Holder wins maiden speedway GP

Australia's Chris Holder has won his first ever world championship round in a fiery British Speedway Grand Prix at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

In just his sixth GP, the 22-year-old defeated world champion and compatriot Jason Crump, new series leader Jaroslaw Hampel and Danish hotshot Hans Andersen after powering away from the tapes in the final.

Holder admits he was taken aback by a raucous, record-breaking 44,150 crowd in the showpiece event, but showed no sign of nerves on his first appearance in the Welsh capital.

He said of the landmark victory: "I'm stoked to be here and I honestly can't believe it. It was a bit of blur and I can't remember how I got there, but I did.

"What happened tonight was unreal. Even on the track walk when there were just a few thousand people, I heard the atmosphere and knew it was going to be a good one.

"On the parade lap I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It was a pretty intense sort of feeling.

"I got the win in heat one, which was awesome for me. I plugged my way through the heats and made two good starts when I had to.

"I honestly didn't think that was possible and I don't have the words for it. I'm stoked that it happened. I've got no words - I'm so happy."

Holder is now the fourth Australian to win a world speedway GP since the championship went multi-round in 1995. The others are Crump, Leigh Adams and Ryan Sullivan.

Holder had to be on top of his game to pen a hard-charging Crump behind him in the final, and the pair was involved in another of the meeting's flashpoints in race 14.

With another Australian, Davey Watt, storming into the lead, Crump made a smart move around the kerb on turn two to dive past Andreas Jonsson. He then surged hard under his fellow countryman going into turn three.

The move incensed Holder, who confronted Crump furiously on the circuit. The pair exchanged words in the pits afterwards, but Holder racer was quick to apologise to the three-time world No.1 at the post-meeting press conference.

He said: "I've got to apologise to Jason. I was probably out of order there. It was heat of the moment I guess. I have no hard feelings and I hope he's the same."

Asked for his view on the incident, Crump said: "Chris had his skirt on and I pulled my handbag out for a minute."

After some recent struggles, Crump burst back into form in Cardiff.

"I'm starting to get a bit better and starting to race a bit harder and I'm back in the top three now which is pretty cool," Crump said.

"Cardiff is a special place for me, it is my home race and I have won here five times before.

"We have our summer break now so I will use this time to continue to get better and hopefully come back and close Jarek (Hampel) and Tomasz (Gollob) down at the top."

Holder has surged up to fifth in the world championship with 60pts. Hampel has now taken charge on 92pts, two ahead of his countryman Tomasz Gollob and Crump (75).

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1 Jaroslaw Hampel 92, 2 Tomasz Gollob 90, 3 Jason Crump 75, 4 Kenneth Bjerre 66, 5 Chris Holder 60, 6 Rune Holta 56, 7 Hans Andersen 56, 8 Nicki Pedersen 51, 9 Andreas Jonsson 48, 10 Freddie Lindgren 43, 11 Magnus Zetterstrom 43, 12 Chris Harris 42, 13 Greg Hancock 41, 14 Tai Woffinden 28, 15 Emil Sayfutdinov 27, 16 Janusz Kolodziej 12, 17 Davey Watt 6, 18 Adrian Miedzinski 6, 19 Antonio Lindback 6, 20 Piotr Protasiewicz 5, 21 Scott Nicholls 4, 22 Matej Kus 3, 23 Leon Madsen 3, 24 Nicolai Klindt 1.

HEAT SCORERS:
Tomasz Gollob (1-3-2-3-3) 12
Jaroslaw Hampel (3-3-2-3-1) 12
Jason Crump (3-3-3-2-0) 11
Chris Holder (3-2-2-1-2) 10
Freddie Lindgren (2-1-3-3-0) 9
Hans Andersen (1-1-3-1-2) 8
Rune Holta (2-2-0-0-3) 7
Nicki Pedersen (0-1-3-2-1) 7
-----------------------------------------
Kenneth Bjerre (0-1-1-2-3) 7
Greg Hancock (3-0-1-2-1) 7
Davey Watt (0-3-0-3-X) 6
Tai Woffinden (0-0-2-1-3) 6
Chris Harris (2-2-0-0-2) 6
Magnus Zetterstrom (2-0-1-1-2) 6
Scott Nicholls (1-2-1-0-0) 4
Andreas Jonsson (1-0-0-0-1) 2
Ben Barker (-) 0
Danny King (-) 0

Semi-Final 1: Holder, Andersen, Holta, Gollob (ret)
Semi-Final 2: Hampel, Crump, Lindgren, Pedersen
Final: Holder, Crump, Hampel, Andersen