OXFORD Cheetahs have two chances of silverware as the business end of the 2024 Championship season gets underway at Sandy Lane tonight, writes Leon Foster-Hill.

The Cheetahs have been in superb form all season, finishing in second place and setting up a perfect end to the season, as they have also qualified for the final of the Championship Knockout Cup.

Two hard-fought fixtures against the Scunthorpe Scorpions in the semi-final last week saw some of the biggest crowds of the season on tenterhooks as the Cheetahs had to show their full mettle to confirm their grand final spot.

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“We knew Scunthorpe would throw everything at us. They wanted to bite us, and it took us a long time to find our feet,” was the initial reaction of team manager Peter Schroeck.

“Reaching the final was never going to be easy, but we’ve got there, and I couldn’t be any prouder of our riders. The lads had to dig deep.”

He also paid tribute to guest Dan Gilkes, replacing the injured Jordan Jenkins, whose swoop around the outside in Heat 14 guaranteed the Cheetahs progression.

The grand final is against local rivals Poole Pirates and will be raced over two legs. The first leg is at Oxford tonight and the deciding leg will be 48 hours later on the south coast on Friday night.

Schroeck is positive and has booked the impressive Gilkes again for this week.

He said: “Dan Gilkes was a great guest over the two legs of the semi-final and we did not hesitate in booking him again for both legs of the final.

“Looking at the guest situation, you could say that luck has fallen Poole’s way. We have booked the very best guest available, but Jordan was riding well above his average when he got hurt, whereas Poole have been able to bring in Danny King and Chris Harris for Ben Cook.”

Schroeck looked back at the previous result at Poole for inspiration.

He said: “We’ve already proven what we can do down at Wimborne Road and I also believe the weather will have a say in the outcome since the two tracks could be different from usual.”

Action gets underway at 7.30pm tonight.

There was further positive news from the Oxford management last week when it was confirmed that all three teams would return after a positive response to the initiative this year.

Oxford shocked the speedway world last November after becoming the first club in the history of the sport to run three teams.