Workington Comets’ young Australian star Tate Zischke’s season is over after a bad crash ended his Belle Vue debut last night.
The teenager is in a Manchester hospital recovering after suffering several broken vertebrae and ribs when he was brought off in heat 14.
He was lying third behind team-mate Ben Cook and Ipswich rider Adam Ellis heading for a 4-2 in the penultimate heat of the meeting with the Witches when he was brought off on the last bend of the final lap by Keynan Rew.
Zischke careered into the safety fence and as a result was attended to for some time as he seemed trapped under his bike.
One man who lives near to the stadium in Gorton, Manchester told the local newspaper he was in his kitchen when he heard a huge bang and the racing stopped.
Pictures showed multiple ambulances on the track inside the stadium in the aftermath of the incident.
The meeting was abandoned, with the Belle Vue side ahead 58-26 and with just one heat left unraced the result will stand.
But there was more concern for the injured Zischke than the result and initial reports said he had been taken to hospital with hip and leg injuries.
Today, however, Comets team manager James Denham said: “I’m afraid Tate’s season is over and he’s waiting to see now what treatment is required.
“He’s broken seven vertebrae in his back but has movement in all his limbs and is fine in himself, just very sore. His recovery is our priority.”
Zischke had been loaned to Belle Vue by the Comets and this was his debut appearance. He had scored two and a bonus point up to his crash, when he was on course for third, which in fact was awarded after the crash.
He has just returned to action recently after a bad crash in Poland left him with a very sore back.
Skipper Brady Kurtz returned to the Belle Vue side and scored 10 points, a total matched by West Cumbrian star Dan Bewley as the hosts dominated.
