AUSTRALIAN ace Kevin Doolan completed a season’s Hayley Stadium double when he added the South Wales Argus-sponsored Welsh Open Championship title to the Prince of Wales Trophy he picked up in March.

There was plenty of interest for local fans, with Newport Wasps duo Mark Lemon and Jordan Frampton both lining up next to Doolan and American star Ryan Fisher.

But skipper Loram failed to make the gate and finished fourth, with Frampton getting on the rostrum in a distant third place.

While Doolan deserved his final success, there were many in the good-sized crowd who believed he made the final only because of a controversial decision by match referee Stuart Wilson.

In the first re-run heat 14, Doolan fell going into turn three of the opening lap when he was third ahead of Jonas Andersson.

The unknown Swede had little option to go over the top of Doolan, and when both men got to their feet, they exchanged words before finishing the conversation off with a handshake.

It appeared to all and sundry that Doolan would be the one to be disqualified for being the primary reason for the race’s stoppage.

However, and much to everyone’s astonishment, Mr Wilson decided to throw out Andersson.

Lemon had, arguably, his best day since joining Newport at the start of this season, winning his first four of five rides in fine style, and he was only headed in the qualifiers by Fisher in race 14.

Frampton was steady as a rock reaching the final, gaining a couple of heat victories, while Newport Hornets’ Grant Tregoning performed well in what amounted to a massive step up for him.

There was huge disappointment beforehand when Wasps’ Paul Fry, a previous winner of the event in 2000, withdrew because of illness, and he was replaced by Hornets’ Shelby Rutherford.

However, the teenage Aussie failed to make the tapes for heat one and was replaced for the rest of the meeting by club team-mate Sam Hurst, who finished with a point following a third place in heat 17.

l The Wasps are in British Premier League away action on Friday at Edinburgh Monarchs, and at Berwick Bandits the following night, before hosting Rye House Rockets on Sunday.

l The Hornets were in winning form when defeating visiting Scunthorpe Saints 48-43 in a National League encounter at Hayley Stadium on Friday night, when Grant Tregoning top-scored with paid 17 from five races.

Welsh Open Championship 20-heat qualifying programme: 1 Ryan Fisher (America), 15 points; 2 – Mark Lemon (Australia), 14; 3 – Kevin Doolan (Australia), 13; 4 – Jordan Frampton (England), 11; joint 5 – Emil Kramer (Sweden), Ty Proctor (Australia), Leigh Lanham (England), all 9; joint 8 – Jonas Andersson (Sweden), David Howe (England), both 8; joint 10 – Grant Tregoning (New Zealand), Chris Schramm (England), Lubos Tomicek (Czech Republic), all 5; joint 13 – Krzysztof Stojanowski (Poland), Andreas Westland (Sweden), both 4; 15 – Sam Hurst (England), 1. joint 16 – Ricky Ashworth (England), Shelby Rutherford (Australia), both nil.

Final: 1 – Doolan, 60.84 seconds; 2 – Fisher; 3 – Frampton; 4 – Lemon.