Oxford Cheetahs hope that skipper Jesper B Jensen will shake off the effects of 'flu to lead the side against Coventry Bees at Oxford Stadium tonight (7.30pm).

The meeting is being televised live on Sky Sports, but promoter Aaron Lanney is urging Oxford fans to turn out in their numbers to cheer on the team none- theless.

"We have made a lot of people sit up and take notice with our superb win on Friday," he said.

"The team are on something of a high and I'm urging fans to turn out in force to cheer us on.

"The lads are in a really buoyant mood and are confident of making it two wins in four days."

Coventry areregarded as one of the favourites to lift the championship this year, but while the Cheetahs were scoring an emphatic victory over Belle Vue, Coventry were lucky to scrape a 46-44 home win over Poole.

Oxford have an excellent record at Sandy Lane against tonight's opponents.

In the 60 league matches raced over the years, Oxford have won 39 of them to Coventry's 19.

But Cheetahs team manager Mick Horton is not reading too much into those figures, nor the fact that the Bees struggled on their home circuit against Poole.

"We know it's going to be a tough match and past results count for nothing tonight," he said.

Pepe Protasiewicz is proving a good signing for Cheetahs and, with Ales Dryml gaining confidence by the meeting things are looking good for Cheetahs.

Those two, aided by the superb form of Freddie Eriksson and new signing Andy Smith, will look to take the sting out of the Bees, led by the country's top rider, Scott Nicholls.

Oxford: Jensen, Smith, Dryml, Johnston, Protasiewicz, Eriksson, Andersson.

Coventry: Nicholls, Janniro, Schlein, Allen, Harris, Risager, Smolinski.