RE-FORMED Newport Wasps look likely to be without skipper Craig Watson for the whole of the 2009 speedway season after the Australian suffered a serious leg injury at a sun-kissed Hayley Stadium yesterday.

The fact Watson’s countryman Kevin Doolan lifted the Prince of Wales Trophy, a memorial event in the memory of late Newport owner and promoter Tim Stone, seemed almost irrelevant to local fans as they pondered over Watson’s demise. The Sydney-born ace led the field in what for him was to be unlucky heat 13 in which he was seeking a fourth successive victory.

However, he lost control during a wheelie coming out of bend two of the second lap, smashed into the wooden safety barrier and lay stricken on the track for a full 14 minutes before being taken to the city’s Royal Gwent Hospital.

At the time, trackside presenter Shane Childs informed the 1,400 crowd that Watson was complaining of serious pain to the top of his left leg before unconfirmed reports later suggested that he may have broken his fibia.

There’s little doubt that Watson would have made the four-strong final, and indeed, so good was his gating that no-one would have been surprised if he had gone on to take the first prize of £1,000.

Instead the Wasps were represented by their number-one heat leader and Watson’s compatriot Mark Lemon, who had reached the final along with Doolan and Englishmen Ben Barker and David Howe – a three-time winner of the event.

Doolan, of Workington Comets, got away first from the tapes, and although he was pressed hard by Howe throughout the four-lap race, he held on to take the chequered flag with Barker third and Lemon fourth.

Another to come to grief as the venue hosted a meeting for the first time in 11 months was Jason Doyle, of Poole Pirates, who was also taken to hospital after being lodged under part of the track’s air-safety fence following a heat-14 crash.

The double hold-ups meant meeting organisers reducing the scheduled 20-heat qualifying round to 16 on a day when six other Wasps were on show. Of those, Aussie James Holder looked the most impressive in winning one heat and being runner-up in two others.

But Watson’s injury certainly took the gloss off a successful day for the club’s new owner, Steve Mallet, who now faces the difficult task of finding a replacement.

Final: 1 – Kevin Doolan (Workington Comets), 60.82 seconds; 2 – David Howe (Scunthorpe Scorpians); 3 – Ben Barker (Coventry Bees); 4 – Mark Lemon (Newport Wasps).