The difficulty of trying to replace broken collarbone victim Troy Pratt was exposed on Friday when Arena so nearly suffered a home defeat by Newport as the Welsh side almost repeated last season's victory at the Purfleet Raceway.

Tommy Palmer was the Hammers' choice of guest but his four points hardly reflected the total that Arena were seeking and it was thanks to a splendid haul of paid 17 from the reserve pairing of John Wainwright and Gary Corbett that allowed the home side to emerge victorious -- just.

There was no early indications of the struggle that Arena were to endure as the home side rattled up two heat maximums from the opening two races.

Newport though were well served by Anders Henriksson who reeled off the first of his four race wins in heat three, teaming up with Scott Pegler to reduce the deficit.

The Hammers suffered a setback when skipper Colin White was excluded for touching the tapes in heat four but his replacement Corbett, and Wainwright, combined to salvage the damage with a drawn heat.

Both teams claimed a 4-2 to leave Arena holding a lead of 23-19 with seven heats gone but when Matt Read and Wainwright teamed up for a 5-1 in heat eight, the Hammers looked set to progress to a comfortable success.

The Wasps fought back well, drafting in Craig Watson as a tactical substitute in heat nine and he followed Neville Tatum's path for a 5-1 with Palmer and Roger Lobb out of contention.

The visitors then surprised Arena with an unexpected 5-1 as Leigh Lanham and Read were left standing at the tapes as Henriksson and Pegler stormed to a 5-1 to level the scores at 30-30.

Matters could have been considerably worse for the home side when White and Corbett raced for the same line in heat 11 and after sorting out their individual lines, found themselves pursuing Watson and Chris Neath in heat 11.

Corbett had just edged ahead of Neath in second with White behind when Neath dived under the reserve forcing him to come down.

White clipped the fallen rider and the race stopped with a restart ordered without the involvement of Corbett.

In the re-run, White gated clear to claim his first win of the night. Bobby Eldridge fell in the next while battling hard with Wainwright for third behind trap to line winner Henriksson to leave the sides locked at 36-36.

A terrific race between Watson and White in heat 13 with the pair racing elbow to elbow saw Watson eventually prevail with Lanham way back in third.

The unlucky Eldridge was again in the thick of the action engaged in a dour scrap for a point with Corbett until he locked up on the top turn and fell in another shared heat.

So, the all too familiar pattern of last year, the last heat decider with both teams level at 42-42.

The drama intensified as a restart was ordered after a tape's malfunction but finally it was the Hammers duo of White and Lanham that hit the first turn in front.

Watson battled back to take Lanham but was unable to reel in White as the Hammers edged home by a slender two points.

There is a change of race night for Arena this week when they entertain Edinburgh on Saturda at the Purfleet Raceway. Start time is 8pm.

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