 9: Wiltshire, Pedersen, Ermolenko, Skornicki. 57.75.

Heat 10: Max, Howe, Boyce, Ulamek. 57.91.

Heat 11: Karlsson, Wiltshire, McGowan, Neath. 58.31.

Heat 12: Ermolenko, Boyce, Lanham, Allen. 58.67.

Heat 13: Max, Karlsson, Pedersen, Wiltshire. 58.70.

Heat 14: Boyce, Skornicki, Neath, Kolenko. 59.82.

Heat 15: Max, Karlsson, Pedersen, Wiltshire. 58.91.