It hardly seems possible that it’s been 18 weeks since we came together to welcome back the Cheetahs, but today they line up at home for the last time in the regeneration season. It seems strange to finish the team’s home slate in the middle of August, but time had to be allowed for the in the calendar for the League playoffs and the Jubilee League final, neither of which will feature the Cheetahs. Only having one rain off (at the time of writing, but with the current weather it seems unlikely there will be another) also brings the end of the season forward, especially if the fixture sadly won’t be rearranged due to Newcastle’s closure. It’s not quite been the fairytale season we were hoping for, but the racing here at Cowley has been excellent all year, and we’ve seen some fantastic speedway as the year has gone on. After a few shaky performances early in the season the team hit its stride late in the year and were sometimes beaten but rarely outclassed over the last month or so. It will be interesting to see how many of the riders from this year return next year – we know Aaron will be retiring (again) over the winter, but now we have a squad who have all put in strong performances around Sandy Lane at one time or another it would be good to keep as many together as possible, but that’s Jamie, Peter, and Jason’s problem for the winter.
Of course, the season doesn’t end just because the Cheetahs have run out of meetings. The Chargers still have two home league fixtures before they (likely) line up in the NDL Playoffs to finish the year. The Chargers have a real chance of bringing home some silverwear, so come along and support them. The racing in the NDL is superb, and the Chargers are very much the form team as the season ends. The changes made over the year bringing in Jody Scott and especially Henry Atkins have really paid off. We’re sure of another tight set of fixtures in the first round of the playoffs, and who knows what happens after that.
It’s customary at this point for me to plug the Raceday Jackpot. This will of course be you last chance to take part this year (when the Chargers ride we operate a 50/50 draw), so come and see us at the gates to get your tickets. £2 gets you 15 changes to win one of three cash prizes, or the money-can’t-buy prize of a centre green trip for heats 14 and 15, where you’ll get to see the last home heat of the 2022 Cheetahs ‘from the middle’. Surely that is reason enough to dig deep and get yourself some raffle tickets!
So here we are tonight against the Edinburgh Monarchs. The league table suggests that this will be a tough test to finish the season, but we know different. We got within six points north of the border earlier in the year, but that was without Scott and Paul, and before Cameron had dropped to reserve. I’m sure the Cheetahs will finish the year strong and avoid the wooden spoon in the Championship, then come back next year and scare the rest of the league. For the last time in 2022…
Go Cheetahs