Wasps look to attract young fans with freebie

10:19am Saturday 12th April 2008

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KIDS go free at the Hayley Stadium tomorrow as the Wasps open up their home Premier League programme with a tough fixture against second city giants Birmingham (3pm).

The Knockout Cup clash between the clubs last season provided one of the real highlights of the campaign as New-port edged out their opposition in a dramatic last-heat decider and are hoping for more of the same this weekend.

Promoter Tim Stone is keen to encourage support from the fans of the future, and is opening the doors to children free of charge as part of the club's growing community programme.

He said: "Speedway is a real family support and I know a lot of children are hooked when they see the sport for the first time.

"Hopefully there will be many families who can take advantage of this offer."

Wasps will be without skipper Tony Atkin, who is recovering from the broken ankle he sustained in last week's home win over the Isle of Wight, but reserve Nick Simmons should be fit for the weekend action, which includes a long trip to Berwick today.

And Stone felt there were encouraging signs in the Premier Trophy defeat at Reading on Monday, even though the Wasps lost out by a 26-point margin.

He said: "We really only had four riders that night - we were already using rider replacement, we lost Nick in his second ride, and Wato (Craig Watson) had an absolute disaster with his bikes and only scored one.

"That won't happen again, I'm sure of that, but I was impressed with the way the rest of the team battled and I couldn't be too disappointed with the result. We'll definitely do better next time we go there. It's a shame to be without Tony, and he's gutted that he can't lead the team at Berwick which is a track he really enjoys, but he's already said he will be at our home match on Sunday.

"He's said the crash was his fault, he went in too tight and ended up losing it. It could've been worse though, it was a really nasty one and fortunately he was released from hospital on Monday and we look forward to seeing him at the weekend.

"We know it's going to be a tough one against Birm-ingham but we have shown some good signs of late and the boys will be fired up to get another win."

Welshman Phil Morris misses out for the Brummies with broken ribs, and the Perry Barr club's unstinting bad luck with injuries also extends to their big winter signing, Canadian star Kyle Legault who broke his thigh in a horror crash last week.

But Brummies promoter Graham Drury said: "It's my job to put together a team to be competitive, and Newport away is still a meeting that we want to win. I always make my guest riders aware of what is expected."

Birmingham call in Stoke's Ben Barker as a guest for Morris, they use rider replacement for Legault whilst James Birkinshaw was expected to make his comeback from a shoulder injury at King's Lynn on Friday.