Holder limps home to win speedway title

A nervous Chris Holder has claimed his third successive Australian Solo Speedway Championship, with the final round held in a sweltering Mildura (Vic) on January 29.

Although he blotted his copybook by failing to make it a clean sweep of A final wins – the B final was also out of his reach after a series of crashes – the British speedway GP winner still managed to score enough points to hold off Darcy Ward and Davey Watt in the final championship race – his ruthless form in the earlier rounds holding him in good stead.

“I started off the series quite well – I had a win but then in Gillman I had a big crash which hurt me pretty badly and it’s been a struggle ever since,” Holder said.

“I knew tonight was going to be the hardest round which it proved to be, and it was just good I had a win at Broken Hill to give me that buffer so I didn’t risk too much tonight, even though I still threw myself on the track a couple of times tonight!

“I’m stoked with the win, it’s what I’ve come back for, and I’ve got to thank the other boys for the competition.”

As the mercury remained high in Mildura, so too did riders’ tempers when track work interrupted the program.

When racing eventually got underway, the action continued until the early hours of the morning with Ward winning the A final from Watt, with both riders finishing the championship on the same points.

The deadlock was then broken in a run-off, with a clearly in-form Ward also winning that one to secure second place behind Holder.

Kyle Newman won the B final in Mildura.

Most of the Aussie top guns will shortly return to their European bases, with Holder to join compatriot Jason Crump in the battle for the 2011 world championship.