Bojangles

I was there and it was drizzling on and off until about 8pm. Certainly don't think it could be called 'heavy', though, and don't think the meeting was ever in any danger. The track started to dry out pretty quickly. One thing that was refreshing was the speed on the meeting. Was all over in just over one hour and 15 minutes - not one track grade!

Great to see Oxford doing livestreaming and glad to hear it was good. I shall definitely be watching in if I can't make it this season. Rising stars have to be riding at No.7, so Cook can't ride there (unless Flint gets an average good enough to enable him to ride in the top 5).

Scott Nicholls in for Piotr Pawlicki on Thursday......

What do you want him to say? "We're not very good, don't bother coming"? He's got to try and be positive regardless.

No team survives on gate admissions alone though (there wouldn't be many clubs left if that was the case). There's plenty of other revenue streams - sponsorship being the main one, plus merchandise and programme sales, catering profits, media profits, plus others I'm sure I've forgotten. Appreciate it is the main income, but it's not just black and white like that.

Joke ---------------------------------------------------------> Supersteady84

Luke Killeen, Jody Scott and Jacob Clouting are certainties, and it seems like Senna Summers is nailed on as well. That leaves 14.91 for the other three, which means either Ryan Kinsley or Jason Garrad misses out. I wouldn't rule out Nathan Stoneman and two more three pointers.

Good grief, it's not that bad is it? What do you want Tolley to do? Sign riders way above his budget and go bankrupt long before the season has finished? Yes everybody wants a competitive team, but speaking as an Oxford fan, Birmingham fans should surely just be grateful they've got speedway to watch, no? The first season the Cheetahs came back, they were pretty woeful, but it was just great to have a team again. Sometimes we just need to be thankful for what we've got.

Plus grammar and spelling. Hint, hint.

Butcher was with us in 2022, and would do a cracking job if he came back - especially at this watered down level. Josh Warren also rides Sandy Lane well. Would be happy with both.

I'd think Scott and Clouting are certainties, as is Killeen I'd imagine. They've also been pretty keen on Nathan Stoneman in the past as well. Nathan Stoneman - 8.67 Luke Killeen - 7.73 Jody Scott - 5.31 Jacob Clouting - 5.05 Ashton Vale - 3.00 Sam Woods - 3.00 Kai Ward - 3.00

Sheffield and Belle Vue are an awful lot closer to Perry Barr than Oxford?

I think people are forgetting just how good Wright, Harris and Kerr are at Oxford. Kerr was superb for us in the Champ, and Harris and Wright were arguably the two most impressive visitors all season last year. Wright was also second only to Kerr in scoring in the Pairs, and Harris broke the track record in that meeting. Yes, the Prem is stronger, but they are still going to score big points at home most weeks.

Interesting that some people are saying the side looks weak compared to Sheffield and Ipswich in particular, but if you base the teams on their 2023 season averages it compares pretty evenly I think. It's just the rising star position that could be the difference, as Boughen's progress is very hard to predict... Sheffield J. Holder 9.65 Woffinden 9.12 Pickering 7.75 C. Holder 7.68 Howarth 6.86 Edwards 4.46 (45.52) Ipswich Sayfutdinov 10.64 Doyle 9.98 King 8.03 Ellis 6.24 Jenkins 5.19 Rew 4.98 (45.06) Oxford Janowski ???? Tungate 7.83 (2022) Wright 7.81 Harris 7.44 Kerr 7.11 Klindt 6.96 (37.15+Janowski)

Oxford season ticket details.... *Oxford Chargers Pass – National League £49 – Valid for 5 Chargers National League home fixtures. *Oxford Cheetahs Pass – Championship League £199 – Valid for 11 Cheetahs Championship League home fixtures. *Oxford Spires Pass – Premiership League £239 – Valid for 12 Spires Premiership League home fixtures. *10 Match Pass – Cheetahs and Spires £199 – Valid for any 10 Cheetahs/Spires League home fixtures * *Ultimate Pass – Chargers, Cheetahs and Spires £449 – Valid for Chargers, Cheetahs and Spires scheduled 28 home fixtures*

Spires tickets £22 if bought in advance (£24 on the day). £2 more expensive than the Cheetahs.

Yeah, as a fan, I would want to win the cup - so to not even be in it is a bit of a blow. I'm guessing there's been a lot of compromises from both sides (BSPA and Oxford) over running in all three leagues.

Oxford Spires not competing in the KO Cup. Did we know about that?

Interesting team that. Thought they might have gone with Atkins. It is going to be so weird having Masters, Jenkins, Harris, Wright and Kerr racing against us, though.

Looks like the Spires team might be announced at 7am tomorrow according to Oxford's latest tweet... https://x.com/OxfordSpeedway/status/1730293114969927756?s=20

Should have been Cheetahs in the Prem, Chargers in the Champ and Spires in the NDL in my opinion.

Agreed. Ruml was definitely one I would have liked to see back - arguably rider of the year in 2022 and was very unlucky not to be retained. Guessing perhaps he's staying in the US now.

We had both Heeps and Newman in 2022....and Heeps was better, so not sure why we'd go back to Newman? Killeen has plenty of potential, and Atkins was far from outclassed in a tougher league at number 2 last season.

That's a bit of a strange take. Nobody said it was a cheap team last year, and the only difference is Kerr for Killeen - which is understandable with the point limit drop. I doubt any member of that team has taken a pay drop (possibly Heeps).

Team looks decent to me. Personally, I like the loyal approach - that certainly resonates with fans. Yes Heeps was a bit ht and miss, but he was strong at home and that should make winning all the home fixtures the priority. Two strong heat leaders, and four riders would should improve. You'd expect Killeen and Boughen to be key at reserve. If they improve throughout the year I think Oxford won't be too far away towards the end of the season.