King's Lynn 53, Oxford 37 GRESHAM Oxford Cheetahs were outgated and outpaced as they went down to King's Lynn Knights in speedway's Craven Shield on a bitterly cold night.

Cheetahs were always going to be up against it at the fast Saddlebow Road circuit, and they were then dealt a cruel blow when Craig Boyce was forced to pull out prior to the meeting suffering with chicken pox.

A suitable guest could not be found, so it was down to six men as the rider replacement rule was used.

Things got off to a bad start when Jan Staechmann suffered an engine failure in the first heat and it went from bad to worse.

Cheetahs were ten points down after heat four, but tactical substitute Todd Wiltshire and Staechmann stormed back with a cracking 5-1 in heat eight.

Their joy was short-lived as the Knights hit straight back in heat nine and slowly but surely pulled away for victory.

Staechmann was drafted into heat 14 and was once again instrumental in a Cheetahs 5-1 to make the scoreline a little more respectable. King's Lynn: T Rickardsson 15, R Kessler 3, B Brhel 9+1, T Topinka 6, S Andersson 11+1, M Dixon 4, P Lee 5+2. 53pts.

Oxford: T Wiltshire 13, J Staechmann 8+3, S Johnston 7, P Hurry 7+3, L Hare 1, A Rossiter 1+1. 37pts.

HEAT DETAILS

Heat 1: Rickardsson, Wiltshire, Kessler, Staechmann (ef) 60.9 secs. Heat 2: Dixon, Lee, Hare, Rossiter (ef) 63.2. Heat 3: Topinka, Hurry, Brhel, Johnston 62.4. Heat 4: Andersson, Wiltshire, Lee, Rossiter 62.0. Heat 5: Brhel, Wiltshire, Staechmann, Topinka (ef) 62.3. Heat 6: Rickardsson, Johnston, Kessler, Hare (ef) 62.0. Heat 7: Andersson, Johnston, Hurry, Dixon 62.4. Heat 8: Wiltshire, Staechmann, Kessler, Lee 62.2. Heat 9: Topinka, Brhel, Hurry, Hare (ef) 62.6. Heat 10: Rickardsson, Johnston, Hurry, Kessler 62.0. Heat 11: Andersson, Wiltshire, Staechmann, Dixon 62.1. Heat 12: Brhel, Lee, Johnston, Hurry (ef) 63.1. Heat 13: Rickardsson, Wiltshire, Rossiter, Andersson (ef) 61.9. Heat 14: Staechmann, Hurry, Dixon, Topinka (ef) 63.4. Heat 15: Rickardsson, Andersson, Wiltshire, Staechmann 92.8.

Story date: Thursday 15 April

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