OXFORD speedway boss Steve Purchase has signed top Australian star Jason Crump.

The young Aussie, son of the legendary Phil Crump, will spearhead Oxford Cheetahs' challenge in the Elite League which gets under way in March.

Purchase has also snapped up veteran Steve Schofield, Crump's former partner at Poole where the pair were almost invincible around Wimborne Road.

Crump finished seventh in the national averages last season with an average of 9.54 for Peterborough who have now dropped down into the Premier League.

He is in the Grand Prix line-up and was the final stage winner at Hackney in 1996.

Purchase said: "I'm delighted to have signed two fine riders. Jason is determined to get a ten-plus average. He rides Oxford so well and I believe he can do it.

"Steve Schofield is hoping to put last year's nightmare behind him. He couldn't get on with the tyres, and as they are now back to the '96 type, he is raring to go alongside Jason. I was delighted Poole couldn't fit him in this year."

A star on the grasstrack scene, Schofield will prove a dependable middle order rider. He finished on a 5.52 average last year.

Purchase admits it's been hard work formulating a team, but said it was coming together. "I'm going all out to give Oxford a good side. It's like a drug at the moment," he added.

The Oxford boss, in his first year of promotion, promises two more names tomorrow.

One of them could be former Wolves' Swedish ace Peter Karlsson.

Also on the shortlist are Lawrence Hare, Paul Hurry and Jan Steachmann.

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