OXFORD Cheetahs could not make home advantage count in the Championship Pairs.

The home line-up of Scott Nicholls and Aaron Summers finished fourth in Group B in front of a capacity crowd of 3,000 people at Sandy Lane.

The teams to progress from Cheetahs’ group, Redcar Bears and Poole Pirates, met in the final as the north east side won 7-2 to take the title after Steve Worrall retired.

There was a celebratory atmosphere at Sandy Lane on the day it was confirmed greyhound racing would return next month.

The top riders from the ten Championship teams faced off in round-robin groups to determine the semi-finalists, with 20 heats in all.

Cheetahs started badly as Nicholls finished third and Summers retired from their race against Berwick Bandits.

They swapped positions against Redcar and Poole in the next two heats, but the duo ended on a high.

Cheetahs led from the front against Plymouth Gladiators, with Nicholls taking the win ahead of Summers.

Glasgow Tigers rider Benjamin Basso won his five races, but came unstuck in the semi-final as Redcar duo Charles Wright and Lewis Kerr finished second and third to claim a 5-4.

SCORERS

GROUP 1

LEICESTER 26: Richie Worrall 15, Nick Morris 11.

GLASGOW 21: Benjamin Basso 16, Danyon Hume 5.

SCUNTHORPE 16: James Wright 8, Simon Lambert 8.

EDINBURGH 15: Paco Castagna 8, Kye Thomson 7.

BIRMINGHAM 12: Justin Sedgmen 12, James Pearson 0.

GROUP 2

REDCAR 25: Charles Wright 14, Lewis Kerr 11.

POOLE 22: Danny King 12, Steve Worrall 10.

BERWICK 22: Chris Harris 11, Jye Etheridge 11.

OXFORD 13: Scott Nicholls 8, Aaron Summers 5.

PLYMOUTH 8: Adam Roynon 6, Ben Morley 2.

SEMI-FINAL 1: S.Worrall, Morris, King, R.Worrall – Poole beat Leicester 6-3.

SEMI-FINAL 2: Basso, Wright, Kerr, Hume – Redcar beat Glasgow 5-4.

GRAND FINAL: Wright, Kerr, King, S.Worrall (ret) – Redcar beat Poole 7-2.