Oxford Spires will race for the final time on Thursday as just the Cheetahs & Chargers will race in 2026

BETGOODWIN Oxford Spires will complete their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership fixtures when they host Leicester Lions at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium on Thursday (September 25) at 7.30pm in a re-arranged fixture. But the meeting is much more than that – since it will be the FINAL time that the Oxford Spires take to the track.

At the start of 2024, Oxford Speedway uniquely entered a team at all three levels of league racing in British Speedway, entering the Oxford Spires at the top level of the sport, in addition to the Oxford Cheetahs in the second-tier Cab Direct Championship and the Oxford Chargers in the third-tier development league, the WSRA National League. Oxford Speedway repeated that bold three-team experiment for a second year this season.

But, due to new exciting forthcoming developments in 2026, with growing speculation that the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership and Cab Direct Championship are set to merge, there will only be two teams at Oxford in 2026 – the Cheetahs and the Chargers.

Oxford promoter Jamie Courtney said: “For two seasons, we’ve proudly entered Oxford Speedway at all three levels of the British Speedway pyramid. During that time, we’ve held over 30 meetings at home per season and become the busiest speedway stadium in the world.

“British Speedway is about to enter an exciting new era. With that in mind, I can confirm that the Spires will be involved in their final-ever meeting on Thursday against Leicester. The Cheetahs is the club’s traditional name and the name that our supporters would wish for us to continue. We will be entering just the Cheetahs and Chargers to race at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium in 2026.”

Tickets for Spires’ last-ever meeting are now on sale on the Oxford Speedway website at: https://oxfordspeedway.club/tickets/

Admission is available at the early bird price of £23 for all adults, which increases to £25 on Race Day. All under-16s go free. A reminder that Oxford Speedway is online ticket sales only – tickets remain on sale on the website until the start-time of the meeting. Spectators are also reminded that they will need to pay £2 if they are planning to park in the Unipart car park.

The meeting was previously rained off on Thursday, September 4. Any tickets bought online for the original staging have automatically transferred across to the new date. Supporters will have received an email that also offered a refund if they cannot make the new date.

There are two meetings at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium this week, since the SD Timmo Car Sales powered by County Plumbing Supplies will host Redcar Bears in the second leg of their MAXiCab Knockout Cup semi-final at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium this coming Sunday (September 28). Please note the start-time of 5pm. The first leg is up at Redcar on Friday (September 26) and the aggregate winners will progress to the final to face either Poole or Glasgow.

There are four meetings in four days featuring Oxford sides, since the Real Mini Company Oxford Chargers are involved in their final WSRA National League fixture at Redcar on Saturday afternoon (September 27) at 3pm. Victory against the Middlesbrough Tigers would clinch a second NL title in three seasons for Chargers.

Words by Oxford Speedway – Feature Image by Mark Lee-Sing