ANDERS Henriksson, one of the top 10 Premier Division riders, surprisingly flopped in the most crucial heat of the afternoon as Newport Hayley Wasps were held to a draw by Berwick Bandits at Hayley Stadium yesterday.

In the final heat, Henriksson finished last and the 4-2 Berwick heat win earned the visitors a deserved draw.

Newport had their chances in a tense and often exciting meeting to have edged home but failed.

They only gained one maximum heat point when Chris Neath followed home Henriksson who went into the final heat on full points from four outings.

Henriksson had the meeting's fastest time, breaking the 60 seconds barrier, clocking 59.86 in winning the first heat.

The record for the 285-metre track is held by Ben Howe at 58.45sec., established last season.

Scott Smith joint top scored with Henriksson, but sadly Newport had little or nothing in reserve.

Rob Finlow picked up one point while Nathan Morton, the former Rye House rider, failed to score and fell on two occasions.

Morton, in heat eight, battled for all he was worth to try and finish in third place but fell to let in Scott Lamb.

Newport promoter Tim Stone said: "We should have been capable enough in our top five to have pulled off a win."

While Newport's six and seven mustered one point between them, Finlow finishing third in his first outing, Berwick's Josef Franc and Scott Lamb had 13 points between them.

The widest margin between the two sides was four - at the end of heat four when Berwick led 14-10 and for four heats they were locked in fierce combat.

Former Newport rider Lawrence Hare stepped in for the unavailable Glenn Cunningham - he was long-track riding in Kent - and picked up five points, plus two bonus, but only finished second on one occasion.

Wasps made an impressive start with a 4-2 win, the opening delayed because Adrian Rymel suffered a puncture before making the tapes. But Wasps immediately suffered a 5-1 reverse and it was not until heat 10 that they regained the lead, so really Berwick worked hard enough to share the spoils.

With the meeting on a knife edge, Wasps almost allowed Berwick to immediately hit back with a maximum, skipper Steve Masters just getting ahead of Michal Makovsky for second place.

But there was a stroke of luck for Masters in eventful heat 13. He was trailing when Rymel fell and the Berwick rider was excluded from the rerun.

Hopes were high of a maximum with Henriksson and Masters ganging up on Scott Robson, but Masters fell. However, he was able to remount for a precious point.

* In the picture: Wasps' guest rider Lawrence Hare