Henry Slade steered Exeter back to the top of the table - and made a powerful case for an England call-up.
Slade went head-to-head with Elliot Daly, his midfield rival for the No.13 shirt in England’s November opener against Argentina.
And while Daly spent the game putting out fires, Slade dictated play, gave two scoring passes and left to a standing ovation.
“Sladey is an incredibly driven bloke,” said Chiefs head coach Ali Hepher. “It’s not all out there for everyone to see but deep down there’s a highly motivated lad.
“He’s defending as well as any midfielder in the Prem and he’s starting to round off into a really top quality player.
“The pace he’s taking the ball at now is really helping him. He’s got so much ability and when he’s playing at pace he can pick and choose his options.”
The last time the clubs met it took extra-time to separate them and for Exeter to become English champions for the first time.
Wasps were not at the races yesterday from the moment Exeter opened up with a 34-phase move. The home side had their four-try bonus point in the bag before half-time.
“Exeter go through 34 phases the first time they get the ball, we turn it over seven times on first phase - we are not firing any shots of our own,” Wasps boss Dai Young complained. “There’s no magic cure, we’ve got to keep working.”
Olly Woodburn set the tone for the day with the first of his two tries before Dave Dennis breezed through a James Haskell tackle.
Don Armand added a third from Slade’s miss-pass and the centre then easily evaded Christian Wade to put Woodburn in again.
Exeter extend their unbeaten league record at home to 11 months and move two points clear at the top. Wasps have still never won at Sandy Park.
EXETER - Tries: Woodburn 2, Dennis, Armand, Malton. Cons: Steenson 3.
WASPS - Tries: Johnson, Bassett. Cons: Gopperth 2. Pen: Gopperth.