Chris Holder wins world speedway title!
And has become the fifth Australian to reach the pinnacle of the sport since 1936, winning the 2012 championship from Dane Nicki PedersenAustralia’s Chris Holder is the 2012 speedway world champion, joining countrymen Lionel Van Praag, Bluey Wilkinson, Jack Young and Jason Crump on the illustrious honour board.
With closest challenger Nicki Pedersen faulting in his qualification races, and making his way through to the semi-finals on a countback, Holder headed into the semi-finals needing just 4pts to seal a series victory.
Both Holder and Pedersen were up against each other in the second semi-final, and in a tight first bend, the Dane fell after being nudged off his bike by the Australian, but the referee judged that all four riders would return for a restart.
And in that restart, Holder made the best gate to lead into the first bend, he went on to win the race and secure his maiden world title after Pedersen could only manage third place.
Holder said: “It’s unbelievable. I’m so happy right now. You race speedway to be the world champion. You always believe you can be the champ and not many guys get to do it.
“I’ve done it now and it’s unreal. I’m pretty proud of myself that I got this far and I couldn’t have done it without my family, girlfriend, brothers and mechanics.
“You can only imagine how much pressure I had coming up to this meeting with me being in such a good position at the last round. I was trying to stay cool and not think about it. You’ve just got to try and stay calm and it went off well.
“To come out for the semi-final with me and Nicki next to each other was a massive pressure for me. That was the biggest race of my life.
"It obviously didn’t go to plan the first time, but I made a better start the second time and got there. I’m over the moon. I’m so happy.”
Holder was joined by Antonio Lindback, Tomasz Gollob and Greg Hancock in the final race of the 2012 series, and it looked like he would cap the meeting off with a meeting victory but on the first lap his bike packed up with Antonio Lindback winning ahead of Tomasz Gollob and outgoing world champion Greg Hancock.
Holder finished the season on 160pts, ahead of Pedersen (152), Hancock (148), Gollob (142), Emil Sayfutdinov (133) and Crump (126).
The event was Crump’s last in world championship competition, with the three-time world champion now set to focus solely on domestic competition in Poland and Sweden.
Holder has enjoyed a stunning rise in 2012, climbing seven spots form his finish in the 2011 championship.
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