Newport Wasps v Edinburgh Monarchs

REPORT Sunday 17th June 2007, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  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.

Full Result Details