Newport 53 Rest of the World 39: Mar 26th 2011

Newport Wasps Vs Rest of the World select (home)
26th March 2011

Newport Wasps
1: Leigh Lanham: 2 2 3 3 3 = 13
2: Mark Jones: 0 0 1’ 0 = 1+1
3: Robin Aspegren: 3 1’ 3 3 F = 10+1
4: Kyle Legault: 2’ 2 1 3 = 8+1
5: Kim Nilsson: 2 3 1 1 = 7
6: Alex Davies: 3 1 3 2’ = 9+1
7: Todd Kurtz: 2’ 1’ 2 0 = 5+2

Rest of the World
1: Adam Shields: 3 3 2 R = 8
2: Jay Herne: 1 0 3 0 = 4
3: Justin Sedgmen: 1 2 2 4! 1’ = 10+1
4: Thomas Jorgensen: 0 0 1’ 1 = 2+1
5: David Howe: 3 3 2 2 2 = 12
6: Robert Branford: 0 1 0 1 = 2
7: James White Williams: 1 0 0 0 = 1

Heat 1: Shields, Lanham, Herne, Jones 2-4 2-4
Heat 2: Davies, Kurtz, Williams, Branford 5-1 7-5
Heat 3: Aspegren, Legault, Sedgmen, Jorgensen 5-1 12-6
Heat 4: Howe, Nilsson, Kurtz, Williams 3-3 15-9
Heat 5: Shields, Legault, Aspegren, Herne 3-3 18-12
Heat 6: Howe, Lanham, Branford, Jones 2-4 20-16
Heat 7: Nilsson, Sedgmen, Davies, Jorgensen 4-2 24-18
Heat 8: Herne, Kurtz, Jones, Williams 3-3 27-21
Heat 9: Aspegren, Howe, Legault, Branford 4-2 31-23
Heat 10: Lanham, Sedgmen, Jorgensen, Jones 3-3 34-26
Heat 11: Davies, Shields, Nilsson, Herne 4-2 38-28
Heat 12: Aspegren, Sedgmen (Tactical), Branford, Kurtz 3-5 41-33
Heat 13: Lanham, Howe, Nilsson, Shields (Retired) 4-2 45-35
Heat 14: Legault, Davies, Jorgensen, Williams 50-36
Heat 15: Lanham, Howe, Sedgmen, Aspegren (Fell) 53-39

The Wasps got their season off to a fine start with a 14 point win over the Rest of the World, and it should have been more.

The home side showed good form and it was most pleasing to see Swedish star Robin Aspegren bounce back to form with a 10+1 score, and it should most certainly of been higher. He was comfortably holding second place in heat 15 behind team mate Leigh Lanham before pulling a locker and taking a tumble.

Aspegren was superb throughout, riding some sensational first and second bends which ensured that despite missing the gate, he was leading going into the third and fourth bends.

After a disappointing return last weekend, Aspegren was keen to show the fans just what he was capable and he more than succeeded in his mission.

He was superbly backed up by captain Leigh Lanham. The Wasps number one took two rides to settle down but reeled three wins off after and ended on a high.

He was on the wrong end of two 5-1s in his opening two rides but used his track craft to work his way from the back to reduce those 5-1s into 4-2s.

The other big star for the Wasps was Alex Davies who, barring a rider error from Kim Nilsson in heat 7, would probably of netted a paid maximum.

Davies and Nilsson gated on a 5-1 over Justin Sedgmen but Nilsson took Davies very wide exiting turn 2. Clearly Nilsson was unaware that this was his team mate though.

Apart from that, Davies was superb and was the only rider to genuinely lower Adam Shields’ colours in heat 11. Davies went around the Elite League heatleader in super style and rode a magnificent 4 laps to hold him off.

Kyle Legault and Nilsson went quietly about their business tonight although many will feel there is plenty more to come from both over the course of the season.

Todd Kurtz was another who went quietly about his business with five paid seven and the only Wasp who appeared to struggle somewhat was Mark Jones.

The Australian gained his only points in heat 8 when defeating James White Williams although he was very unlucky to concede a point in heat 10 to Thomas Jorgensen.

Jones led Jorgensen by some distance but going into turns three and four of lap three, he locked the bike right up and done well to stay on the bike. Sadly he allowed Jorgensen past him although he very nearly re-took third place on the final lap.

Adam Shields started like a train but was well defeated by Davies in heat 11 before packing up in heat 13 with an engine failure whilst in a cracking race with Lanham.

Howe was very good for the visitors and received back up from Sedgmen but apart from a heat win from Herne in heat 8, the visitors had no other consistent scorers.

The Wasps fans will be over the moon to see such a turn around in form from Aspegren and will be hoping for a few more points from Nilsson and Legault especially as they take on the Somerset Rebels next weekend.

But against a select team with three strong heatleaders, the Wasps on the whole performed very well and will definitely be hoping for a win next Saturday as they open their League account against the Somerset Rebels with a start time of 7pm once again.