Wasps win again

NEWPORT Mike Manning Audio Wasps posted a superb win in the North-East of England on Sunday night, but remain in eighth position in the British Premier League table.

However they have no less than five fixtures in hand in which to claw back the single point they trail seventh-placed Rye House Rockets.

Dashing Dane Charlie Gjedde was again the star of the show in recording a magnificent 18-point maximum as the Wasps followed up Friday's win at Edinburgh Monarchs.

The Wasps began by again using the rider-replacement facility for the unavailable Jason Doyle while the hosts included two former Newport riders in skipper Mark Lemon and Kyle Newman.

A third, Joe Haines, was ruled out with injury and his place at reserve went to guest rider James Sarjeant, of National League side Stoke Potters.

Anders Mellgren came out as Doyle's r/r on the first with Charlie Gjedde and they faced Lemon and Derek Sneddon - with Gjedde taking the chequered flag, but Mellgren fourth for an opening-race 3-3.

The Wasps took the reserves' race 4-2, Mark Jones and Todd Kurtz being split by Richie Worrall, to gain an early lead.

Mellgren was out again in three, this time with Robin Aspegren against Newman and Stuart Robson.

However Mellgren was excluded from the re-run after he tangled with Newman, who withdrew from the meeting with a leg injury, on turn one - the third successive heat the bend had caused problems.

As everyone waited for the re-run, a discussion between both camps surrounding a safety issue on bend one - although the meeting got under way again with Sarjeant in place of the hospital-bound Newman.

A second re-run was ordered when Sarjeant fell on bend two with Robson eventually heading home Aspegren and his guest team-mate for a 4-2 win to make it 9-9 overall.

Heat four saw Wasps skipper Leigh Lanham on track for the first time and he won it in front of Claes Nedermark with Worrall third and Kurtz last for another 3-3.

Gjedde and Aspegren combined to beat Robson and Sarjeant 4-2 in the next, but Newcastle won race six by the same score with Lanham splitting Sneddon and Lemon with Jones last.

Wasps suffered a 5-1 blow against them when Aspegren went from second to last in seven, won by Nedermark and Sarjeant with Mellgren third.

Gjedde took eight’s chequered flag, but Kurtz failed to score and there was more bad news in nine, which the home side won 4-2.

Lanham could only come second behind Robson with Sarjeant beating Jones and at this stage, Newcastle held sway at 30-24.

But Mellgren and Aspegren reduced the arrears by gaining a 4-2 over Sneddon and Lemon and parity was gained at 33-33 when Gjedde and Lanham blasted Worrall and Nedermark 5-1.

Soon the advantage lay with the Wasps as Jones won heat 12 with Aspegren third behind Worrall for a 4-2 and after Nedermark was excluded from race 13's re-run, Gjedde and Lanham took advantage by winning 5-1 from Lemon.

From being 30-23 down, the Wasps had rallied to being 42-36 ahead in only a quartet of races - and, more importantly, they now had a seven-points-or-more win target in their sights.

Heat 14 saw Jones in as a reserve replacement for Kurtz and he and Mellgren earned a 3-3 as a result of finishing behind Robson.

With just one heat remaining, Wasps led 45-39 and of they were to gain a fifth, away four-point league win of the season, then they needed to win the 15th outright.

With Gjedde on an 18-point maxiumum finish he was nominated with Lanham and they faced Robson and Sneddon.

And with Gjedde clinching his sixth successive win and Lanham doing his bit to finish third behind Robson, the 4-2 victory gave the Wasps the full four points.

Newcastle Diamonds 41: 1 - Mark Lemon (capt) 4(4); 2 - Derek Seddon 8+1(5); 3 - Kyle Newman 0(1); 4 - Stuart Robson 13(5); 5 - Claes Nedermark 5(4); 6 - James Sarjeant (guest for Joe Haines) 2(5); 7 - Richie Worrall 9+3(7).

Newport Mike Manning Audio Wasps 49: 1 - Charlie Gjedde 18(6); 2 - Rider replacement for Jason Doyle (); 3 - Robin Aspegren 5(4); 4 - Anders Mellgren 6(5); 5 - Leigh Lanham (capt) 12+2(6); 6 - Mark Jones 7(5); 7 - Todd Kurtz 1(3).