Off the track there were changes of promotion in 1966 when Mike Parker was joined by Bill Bridgett and Ken Sharples but on the track Newport Wasps failed to progress. They finished just off the foot of a nineteen team British League. Their first match at Hackney confirmed the arrival of four times World Finalist Gote Nordin. The Swede scored a flawless fifteen point maximum at Waterden Road, winning the Silver Sash ride off against Colin Pratt but his team mates could not join him and the Wasps went down 43-35. Their first home meeting saw another maximum for Nordin and bizarrely the first of two for Bob Hughes (who finished with an overall average below 5) as they beat Sheffield 54-24. They failed to beat a poor Cradley Heath and any optimism began to fade. They lost heavily at Belle Vue, Sheffield and Coventry and suffered a home defeats in Nordin’s absence to Exeter. Nordin lowered the colours of Barry Briggs at Somerton Park as the Wasps beat Swindon in July. He and Briggs combined together when Poland came to Newport to face a Wales and West later that month, emerging 54-53 victors despite an 18 point maximum from Nordin. In a dramatic win for the Wasps Jon Erskine and Gote Nordin combined to beat off Ivan Mauger of Newcastle to secure a 5-1 and a 40-38 victory in August. Appropriately enough they finished the season with a home defeat to League champions Halifax (42-36) and a heavy defeat at Kings Lynn (49-29) despite the best efforts of Nordin who ended the season with a 10.44 average.Silver Sash ride off against Colin Pratt but his team mates could not join him and the Wasps went down 43-35. Their first home meeting saw another maximum for Nordin and bizarrely the first of two for Bob Hughes (who finished with an overall average below 5) as they beat Sheffield 54-24. They failed to beat a poor Cradley Heath and any optimism began to fade. They lost heavily at Belle Vue, Sheffield and Coventry and suffered a home defeats in Nordin’s absence to Exeter. Nordin lowered the colours of Barry Briggs at Somerton Park as the Wasps beat Swindon in July. He and Briggs combined together when Poland came to Newport to face a Wales and West later that month, emerging 54-53 victors despite an 18 point maximum from Nordin. In a dramatic win for the Wasps Jon Erskine and Gote Nordin combined to beat off Ivan Mauger of Newcastle to secure a 5-1 and a 40-38 victory in August. Appropriately enough they finished the season with a home defeat to League champions Halifax (42-36) and a heavy defeat at Kings Lynn (49-29) despite the best efforts of Nordin who ended the season with a 10.44 average.
