Swindon Robins 51, Oxford Cheetahs 39 By JOHN GAISFORD

IT was a case of After the Lord Mayor's Show as Gresham Oxford Cheetahs were sent crashing in their opening Elite League encounter at the Abbey Stadium last night.

Admittedly they were without their influential No 1 Jason Crump, who reportedly had been taken ill yesterday, and Cheetahs without Crumpie are nowhere near strong enough at present.

Steve Purchase booked Ronnie Correy as guest and although he did well, he is not Crump and the Oxford outfit were cruellly exposed by a Swindon side thirsting for revenge after Friday's mauling at Oxford.

The Robins were back to full strength with Jimmy Nilsen and Charlie Gjedde in action. And with Brian Karger and Leigh Adams in top form, Cheetahs had no chance.

The home side dominated. If they didn't gate, which wasn't often, they used every inch of the large Blunsdon circuit to pick off the opposition with ease.

Only Correy was able to win a heat for Cheetahs as the Robins provided the winners of 12 of the15 heats with Rocket Ronnie taking the other three.

For Cheetahs, Steve Jonhston's good form continued with a fighting paid 13 points, the most heroic coming in the final heat after he took a nasty fall after a collision with Karger's machine after it appeared he had lost power or locked up.

It looked bad for Johnston but he got back up and joined Correy for a rousing 5-1 heat victory to salvage something for Cheetahs.

Paul Hurry was unable to carry on where he left off on Friday and his six-point return was never enough in support of the main two.

Jan Staechmann continues to struggle, as did Lawrence Hare and Steve Schofield. However, the latter rode some gutsy races and was worth more than his paid five points , but Hare failed to bother the judge all night. The Robins made their intentions clear from the off and soon went into a clear lead. By heat five they were 20-10 ahead and already the alarm bells were ringing in the Oxford camp, but worse was still to come despite Hurry and Gjedde having a good scrap for the minor places with Nilsen long gone.

Martin Goodwin was forced to use a tactical sub in heat 8 where Correy answered the call, but it still left Cheetahs fighting an uphill battle.

Swindon: Adams 15, Karger 13, Nilsen 11, Gjedde 6, Grieves 4, Masters 2 51 pts.

Oxford: Correy 14+1, Johnston 11+2, Hurry 6, Schofield 4+1, Staechmann 4+1, Hare 0 39 pts.

HEAT DETAILS

Heat 1: Gjedde, Correy, Nilsen, Staechmann 67.8 secs.

Heat 2: Grieves, Schofield, Masters, Hare 68.6.

Heat 3: Adams, Johnston, Correy, Gjedde 67.4.

Heat 4: Karger, Hurry, Masters, Hare 68.4.

Heat 5: Adams, Karger, Steachmann, Correy 68.1.

Heat 6: Nilsen, Hurry, Gjedde, Schofield 67.2.

Heat 7: Karger, Johnston, Schofield, Grieves 68.3.

Heat 8: Correy, Gjedde, Staechmann, Masters 67.7.

Heat 9: Nilsen, Adams, Schofield, Hurry 67.5.

Heat 10: Nilsen, Johnston, Staechmann, Gjedde 67.9.

Heat 11: Correy, Karger, Steachmann, Grieves 68.2.

Heat 12: Adams, Hurry, Johnston, Masters 68.8.

Heat 13: Karger, Correy, Nilsen, Hurry 68.8.

Heat 14: Adams, Johnston, Grieves, Hare 68.2.

Heat 15: Correy, Johnston, Adams, Karger (exc) 69.2.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.