Workington Comets young Australian Tate Zischke had a prominent part to play in Belle Vue’s 48-42 win over Sheffield in the first match of the Premiership KO Cup.
The home side had to cover for the loss of Norick Blodorn, who fell heavily in Heat 1 after being collected by Jack Holder who was attempting to pass, but reserve Zischke stepped up with an impressive display.
Zischke scored 10+2 from seven rides to back up Kurtz with 12 and west Cumbrian star Dan Bewley with 11+1, whilst Leon Flint starred for the visitors with 8+1 including a win over Kurtz in Heat 10.
The Aces were taken to a last heat decider but Bewley and Kurtz raced to a 4-2 over Josh Pickering and Holder to put themselves on the board in the Northern section.
Aces boss Mark Lemon said: “It was a great performance as it’s always tough to get the first meeting out of the way, when you really just want to get a win and that’s what the boys did.
“It was quite gritty behind the scenes. Brady was under the weather, Will (Cairns) had a mechanical nightmare, and obviously Norick took that bang in his first race and had to pull out.
“That put some pressure on the boys but Tate stepped up and did a really good job, which we were really pleased to see.”
