ELRC GOLD FOR CHAMP

Sunday 21st October 2012, 01:03

World champion Chris Holder has added the Elite League Riders Championship to his SGP success this term.

The Poole Pirates skipper headed SGP rival Niels-Kristian Iversen and Team Great Britain racer Chris Harris in the final at Swindon on Saturday night.

Holder has now won every team and individual prize available to him in British speedway and was over the moon to put another trophy in his increasingly crowded cabinet.

He said: “It’s far out – it’s really cool. I’m obviously really happy to get the win. I’ve been on the podium in this meeting, but I’ve never won. This year has been awesome for me so far on the individual front.

“I just hope Poole can pull something out of the bag in Monday’s play-off final – that would be really good.

“I’ve put in a lot of hard work and it’s good that it has paid off. I’ve got to thank my mechanic – he was on fire tonight.”

The decider was stopped twice due to crashes involving Belle Vue rider Rory Schlein. He was excluded after the first re-run when he tried to round Holder and got sucked into the fourth-bend fence. He was taken to Western General Hospital for checks.

Holder stormed straight into the final after he tied at the top of the heat scorechart with Iversen on 12 points. Harris made the semi-final cut on 11 and Schlein scored 10. Michael Jepsen Jensen was the early favourite after notching 11 points in his opening four heats.

But a last place in race 19 cost him dearly and denied him automatic passage into the last four. He finished third in the semi, while Nicholls was fourth after tallying 10 in his heats.

SGP regular Freddie Lindgren had a woeful night, scoring just three.

HEAT SCORES: Chris Holder 12, Niels-Kristian Iversen 12, Michael Jepsen Jensen 11, Chris Harris 11, Scott Nicholls 10, Rory Schlein 10, Mads Korneliussen 8, Hans Andersen 8, Ryan Fisher 7, Peter Kildemand 6, Sam Masters 6, Peter Karlsson 5, Joonas Kylmakorpi 5, Lewis Bridger 4, Freddie Lindgren 3, Danny King 2.

SEMI-FINAL: Harris, Schlein, Jepsen Jensen, Nicholls.

FINAL: Holder, Iversen, Harris, Schlein (f.exc).

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