Todd Wiltshire has spoken of his delight after he was made captain of Oxford Cheetahs by promoter Aaron Lanney.

Wiltshire, who led the team for the first time in Monday's derby defeat by Reading at Smallmead, took over as skipper from David Howe.

"I am glad to be taking over," said Wiltshire.

"There is a certain amount of expectation when you are captain of a team. You do the track walk and toss the coin, but, I'm really too old to have the worries.

"The mind is a lot slower, but having said that, I am confident I can do the job."

Wiltshire, who has proved a more successful signing than Tony Rickardsson, said he was pleased with his form.

"I'm feeling great in myself at the moment and don't really feel the pressure," he said.

"I have the right attitude and confidence and that is what I'll be trying to do for David Howe and the rest of the team.

"It doesn't matter whether you are up against Pedersen or Lindback, there's a race to be raced and if you don't give it your best, why be in the game at all?

"It was a great result for us against Poole even with Adam Skornicki struggling. We did very well and the only is up from now on.

"I would like to thank the fans for sticking with us. We appreciate their support and be sure, we are having a go and not giving up."

Howe, who started the season as Oxford's No 1 said it had been his idea to pass the captaincy to Wiltshire and he was more than happy with the switch.

"I had a chat with Aaron Lanney last week", said Howe. "Not so much about my form, but my attitude in the pits.

"I was very subdued, quite depressed at times to be honest, and I just suggested that Todd should become captain."

"Not necessarily because it might help my scores a little, because I have enjoyed being captain, but I don't need the extra pressure.

Lanney added: "I just feel Todd is the man and when we had the track walk before the meeting against Poole, I found myself listening to him, he is such a great motivator.

Howe conjured up his best performance of the season soon after.

He added: "I had a long chat with my engine-tuner because I have suffered a lot of niggly problems this year. I also made changes in myself and I was making starts and riding well.

"If you make starts, you can race and even pass other riders.

"What I haven't been doing is making consistently good gates. I have been pretty ordinary. It's been so frustrating, but I used the engine I had at Wolverhampton last year, made a few changes, and it worked well.

"Another thing that helped was the state of the track. We don't like it mega-deep, the same style every week so that we can get the right set-up."