Craig Watson, Newport Wasps skipper, faces a race against time if he is to compete, along with team-mate Pavel Ondrasik, in the Premier League riders chase at King's Lynn tonight.

Watson was one of the Newport riders to suffer with engine problems late in the dramatic Premier League meeting at Reading on Monday, left on the line in final heat with a shattered engine.

A similar fate was suffered by Mads Korneliussen and the mechanical gremlins also attacked Carl Wilkinson's machine in a nightmare finish to the meeting which saw Wasps lose by six points after going into heat 14 leading 40-38 but suffered two 5-1 setbacks.

Watson said: "It was sickening. We were very disappointed and there wasn't a smiling face in the pits afterwards. It was not a happy camp, especially coming so close to an away win that we needed."

Watson suffered a £2,500 blow and he said yesterday: "I have a whole heap of broken engine parts - and that's about all. We've the chassis in the workshop but no engines.

"We really don't know what what we are doing and if I don't get a motor back we might no be able to go.

"I pride myself on being reliable and this motor was only two months old and I'm very upset about that. This could not have happened at a worse time for me because the Grand Prix final qualifier for next season is not far away. We are in dire straits at the moment."

The Premier League chase is the resurrection of an old meeting which used to be staged at Hackney and Keith 'Buster' Chapman, the Norfolk track's promoter, said: "It was a massive meeting but it was expensive to run and they ran out of sponsors. The event will be run on exactly the same lines and I can't wait for the start. It is real cut and thrust speedway - one ride and you could be out.

"It has also captured the imagination and fans started arriving yesterday. Tim Stone, Newport promoter, said: "It is a good line-up and if it proves successful then may be it will become a permanent fixture in the speedway calendar, just like our New Year Classic meeting."

Premier League result: Isle of Wight 50 - Stoke 44