SGP: Holder back in for 2014
The 2012 world speedway champion has been handed a permanent wildcard for the 2014 season after his 2013 campaign was curtailed because of injuryAustralia’s former world champion Chris Holder is back in the running for speedway's biggest prize after being handed a permanent wildcard for the 2014 FIM Speedway Grand Prix series.
Holder, alongside fellow permanent wildcards Tomasz Gollob, Andreas Jonsson and Fredrik Lindgren, received the good news from series promoter BSI Speedway.
Holder's 2013 season was ended when he suffered a fractured hip, broken pelvis, shattered heel and a broken shoulder in a crash at Coventry on July 5. The Australian was 12th in the final world championship standings on 82 points, with only the top eight receiving automatic entry into 2014.
Another Aussie, Troy Batchelor, has been named as a substitute rider in 2014 if injuries or unavailability affect the 15 regular riders in the champions (the 16th rider at each round is a local wildcard).
Making his debut in the 2014 world championship will be German star Martin Smolinski, who finished fourth in the GP Challenge at Poole on August 24. With the winner of the qualifying event, Niels-Kristian Iversen, finishing third in the SGP standings this year, Smolinski has been promoted into the series as one of the three qualifiers.
World champion Tai Woffinden heads the list of automatic qualifiers for 2014. He is joined by runner-up Jaroslaw Hampel, Iversen, Greg Hancock, Nicki Pedersen, Emil Sayfutdinov, Matej Zagar and Australia’s Darcy Ward.
The 2014 championship will begin in Auckland on April 5. To buy tickets, click here.
FULL 2014 FIM SPEEDWAY GRAND PRIX SERIES LINE-UP:
1 Tai Woffinden (Great Britain)
2 Jaroslaw Hampel (Poland)
3 Niels-Kristian Iversen (Denmark)
4 Greg Hancock (USA)
5 Nicki Pedersen (Denmark)
6 Emil Sayfutdinov (Russia)
7 Matej Zagar (Slovenia)
8 Darcy Ward (Australia)
9 Tomasz Gollob (Poland)
10 Krzysztof Kasprzak (Poland)
11 Fredrik Lindgren (Sweden)
12 Chris Holder (Australia)
13 Andreas Jonsson (Sweden)
14 Kenneth Bjerre (Denmark)
15 Martin Smolinski (Germany)
16 WILD CARD
17 FIRST TRACK RESERVE
18 SECOND TRACK RESERVE
QUALIFIED SUBSTITUTES
19 Chris Harris (Great Britain)
20 Troy Batchelor (Australia)
21 Michael Jepsen Jensen (Denmark)
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