Newport Wasps 48 Arena Essex 41

AUSSIE Craig Watson is counting the cost of the sport he loves after three engine blow-outs in recent weeks.

The Newport Wasps skipper has got to find £5,000 to keep his show on the road following his troubles.

And it seemed he was in more machine trouble in the opening heat of yesterday's victory over Arena Essex at Hayley Stadium.

Watson's bike only lasted the first bend before he was forced to call it quits and thought yet another problem had hit him.

However, he was thankful that the trouble this time was only dirt which shorted-out his spark plugs and, after a bit of repair, he was able to continue in the meeting.

If that was not bad enough for the Wasps, Watson's partner in crime, Frank Smart, failed to get out of the blocks in his first ride of the afternoon as he stalled on the first bend as well, his chain wrapped around his back wheel.

It all seemed doom and gloom for the home team as Arena Essex's 38-year-old star Kelvin Tatum, a commentator on the sport for television, roared away like greased lighting and threatened to win the meeting almost single-handedly.

But Watson and Smart are made of sterner stuff than that. The pair sorted out their problems and again came to Newport's rescue just when they needed it.

The Wasps were leading by a slender three points going into heat 13 when Watson and Smart were up against the two big guns of the Essex outfit in Tatum and Leigh Lanham.

The odds were not in the home pair's favour but they stormed out of the gate to leave Tatum trailing dead last and secured a 5-1 maximum, with the skipper bringing home the goods.

And they repeated the dose in the final heat of the afternoon, a complete repeat of the line-up in the 13th race. Again Lanham was third, Tatum was last but, this time, Smart beat his boss to the line.

It gave Newport a seven-point advantage to take into the second round, second leg at Purfleet on Friday and Watson said that he and Smart were determined to ruin Tatum's possible maximum.

Watson said: "Me and Frank were really determined to do it. I said to Frank that, for the last heat, I would take gate four but he insisted that he had it. Then he made a really good gate and we were flying. We were determined that he (Tatum) was going to go away from here without a win and a maximum.

"Now we just hope the seven points advantage will be enough."

As for his earlier mishap, Watson said: "I was going around the bend and got a load of dirt pushed into my engine which clogged the spark plugs."

However, it has been a pretty gruesome few weeks for the Wasps' skipper, who blew one of his engines in the first heat when guesting for Poole Pirates on Thursday against Ipswich Witches in the Elite League.

He added: "I've blown three engines in three weeks and I've had two total write-offs. "It's cost me £5,000. One of the engines was brand new."

The back-up team, though, helped the Wasps lead riders to capture the lead over their opponents.

Lee Dicken scored seven points, reserve Carl Wilkinson got nine, while Emil Lindqvist and Scott Smith scored six and five points respectively.

Team manager Neil Street was hopeful the advantage will be enough to secure their third round place.

Scores: Newport Wasps: Craig Watson 10+1, Lee Dicken 7+3, Emil Lindqvist 6+1, Scott Smith 5+1, Frank Smart 10+1, Barrie Evans 2, Carl Wilkinson 9.

Arena Essex: Kelvin Tatum 12, Colin White 7, Shaun Tacey 3+2, Leigh Lanham 13+1, Scott Courtney 1, Lee Herne 5.

* In the picture: Newport Wasps' Scott Smith gets lift off against Arena Essex.