Newport Wasps 49 Stoke Potters 41

Newport Wasps grabbed a great result to take to Newcastle tonight as they beat Stoke at Hayley Stadium yesterday afternoon.

The Wasps go up north again to visit Newcastle because their previous meeting on May 6 was abandoned because of fog.

But while Newport, who got off to a dodgy start to their Premier League meeting, will be happy with this, quite what Stoke were playing at during the afternoon, only they know.

The Potters found themselves without reserve Lee Hodgson after just one heat when he pulled up on the side of the track and sat on the grass clearly not well.

Because Hodgson's injury was not speedway related, the rules meant that he was, in all respects, still part of the meeting and Stoke could not replace him with another rider in any further heats.

Maybe there was a feeling of sympathy for Hodgson, but Stoke's other problems at Hayley Stadium were rather more self inflicted.

One particular incident saw Alan Mogridge miles in front of Wasps' captain Craig Watson with less than a lap left only for him to slide off his bike when victory was assured.

And Mark Burrows broke the tape in the next heat to earn himself a 15-metre handicap on the re-run.

Also Burrows was involved in another bizarre incident when he got excluded from heat eight after getting tangled with his own team-mate Will Beveridge on the first corner.

Needless to say that Newport took advantage of these mishaps and also powered their way to other 5-1 maximums during the meeting.

Watson was, again, superb in grabbing 16 match points from six rides, winning four of them and coming second in the other two.

Frank Smart won two heats as did reserve Carl Wilkinson as the Wasps hoisted themselves further up the league table.

Now they hope to maintain the momentum in the North East, with Smart saying: "We were winning the match at Newcastle before it was called off. Hopefully we will have a repeat performance."

Scores: Newport Wasps: C Watson (captain) 16, L Dicken 5 + 2, E Lindqvist 2, S Smith 7 + 2, F Smart 9 + 2, B Evans 2, C Wilkinson 8.

Stoke Potters: P Pickering (captain) 7, M Burrows 1, A Mogridge 10 + 1, T Atkin 3 + 1, D Bird 15, W Beveridge 5 + 1, L Hodgson 0.

* In the picture: Wasps' Scott Smith recovers his bike after a fall.