Workington’s Tate Zischke made it to the semi-final in the third round of the Australian Championship on Wednesday.
In his best performance to date he finished with 10 heat points and took second place in his semi-final when only the winner goes through.
Jacob Hook, a reserve with the Comets last season, picked up seven points in the heats and still leads Zischke in the overall standings.
Jack Holder will take a four-point lead into Friday’s Australian Championship decider after storming to a third straight victory at round three in Mildura.
After racing to back-to-back wins in the Albury-Wodonga double-header on Saturday and Sunday, Holder won the final in Mildura ahead of Rohan Tungate in second, nearest rival Jaimon Lidsey, who was third, with former SGP2 star Keynan Rew placed fourth.
Having registered 14 points in the heats – a figure matched by Lidsey – Holder scored four extra points in the final, compared to his rival’s two, meaning the Sheffield and Gorzow man doubled his pre-meeting series lead from two championship points to four.
Holder, now on 54 in total, needs 16 in the final round of the series at Adelaide track Gillman on Friday to be certain of his second national title, with Lidsey chasing on 50. A 15-point maximum in the heats would also guarantee gold for Holder.
Both riders are on course to claim the two Speedway GP qualifying round places on offer in the Aussie Championship, with one more up for grabs in the FIM Oceania Championship, also at Gillman, on Sunday.
Tungate scored 11 points in the heats and won semi-final two, before taking second place in the final, scoring 14 on the night and leaving him third in the overall standings on 43 – 11 clear of Zach Cook, who has 32 in fourth.
Australian Championship standings (after 3/4 rounds): 1. Jack Holder 54, 2. Jaimon Lidsey 50, 3. Rohan Tungate 43, 4. Zach Cook 32, 5 Keynan Rew 27, 6= Ben Cook 25, Jacob Hook 25, 8. Tate Zischke 21, 9. Mitchell McDiarmid 20, 10= Justin Sedgmen 19, Alex Adamson 19, 12. Jack Morrison 15, 13. Lachlan Russell 14, 14. Reid Battye 13, 15. Dayle Wood 7, 16= Bradley Page 2, Ben Whalley 2, 18. Nick Hohlbein 1, 19. Harrison Ryan 0.
- Mildura heat scores: Jack Holder 14, Jaimon Lidsey 14, Keynan Rew 13, Rohan Tungate 11, Tate Zischke 10, Zach Cook 10, Alex Adamson 8, Mitchell McDiarmid 7, Justin Sedgmen 7, Jack Morrison 7, Jacob Hook 7, Reid Battye 4, Lachlan Russell 4, Dayle Wood 2, Ben Whalley 2, Nick Hohlbein 1.
- Semi-final 1: Rew, Zischke, Sedgmen, Adamson.
- Semi-final 2: Tungate, Z Cook, Hook, McDiarmid.
- Final: Holder, Tungate, Lidsey, Rew.
