Newport won their first ever Cup match against Coventry on Friday 16, 1972 after match defeats in each of their previous seven seasons! The star of their breakthrough was Londoner Tony Clarke who smashed the Somerton Park track record in his opening ride and became the first Wasp to score a maximum. In six of the seven previous seasons Newport had been drawn away in their opening Cup round and even when they did get a home draw - against Leicester in 1970 - they lost 35-43!