Jason Crump is confident Oxford Cheetahs will relish conditions at the Ecco Arena in the second leg of their Knockout Cup first-round tie against Redcar Bears.

The newly-reformed club travel north with a four-point lead after Wednesday’s 47-43 victory at Oxford Stadium.

Club captain Scott Nicholls starred on the night, posting 11 points from five rides, while guest Dan Gilkes stole the show with an outstanding 12+1 haul at reserve.

READ MORE: Guest rider top-scores for Oxford Cheetahs in tense win over Redcar

The Bears grew into the meeting as the evening went on and registered race advantages in heats nine, 13 and 15 to setup a tense finale in Yorkshire.

Tapes-up is at 7.30pm and team manager Crump thinks Bears’ 271-metre track will suit the style of his squad.

“Redcar is a great racing track,” he said.

“I’m sure our boys will like going there – it’s always well prepared and is a fair circuit to ride on.

“We have the talent to win this tie on aggregate, there’s no doubt about it. At the moment, we’re struggling to get five or six of the boys firing during a meeting.

“We definitely haven’t had all seven firing at the same time. That’s a challenge for Peter (Schroeck) and myself – and the riders too, they know that.

“We’ll have to dig deep and work hard if we’re to find that perfect formula.”

Cheetahs number one Troy Batchelor and heat leader Jack Thomas made the most of their time at Oxford Stadium following Wednesday’s meeting and completed several practice laps.

Crump admitted the Australian has been in search of the perfect mechanical setup – and has backed him to return to form sooner rather than later.

“Troy has been struggling mechanically, he’s borrowing some engines and trying a few different things,” he said.

“The practice laps he put in after the meeting will serve him well.

“We obviously don’t have the lead we had after a handful of races, but we’re ahead which is the main thing and we’ve got to use that to our advantage.”

The meeting is live on the British Speedway Network.