Oxford Fox FM Cheetahs suffered some first-night gremlins at Brandon as they were comfortably beaten by Coventry in Saturday's Challenge match.

Cheetahs, one of the favourites to lift the Elite League title this season, went into their first taste of action with plenty of confidence, but things started badly in heat one.

Oxford Cheetah Andrew Appleton

With Todd Wiltshire clearly out of sorts, the Bees pair of Greg Hancock and Stuart Robson gated ahead of him and in the heavy track conditions, there was no way back. Lukas Dryml fell at the back and having got trapped under his machine, the race was stopped and awarded as a maximum heat win to Coventry.

New signing Andrew Appleton scorched from the gate to take the lead in heat two, and when Ales Dryml flew around the outside of bends one and two to join him, Cheetahs looked set to repay the compliment. However, Dryml then suffered an engine failure, gifting Coventry a drawn heat.

It was the Bees' turn to suffer some ill fortune in heat three when Andreas Jonsson touched the tapes and suffered a 15-metre handicap.

The fast-gating Lee Richardson took the lead, but ex-Coventry captain Brian Andersen was having a terrific scrap with him for first place before he hit a slimy patch on the track and went down. Three heats gone and Coventry were six points up, but Oxford had only got three riders home!

A shared heat followed and there was more trouble in heat five when Wiltshire again had bike problems, Richardson and Jonsson easily taking maximum points ahead of Lukas Dryml.

Oxford started to fight back and out of the following five heats, four of them were shared, keeping the visitors in with a shout, although there was still a 12-point deficit at the interval stage.

Coventry were certainly in no mood to relax and a succession of 4-2 heat advantages had the meeting sewn up by heat 12.

Cheetahs did not use any tactical substitutions as there was nothing at stake and they wanted to give all the riders the maximum chance on track.

One bright spot came in heat 14 when Andersen and Ales Dryml made a superb gate to take the lead. Andersen then gave the young Czech a lesson in team-riding, watching for him on every bend despite the fact that Jonsson was on his tail.

In the end, Jonsson fell, causing a re-run, and the Cheetahs pair had to do it all again.

Oxford team manager Colin Meredith said: "It was just one of those nights. Our riders could not get to grips with the starts as they just kept spinning, but it will be a different story at Cowley on Friday night."

Coventry: Greg Hancock 8+1, Stuart Robson 5+1, Lee Richardson 12, Andreas Jonsson 4+2, Billy Hamill 15, Billy Janniro 4, Paul Lee 5+1. 53pts.

Oxford: Todd Wiltshire 3, Lukas Dryml 1, Steve Johnston 8+1, Brian Andersen 5, Leigh Adams 11, Andrew Appleton 4+1, Ales Dryml 5+2. 37pts.

HEAT DETAILS

Heat 1: Robson, Hancock, Wiltshire, L Dryml (f) awarded.

Heat 2: Appleton, Janniro, Lee, A Dryml (ef) 66.1 secs.

Heat 3: Richardson, Johnston, Jonsson, Andersen (f) 64.2.

Heat 4: Hamill, Adams, A Dryml, Lee 62.6.

Heat 5: Richardson, Jonsson, L Dryml, Wiltshire (ef) 62.5.

Heat 6: Hancock, Adams, Appleton, Robson (f) 63.7.

Heat 7: Hamill, Andersen, Johnston, Janniro 63.7.

Heat 8: Lee, A Dryml, Robson, L Dryml 64.3.

Heat 9: Adams, Richardson, Jonsson, Appleton 62.2.

Heat 10: Johnston, Hancock, Robson, Andersen 64.2.

Heat 11: Hamill, Wiltshire, Janniro, L Dryml 63.6.

Heat 12: Richardson, Johnston, Lee, Appleton 64.4.

Heat 13: Hamill, Adams, Hancock, Wiltshire 63.3.

Heat 14: Andersen, A Dryml, Janniro, Jonsson (f) 64.9.

Heat 15: Hamill, Adams, Richardson, Johnston 64.2.