Newport Wasps v Edinburgh Monarchs

We travelled to Newport wondering if a 26 point lead would be enough for the bonus, but came back with all three points.

It wouldn't be quite fair to the rest of the team to say that this was due to Lee Complin's amazing performance guesting for Matthew, but that certainly had a lot to do with it!

It's hard to find words to describe Complin's quality - he didn't gate all that well but rode fierce committed first corners, and continued to ride a wide line in spectacular leg trailing style throughout his seven rides, which included the last heat decider.

We shared the opening heat behind Hedley, who is very effective at home. Then we had our first sight of Complin, who went ahead down the back straight and powered clear, screaming into the turns in a leg-trailing style and not letting up till the chequered flag. It was certainly an encouraging sight for us and a sign of things to come!

Ronnie had no problems winning heat 3 in an even quicker time than Complin, and less than a second outside the track record.

Heat 4 brought controversy. Chris Schramm led but lost it on the fourth turn and nearly stopped. Complin and Moller had to take avoiding action, and in doing so Henrik lost a chain. Barry Burchatt fell at the back.

Instead of blaming Schramm, Jim McGregor excluded Burchatt and Moller. We did gain a point in the rerun though as Complin took his second win.

Over the next three heats though, we lost 1-5, 2-4, 2-4 to go 5 down and thoughts turned back to the bonus point again. What was notable though was that the Wasps seemed to be using up Rajkowski's rides fairly speedily.

Hedley had had three wins so far, but he was kept at the back of heat 8 by Derek Sneddon. It was another Complin victory and Burchatt in second took his first points.

However Henrik offered a weak challenge in heat 9 as Morris and Rajkowski took a 5-1. The Raj had now taken 5 rides in 9 heats, and won his last two after changing bikes. The Wasps led 30-23.

Correy and Complin teamed up for a heat 10 5-1 (Correy did well to come off gate 4), then we faced Rajkowski again. He tangled with Derek on the way to the first bend and both came down - with possible damage to the Pole's machine.

We shared the rerun behind Schramm with Rajkowski at the back.

Heat 12 was Lee Complin's only defeat. Once again Ronnie controlled the first turn but Morris got between our riders and concentrated successfully on baulking the faster Complin.

We were now just a point down and the Wasps had to include the out-of-place Nick Simmons in heat 13. Theo and Henrik took a 5-1, and now we were three ahead with two heats left.

It could still have slipped away. Another great first turn by Complin took him ahead in heat 14, and Andrew Tully was right amongst Schramm and Rajkowski battling for what could have been the match-winning point. He slipped off on the third lap and seemed to slide between the home men, then quickly getting his bike off the track to allow Complin a clear run.

Ronnie and Lee against Phil Morris and Tom Hedley. Wasps won the toss, took 1 and 3. The danger was that Morris would barge across the corner and then anything could happen.

Ronnie made sure that didn't happen. He gated quickly and moved right over to the line giving Morris no room to manouevre, and allowing Hedley and Complin a clear run. Complin was the more aggressive and went ahead on the pits turn. That's how it stayed, a 4-2 for a memorable 47-42 victory.

Newport Wasps v Edinburgh Monarchs

Sunday sees the team travel to Newport for their second away league match of the season, this time with a real chance of winning the bonus point.

Newport is fast turning into one of our graveyard tracks. Last year we lost our league match there by 31 points so the 26 point lead we take by no means guarantees the bonus point. The injury to Matthew Wethers on Friday means that we are missing both our reserves, a crucial blow when you consider the bottom end scoring power Matthew and Daniele brought to the team. Even stand-in reserve, Jack Roberts, who rode so well on Friday is unavailable. Sam Martin takes Daniele?s place but, at the time of writing, we don?t know who will replace Matthew.

Stoke, too, have problems with Tony Atkin likely to be missing as a result of the leg injury he picked up on Friday. The Wasps will have to use Rider Replacement in his place. This will give an extra ride option to Chris Schramm, Tom Hedley and the two reserves.

Stoke have a very low average team but have turned in some good results. Last week they beat Glasgow comfortably at home by 54-38, enough for the bonus point in their seven point defeat at Ashfield. They have lost twice at home, both in Premier Trophy group matches, to the Isle of Wight and Rye House, but both of those were in the days when Michal Rajkowski was earning the low average which has taken him to reserve and has since seen him take seven rides per meeting most of the time to record some phenomenal scores. Tom Hedley was also finding his feet at that time and has improved to the point where he scored a maximum against Glasgow last week.

On balance Newport are better placed to face this match than Edinburgh but they are vulnerable. Nick Simmons has struggled at number 1 and is usually restricted to the minimum three races. Phil Morris and Chris Schramm blow hot and cold and Barry Burchatt is not the strongest of reserves.

But it?s that man Rajkowski who will matter most. Another huge score from the Newport reserve will almost certainly end any chance we have of taking anything other than the bonus point and even that may then be beyond us.

With the reserves unlikely to contribute what we are used to from that department of the team, everything will depend on the top five. The responsibility falls on Theo and Ronnie to produce double figures scores against a team which the averages tell us have no real heat leader. Derek?s gating will be so important and we need an improved performance from Henrik, too, firing on all cylinders from the start. Andrew makes his Newport debut in the Premier League so it?s difficult to assess how he will take to the track.

Even though Newport are not one of the strongest teams we have to face away from home, it?s hard to be optimistic about the outcome given the circumstances. The bonus point would be very welcome and is perhaps realistically our only hope.

Still it?s a funny old game and at least we are not going into this match on a three in three days schedule due to the postponement of the match at Stoke on Saturday. There?s also the added bonus of my pessimistic preview when you consider how wildly wrong some of my predictions have turned out!