Holder puts his name up in lights

Australian world speedway rookie Chris Holder has produced an exceptional performance at this year's second round in Gothenburg, just missing out on a berth in the final.

With drizzle falling, the New South Welshman began the Swedish GP with a victory, and he cruised into the semi-finals as the third highest points scorer in the heats behind American Greg Hancock and Dane Kenneth Bjerre.

Holder then bowed out in the second semi-final to complete his campaign, but he's now jumped to sixth in the championship standings on 19pts, behind Swedish GP winner Bjerre (30), Australia's reigning world champion Jason Crump (26), Jaroslaw Hampel (24), Tomasz Gollob (22) and Russian star Emil Sayfutdinov (22).

The pint-sized Bjerre's maiden GP victory came after he fended off a ferocious assault from Gollob, with Andreas Jonsson and Hancock third and fourth.

Bjerre said: "Last year I said if I made it to the final, I would have been happy, but I've come on since then. This year my ambition is to be world champion. That's why I'm racing. At the minute I can't really believe it. But I'm here where I want to be.

"I'm top of the standings, but it doesn't mean much if I don't finish there when the season is over. That's the important thing and there is still a long way to go."

Crump only scored 7pts in his heats on the extremely wet track, with a couple of late victories putting some respectability into his scorecard -- but too late to snatch a semi-final berth. Crump won the opening round of this year's championship.

"The first two heats were no fun at all, the bike was near unridable and I was fighting to keep it upright," said Crump.

“By the start of my third heat the track was drying out and the surface was starting to resemble what it was in practice.

“Although it was a disappointing night and we should have come away with a strong championship lead in hindsight, the end result could have been a lot worse."

Round three is in the Czech Republic on May 22.

INDIVIDUAL HEAT SCORES:
Greg Hancock (3-1-2-3-3) 12
Kenneth Bjerre (1-3-3-2-2) 11
Chris Holder (3-2-1-2-2) 10
Tomasz Gollob (1-2-3-1-2) 9
Andreas Jonsson (3-0-0-3-2) 8
Magnus Zetterstrom (2-3-3-0-0) 8
Emil Sayfutdinov (0-3-2-0-3) 8
Nicki Pedersen (0-2-3-2-1) 8
Hans Andersen (3-1-0-3-X) 7
Jason Crump (1-0-0-3-3) 7
Rune Holta (2-3-0-1-0) 6
Antonio Lindback (1-1-1-0-3) 6
Jaroslaw Hampel (0-2-2-2-0) 6
Chris Harris (2-R-2-1-1) 6
Freddie Lindgren (2-0-1-0-1) 4
Tai Woffinden (0-1-1-1-1) 4
Simon Gustafsson (-) 0
Dennis Andersson (-) 0

Semi-Final 1: Gollob, Hancock, Zetterstrom, Sayfutdinov.
Semi-Final 2: Bjerre, Jonsson, Holder, Pedersen.
Final: Bjerre, Gollob, Jonsson, Hancock

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (after two rounds): 1 Kenneth Bjerre 30, 2 Jason Crump 26, 3 Jaroslaw Hampel 24, 4 Tomasz Gollob 22, 5 Emil Sayfutdinov 22, 6 Chris Holder 19, 7 Greg Hancock 18, 8 Andreas Jonsson 17, 9 Nicki Pedersen 17, 10 Rune Holta 16, 11 Hans Andersen 15, 12 Chris Harris 14, 13 Magnus Zetterstrom 13, 14 Freddie Lindgren 12, 15 Janusz Kolodziej 12, 16 Antonio Lindback 6, 17 Tai Woffinden 5.