GRESHAM Oxford Cheetahs triumphed over adversity with a brilliant performance to put the Eagles to flight 56-34 in their Elite League clash at the Stadium last night.

In a stormy and sometimes fiery meeting Cheetahs were reduced to just four riders and only able to track one rider in three heats - yet scored a magnificent victory against all the odds.

The action was just seconds old when Cheetahs ace Jason Crump crashed out , and three heats later,they were down to four riders when Jan Staechmann came off worseafter a clash with Martin Dugard.

In the opening heat Crump and Stefan Danno went for the same inside line. With Danno holding his ground, Crump took an almighty purler as both he and his bike flew into the air with the bike coming down on Crump's head.

The ambulance was called for and the Aussie withdrew from the meeting with concussion.

More drama followed in heat 4 when Staechmann ended up in the pits fence after trying to round Dugard on the final bend.

There was uproar following Oxford-based referee Mick Posselwhite's refusal to take any action against the former Cowley favourite. Dugard was booed on his return to the pits. Oxford team boss Martin Goodwin made gestures to the referee's box after it appeared that Dugard spotted the Dane coming through and used his back wheel to good effect, leaving Staechmann nowhere to go.

Staechmann was quickly ruled out of the meeting with back and ankle injuries by the paramedics, but courageously decided to defy the pain barrier with Cheetahs in such a perilous state

Despite all that, the team pulled out all the stops to win convincingly, with Todd Wiltshire and skippper Steve Schofield both posting their best scores of the season

Oxford: Wiltshire 16+2, Schofield 14+3, Johnston 13+1, Stancl 8+1, Staechmann 5+1, Crump (inj) 0 56 pts.

Eastbourne: Dugard 12, Norris 10+2, Parker 7+3, Andersson 3+1, Danno 2+1, Johansson 0 34 pts. Heat details in Sportsmail's Pitstop column on Thursday.

PAUL Hurry finished in 11th spot and failed to qualify in the Inter continental final at Vojens last night. The meeting was won by Brian Karger with Mikael Karlsson runner-up.

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