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| |  | BIRMINGHAM head into tonight’s Perry Barr clash with Oxford (7.30pm) still chasing their first points of the season in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership.
The Curtis Sport Brummies were beaten 49-41 at Cowley in the Monday lunchtime fixture, where they put in a competitive performance but paid the penalty for giving the Spires the advantage in the early stages.
Brummies, in fact, made the worst possible start to the meeting when they conceded a 5-1 from the opening race, although Paco Castagna certainly made Maciej Janowski work for it before the Spires No.1 made it around the outside to join his partner Erik Riss.
Danyon Hume and Jason Edwards tucked in behind new Oxford signing Craig Cook in Heat 2, but the visitors quickly found themselves eight points down as Charles Wright and Peter Kildemand gated to a 5-1 in the next, although the Dane nearly ran into his team-mate on the last bend.
Boss Chris Adams switched reserves in Heat 4 with Hume taking the ride from the inside, and he made a good start but was quickly rounded by a revitalised Rohan Tungate as the race was shared.
Brummies were far more competitive after the first track grade, and Tobiasz Musielak became their first race winner with a fine first lap in Heat 5 to make it around the outside whilst Castagna held third over Kildemand.
Michael Jepsen Jensen trapped smartly from the inside to win a shared Heat 6, and a 3-3 was also the outcome in the next although Tungate, who fended off an early challenge from Keynan Rew, did appear to get the benefit of a rolling start, whilst Jonas Jeppesen charged inside Cook for third.
A 4-2 from Riss and Luke Killeen in Heat 8 sat the home side move eight up again, but a tactical substitution for the Brummies paid dividends in the next as Jepsen Jensen made another fast start whilst Musielak burst between Wright and Kildemand for a big 5-1.
However, just as Birmingham thought they were back in contention, the Spires hit straight back in Heat 10 with Janowski using the outside to good effect as he and Riss took the maximum over Rew and Jeppesen.
Musielak became the first rider to defeat Tungate in Heat 11 but a potential Brummies 4-2 was negated when Cook made it around Castagna heading into the last lap for a 3-3.
That turned out to be the first of a series of shared races, with Hume battling hard to re-pass Killeen for third place in Heat 12 whilst Wright won for the Spires ahead of Jeppesen.
Jepsen Jensen and Musielak threw everything at Janowski in Heat 13 but the Oxford skipper held on, and Cook made the match safe for the hosts by winning the penultimate race although Kildemand fell on the second lap under pressure from Jason Edwards.
And Jepsen Jensen then added an outstanding win in Heat 15 with a top-class first lap to get the better of Janowski, with Musielak just missing out on this occasion on a crowded second bend.
Adams said: “We kept it close, and we’ll see if we can go for the win and the aggregate point tonight.
“It’s been a tough start to the season, including having to make the changes last week, but there’s still a way to go.”
The line-ups for tonight’s return fixture at Perry Bar are unchanged.
OXFORD 49: Maciej Janowski 11+2, Erik Riss 11+2, Charles Wright 9, Rohan Tungate 8, Craig Cook 7+1, Peter Kildemand 2+1, Luke Killeen 1.
BIRMINGHAM 41: Michael Jepsen Jensen 13, Tobiasz Musielak 9+2, Keynan Rew 6, Danyon Hume 4+2, Jason Edwards 4+2, Jonas Jeppesen 3+1, Paco Castagna 2.
Photo credit: STEVE EDMUNDS
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