Newport Wasps suffered another fixture setback last night when their Premier Trophy match on the Isle of Wight was a victim of the wet weather.

It was their second successive postponement, the meeting at Exeter the previous evening called off because of rain.

Wasps are without a meeting this weekend, although there is speedway action at Hayley Stadium with the staging of the first round in the British sidecar championship (tapes-up 2.30pm).

l Tony Atkin, Newport skipper, will be riding on his former home track on Saturday, guesting for Workington at Stoke in the Premier Trophy.

Atkin will be riding at reserve, replacing the injured James Wright. Atkin rode for Workington at home to Sheffield last Saturday, scoring a paid eight from five rides (1-0-3-1-2 and a bonus) in a 55-42 success against Sheffield.

Graham Drury, Workington promoter and team manager, said: "Based on the effort that Tony put in at Workington against Sheffield he has gained a booking for Stoke."

* Somerset's Jamie Smith suffered two fractured ribs in a heat eight fall in their 19-point defeat at Newport on Sunday. The Somerset number two took a tactical ride, worth double points, but was excluded from the rerun after a second bend fall and he could be out of action for a few weeks.

Somerset team manager Mick Bell was far from happy with the team display and changes at the Oak Tree Arena could be on the cards, Bell wanting team talks with promoter and owner Peter Toogood.

Somerset also criticised the Hayley Stadium track but riders such as Magnus Zetterstrom, the Somerset number one, didn't experience problems as he dropped only one point in five rides, beaten by Craig Watson in heat 11.

* Stoke's line-up for the visit of the Mavericks tonight includes former Newport riders Luke Priest and Barrie Evans.

Stoke: Justin Elkins, Gary Flint, Luke Priest, Jack Hargreaves, Barrie Evans, Andrew Blackburn, Gareth Isherwood.