Workington Comets’ young Australian Tate Zischke picked-up two confidence boosting bank holiday wins in the premiership.
Riding at reserve he clocked-up seven points as Belle Vue Aces beat play-off rivals Sheffield Tigers 54-36 at the National Speedway Stadium.
Those victories came after he had finished third in the reserves race behind Comets team-mate Jye Etheridge who won it for twice Sheffield.
But while Etheridge didn’t manage another point in two further rides, Zischke went on to win twice in four rides.
He had led home Zack Cook in heat four for an Aces 5-1 and did the same with Cumbrian star Dan Bewley in the penultimate heat.
Brady Kurtz scored a 15-point maximum for the Aces in front of a bumper Bank Holiday crowd, as the home side only just fell short of the mark required for the aggregate point after a 20-point defeat at Owlerton earlier this month.
Kurtz was backed up by 10+2 from Bewley and strong contributions in the middle order.
Jack Holder scored 13 for the Tigers with his efforts in Heats 11-13, where he took two wins and a second place, ensuring the visitors would add the aggregate to their points total.
Aces manager Mark Lemon said: “We always know these War of the Roses clashes will be hotly contested.
“We lost the aggregate point, which is disappointing. But we gave them a pretty good shake-up to miss out by just two points.
“When you win a meeting by 18 points you generally get the bonus. We’ve still got work to do, but there were some really encouraging signs today.”
Sheffield boss, former Comets favourite Simon Stead said: “Credit where it’s deserved, Belle Vue were on fire making great starts and making us work really hard.
“The fact that we did such a good job on them at our place goes to show how important that is in getting the aggregate point.
“But we draw a line under this one because anything can happen, and at the end of the day it’s one bad meeting.”
Meanwhile former Comets were among the points in the Premiership clash which saw King’s Lynn win 55-35 at Oxford.
Richard Lawson led the scoring for the Stars with 12+1 and captain Nicolai Klindt won three races on his way to 10.
Oxford had just four race winners, two of them from ex Comet Charles Wright (10).
