NEWPORT Wasps have suffered a huge early season blow with the news that number one rider Craig Watson, pictured, could be out for up to three months with a serious ankle injury.

The immensely popular Australian heat leader dislocated an ankle and suffered other damage in a nasty fall in the 48-26 Premier League defeat by Stoke at the Hayley Stadium on Sunday.

The 29-year-old had scored three easy heat victories but trailed Stoke's top scoring guest rider Rusty Harrison from the gate in heat 13 when his bike lifted and he fell on the final bend of lap one.

Watson slid along from the pits bend to the start/finish line before being treated and taken to the Royal Gwent Hospital.

He had an immediate operation to put the ankle back in place, but a second operation to repair the ancillary damage was postponed yesterday and is unlikely before Thursday because of inflamation.

The doctors have to decide whether to put a plate in the ankle, insert screws or encapsulate it in a cage to give it time to heal, but because of the inflamation have been forced to delay a decision.

"The initial diagnosis is that Craig will be out for two to three months," said Newport promoter Steve Stone,"but he is hoping to be back sooner than that.

"He is already missing not being on a bike and of course the doctors don't realise that they are not dealing with normal people but with speedway riders, who are a breed apart.

"Craig is certainly intent on being back inside the official diagnosis time."

The injury is the most serious Sydney-born Australian Watson has suffered in his seven seasons with the Wasps since being brought over by Stone, but not the most serious of his career.

While with Poole in the Elite League from 2000-2001 he suffered a bad arm injury and was out for the best part of that first season.

Danish rider Kristian Lund was also injured on Sunday, damaging his back in a first heat incident caused by Stoke's Alan Mogridge falling.

The twenty-year-old won the re-run heat but took no further part in the meeting, though he had returned to the track before the end and will be fit for Sunday's Premier Trophy clash against King's Lynn.