NEWPORT Everest Group Wasps and Newcastle Diamonds have been involved in very close meetings - the highest margin of a win at the Hayley Stadium being 13 points.

That was in 1998 and honours between the two teams have been even since then. Both have won four times with one meeting drawn.

And the pair lock horns at the Hayley Stadium on Sunday (tapes-up 2.30pm) with the Wasps looking to make home track advantage count.

So Wasps will have to step up a gear if they are to follow up their Edinburgh victory with a similar success, with the in-form Carl Wilkinson hoping to hand out another hiding.

He said: "Hopefully we can turn in a result such as Edinburgh which enables a team to open up a big gap and pick up the bonus points which are crucial."

It may be tough to land a repeat success but one of 20-points plus would be most acceptable for everyone concerned.

Tim Stone, Wasps promoter, said: "They have a potent force in George Stancl, James Grieves and Josef Franc.

"They also have a small track and we will want to see the same determination from our riders as displayed against Edinburgh. It is another Premier League match and we want the points."

l Wasps were 62-31 winners over Edinburgh on the opening day of their Premier League campaign last Sunday, but the biggest league win was 64-26 against Trelawny on September 30, 2001 - the days before double points for tactical rides.

- Neil Collins' performance for the Wasps in their recent Premier Trophy meeting at the Oak Tree Arena was admired by Somerset' team boss Mick Bell.

He said: "Neil seems to save his best performances for us. He was superb and even our own team were applauding his performance.

"We are very quick to knock people in this sport, especially opposing riders, but I would like to put on record how superb I thought Neil was and he was worth the admission money alone.

- Australian rider Todd Wiltshire, who had a spin during the Wasps meeting on Sunday, failed to make any great impression for Oxford in their 32-point Elite League defeat at Peterborough on Tuesday night.

He joint top scored with seven points as Peterborough won all 15 heats and former Wasp Niels Kristian Iversen was one of four home riders to gain a maximum return, a paid 12 points.

Stone said: "Todd had only been back in the country a few days and he wanted to try out new bikes."

- Tim Webster, one of the Mavericks new riders,competes in an individual meeting at Plymouth tomorrow night.