THE Pebley Beach Robins lost ground in the race for the Sky Sports Elite League play-offs , going down to a last heat decider at Oxford Stadium last night.

Too many of the team were off the boil, especially Lee Richardson who looked a pale image of the rider who dominated in previous outings.

He managed only three points leaving Leigh Adams (13), Sebastian Ulamek (10), and Adrtan Miedzinski (paid 11) to carry the work load and it just wasn't enough on the night.

Although Adams was again on top of his game round here, he didn't bargain on being beaten twice by Polish ace Adam Skornicki and almost by David Howe who suffered a chain break when looking well in control.

With Renat Gafurov absent injured, the rider-replacement facility didn't really help, yielding five points, but Oxford were fired up for this one and belied their bottom of the table position with some gutsy speedway.

Todd Wiltshire and Skornicki were the top men for Oxford but encouraging performances from reserves Lubos Tomicek and Etic Andersson served then well, especially as Davey Watt had to bow out after two rides after being hit in the nether regions by a flying rock from Wiltshire's back wheel.

Adams got the Robins show on the road in a re-run heat 1 and soon after the impressive Miedzinski saw them creep ahead and when Ulamek and Miedzinski banged in a 5-1 in heat 3 you could sense it just might be Swindon's night.

However, the Cheetahs were not done for yet. Andersson and Howe hit back with maximum points and then Skornicki won the first of his three races to level the scores After Wiltshire and Watt followed that up with a 5-1, the Robins replied in kind as Ulamek was joined by Seb Alden to make it 21-21 after seven heats and there was all to play for.

Mads Korneliussen crashed out in the next and was excluded by referee Mick Bates, but Alden ensured the points were shared in the re-run.

Just as well as soon after the home side smashed in two successive 5-1's to leave the Robins trailing by eight points and things were looking good for Cheetahs.

Then Howe looked to have the beatingof Adams before he shed a chain and the six point advantage was maintained until heat 13.

Just as it looked as though Richardson had come good, he found Wiltshire too hot and could not join winner Adams.

The gap was narrowing and when Ulamek and reserve replacement Miedzinski pulled off a 4-2 in the penultimate heat, the Robins still had a chance.

However, with Adams and Ulamek up against Wiltshire and Skornicki, the Pole raced clear and with Wiltshire tucked in third spot, victory was assured.

OXFORD 47: Skornicki 12, Wiltshire 11, Andersson 9+3, Tomicek 7+1, Eriksson 3+1, Howe 3+1, Watt 2+1

SWINDON 43: Adams 13, Ulamek 10, Midezinski 10+1, Alden 5+1, Richardson 3, Kornelliussen 2 .

HEAT DETAILS

  • Heat 1: (re-run) Adams, Wiltshire, Korneliussen, Watt (f/exc) 59. 7 (2-4)
  • Heat 2: Midezinski, Andersson, Tomicek, Alden (15 mtrs). 59.9 (5-7)
  • Heat 3: Ulamek, Miedzinski, Skornicki, Eriksson 60.5 (6-12)
  • Heat 4: Andersson, Howe, Ricjardson, Alden 60.7 (11-13)
  • Heat 5: Skornicki, Adams, Eriksson, Korneliussen 59.9 (15-15)
  • Heat 6: Wiltshire, Watt, Richardson, Midezinski 59.6 (20-16)
  • Heat 7: Ulamek, Alden, Howe, Tomicek 60.3 (21-21)
  • Heat 8: (re-run) Alden, Tomicek, Andersson, Korneliussen (f/exc) 60.2 (24-24)
  • Heat 9: Skornicki, Eriksson, Miedzinski, Richardson 60.4 (29-25)
  • Heat 10: Wiltshire, Andersson, Ulamek, Kornielussen N/T (34-26)
  • Heat 11: Adams, Tomicek, Kornelliussen, Howe (e/f) (36-30)
  • Heat 12: Miedzinski, Skornicki, Andersson, Ulamek 60.3 (39-33)
  • Heat 13: Adams, Wiltshire, Richardson, Howe 60.2 (41-37)
  • Heat 14: Ulamek, Tomicek, Miedzinski, Eriksson 61.0 (43-41)
  • Heat 15: Skornicki, Adams, Wiltshire, Ulamek 60.9 (47-43)