Eastbourne Eagles 44,

Oxford Cheetahs 48 GRESHAM Oxford Cheetahs continued their excellent start to the season by notching up their first win at Eastbourne since 1991 with this Craven Shield victory.

They did it the hard way though, taking the verdict after another thrilling last-heat decider.

It was a night filled with incident as the riders tried to adjust to the new first and second bends at Arlington.

Todd Wiltshire was away in heat one, and heat two saw more of the same with the Cheetahs reserves shooting from the gate and holding a perfect five-one.

There was still more to come in heat three when Steve Johnston and Paul Hurry got ahead of Dean Barker.

The Eagles started to fight back and in heat four, guest Mikael Karlsson shot past Craig Boyce.

Four consecutive drawn heats meant that there was still an eight-point gap.

Heat nine saw the Eagles narrow the gap to just four before Cheetahs went back to six points clear after Hurry kept David Norris at bay.

With heat 11 being drawn, the Eagles brought in the golden double tactical substitute in heat 12. It meant that Mikael Karlsson started on a handicap, but any points that he scored counted as double. Johnston restricted him to second place, but it narrowed the gap to just four points.

Disaster struck for Cheetahs as the Eagles got a five-one in heat 13, putting it all square with just two heats to go.

Heat 14 went to Lawrence Hare and Hurry, so it was all down to the six-lap final heat when Norris slightly overcooked it, leaving the Cheetahs pairing to hold a three all for victory.

Eastbourne: Norris 13, Povazhny 0, Barker 8+2, Larsen 5+1, Karlsson 18+1, Collyer 1, Palmer 1.

Oxford: Wiltshire 9, Staechmann 4+1, Johnston 10+1, Hurry 11+2, Boyce 4, Hare 6+3, Rossiter 4+1. HEAT DETAILS

Heat 1: Wiltshire, Norris, Staechmann, Povazhny 58.1 secs.

Heat 2: Rossiter, Hare, Collyer, Palmer 58.5.

Heat 3: Johnston, Hurry, Barker, Larsen 58.0.

Heat 4: Karlsson, Boyce, Palmer, Rossiter (ef) 57.0.

Heat 5: Wiltshire, Barker, Larsen, Staechmann 57.2.

Heat 6: Norris, Boyce, Hare, Povazhny 57.1.

Heat 7: Karlsson, Johnston, Hurry, Collyer 57.1.

Heat 8: Norris, Staechmann, Rossiter, Povazhny (ex) 57.4.

Heat 9: Larsen, Barker, Hare, Boyce (f) 57.1.

Heat 10: Hurry, Norris, Johnston, Povazhny 57.3.

Heat 11: Karlsson, Wiltshire, Staechmann, Collyer (f) 57.2.

Heat 12: Johnston, Karlsson (G/D), Barker, Hare 57.2.

Heat 13: Norris, Karlsson, Wiltshire, Boyce 57.6.

Heat 14: Hurry, Hare, Larsen, Palmer 58.6.

Heat 15: Karlsson, Hurry, Johnston, Norris 85.7.

OXFORD Cubs beat Eastbourne Eaglets 24-12 in a Youth Development League Challenge match.

Story date: Monday 26 April

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.