Chris Holder wins second British GP

Australian star Chris Holder admits he had to battle with his nerves, despite picking up his second British Speedway Grand Prix win in three years in Cardiff on August 25.

The Sydneysider scored 23pts out of a possible 24 as he topped the Millennium Stadium podium ahead of Krzysztof Kasprzak, Antonio Lindback and Fredrik Lindgren.

Holder dominated proceedings and, after being bested by Nicki Pedersen in heat two, he stormed to six wins from as many rides.

The 24-year-old is now second in the world championship on 117pts, just one behind leader Greg Hancock with three rounds to run. Pedersen is third on 112, while Australia’s second rider, Jason Crump, has 103 in fourth.

Crump, 37, suffered a “suspected re-fracture of the collarbone” in Cardiff after a heavy tumble in heat 12, and exited the meeting prior to the semi-finals.

Holder won at the Millennium Stadium in his debut season in 2010 and finished third last term. But he admits the white-hot atmosphere created by a 38,000-strong crowd still gives him the jitters.

 “It’s unreal. I was super nervous before the meeting on the parade with all the people. It’s difficult to just concentrate on riding – you really want to do well and you’re hoping it’s going to happen. When it does, it’s the best feeling ever,” said Holder.

“All night went well. But just because you win a race here and there, it doesn’t mean much. You’ve got to keep going. You could easily stuff it up in the semi-final and be out.

“I was just concentrating as best I could and to come out of the last corner in front … there’s isn’t a better feeling on a speedway bike than that.”

Holder started the night 17pts behind Hancock, but slashed the gap to one after the Californian missed out on the semi-finals on 7pts. That’s the first time the 42-year-old has failed to reach the last eight since the FIM Nordic SGP in Vojens on September 11, 2010.

Next up is the Scandinavian SGP at Malilla’s G&B Arena in the forests of Sweden on September 8.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Greg Hancock 118, 2 Chris Holder 117, 3 Nicki Pedersen 112, 4 Jason Crump 103, 5 Emil Sayfutdinov 96, 6 Tomasz Gollob 93, 7 Fredrik Lindgren 89, 8 Andreas Jonsson 76, 9 Antonio Lindback 74, 10 Hans Andersen 53, 11 Chris Harris 52, 12 Martin Vaculik 49, 13 Jaroslaw Hampel 46, 14 Peter Ljung 44, 15 Bjarne Pedersen 43, 16 Kenneth Bjerre 41, 17 Krzysztof Kasprzak 13, 18 Bartosz Zmarzlik 13, 19 Jurica Pavlic 12, 20 Tomas H Jonasson 11, 21 Josef Franc 9, 22 Przemyslaw Pawlicki 7, 23 Michael Jepsen Jensen 7, 24 Scott Nicholls 7, 25 Mikkel B Jensen 4, 26 Nicolas Covatti 3, 27 Peter Kildemand 2, 28 Jason Bunyan 1.

CARDIFF SCORES: 1 Chris Holder 23, 2 Krzysztof Kasprzak 13, 3 Antonio Lindback 12, 4 Fredrik Lindgren 12, 5 Emil Sayfutdinov 12, 6 Nicki Pedersen 11, 7 Hans Andersen 10, 8 Tomasz Gollob 10, 9 Martin Vaculik 7, 10 Greg Hancock 7, 11 Scott Nicholls 7, 12 Andreas Jonsson 6, 13 Chris Harris 6, 14 Jason Crump 6, 15 Bjarne Pedersen 2, 16 Peter Ljung 0, 17 Ben Barker DNR, 18 Josh Auty DNR.