OXFORD Cheetahs are in Championship action at Oxford Stadium tonight, when they take on the in-form Scunthorpe Scorpions, writes Leon Foster-Hill.

The Scorpions are unbeaten in their first three league meetings, two of which were away from home (Berwick and Redcar).

Oxford have had two powerful home performances and go into the clash in high confidence.

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Peter Schroeck, team manager, is as cautious as ever, saying: “Scunthorpe are a good team, and we need to be on our guard. We would like to be the first team to defeat them in the Cab Direct Championship.

“Scunthorpe have now got Michael Palm Toft injured and they are using rider replacement, but you never know how that is going to play out. Sometimes if the riders taking the extra rides can get themselves on a bit of a run, it can make them stronger, while we know how well Connor Mountain can go around Oxford from a couple of weeks ago.

“But all we can do is concentrate on our own performance. Cheetahs’ home form has been very good in the last couple of meetings, although we could do with being on the ball right from the start of a meeting and make life a bit easier for ourselves later in the evening.

“As usual, while the first priority is to win the meeting, we also want to build up a bit of a margin to take to Scunthorpe next week, to help us with the aggregate bonus point.”

The new averages mean that Henry Atkins moves to reserve, and no further use of rider replacement will be available.

Again, Schroeck has been shrewd with his options. He said: “We’ve booked Jacob Hook, who I believe is a good replacement. We still have Ashton [Boughen] down at reserve and he’s on a bit of a high at the moment.”

Oxford Mail:

Boughen Stars in British Under-21 Championship

Spires and Cheetahs reserve Boughen became the youngest rider to earn a place on the podium since Tai Woffinden back in 2007. Woffinden has gone on to be a three-time world champion, which is a good omen for the 16-year-old Boughen.

He is on a good run after top-scoring for the Cheetahs at Workington and then scoring his highest score in the Premiership on Monday with six points.

Janowski starts to show his Magic touch

Another pulsating win for Oxford Spires on Monday night, helped by ‘Magic’ Janowski taking two last gasp results in what was a much stronger showing from the Polish ace.

He was nominated man of the match and was clearly delighted, saying: “I’m very happy that we won, I’m happy to score more points for the team and I have trained hard. I’m still looking to score more points, but I helped the team and that’s good.

“I want to be surer about what I’m doing. The starts over here are very different than in Poland, and it’s getting used to those again and making sure I have bikes that work for me over here. It’s also about changing my technique to get off the starts.”