NEWPORT Wasps bounced back from their heavy loss at Exeter last Friday with an improved display against Newcastle Falcons last night.

They still remain bottom of their Premier Trophy group, however, after losing last night's meeting.

The Welsh side eventually lost a keenly contested meeting 56-34, but the score betrays how close yesterday's encounter actually was.

Trailing by just six points going into the eighth heat, Wasps battled hard but could not prevent the home side from pulling away and winning by 22 points.

Some strong starts for the Falcons made all the difference, and once they established a lead they didn't look like losing it.

Wasps, though, can take heart from the fact that, apart from Tommy Palmer, all the riders scored some useful points.

One of the Wasps' failings in recent weeks has been the inability of the lower order to put points on the board.

But last night the Newport side showed signs of doing just that, and if they can continue in this kind of form they will start to win sooner rather than later. Tim Stone's side were just happy to be leaving the North East with all their riders in one piece.

Australian Scott Smith was involved in an horrendous crash in heat 10 which he was lucky to walk away from relatively unscathed.

Going into the first bend, Smith and the Newcastle Falcons' rider Richard Grant collided. The result was a crash which had everyone in the stadium fearing the worst. Both riders crashed into the safety fence around the edge of the track, causing several meters of it to be ripped off.

Smith was sent careering through the closed pit gates, and he finally came to a halt underneath the dog track rail on the other side. Miraculously neither Smith nor Grant was injured, though it did take officials from both clubs half-an-hour to clear the track of the resulting debris.