Tuesday 30th October 2012, 15:57

Aussie icon Chris Holder is set for surgery on his broken leg next week, but was happy with the outcome of an MRI scan which revealed no knee ligament damage.

The world champion crashed hard in the second leg of Poole’s Elite League Knockout Cup semi-final at Peterborough last Thursday, when Panthers guest Mads Korneliussen tumbled and left the 25-year-old with nowhere to go in heat four.

Holder, who also sustained a broken rib, was said to be facing a six to nine-month layoff with the damaged ligaments, which would have put his 2013 SGP title defence in jeopardy. But the Poole-based man revealed his injury isn’t as bad as first feared.

He said: “The ligament has pulled a bit of my tibia off and I need that screwed back on. Out of all the possibilities that could have happened, that’s probably the best one.

“Instead of my ligament tearing, it has just taken a bit of bone off, which can be fixed quite easily they said. I’m quite happy with the outcome of that. I will need surgery and I’m probably looking at next week. It’s only a screw to fix it back on, so it’s not a major operation.

“I’ve had a really good run. The whole seven seasons I’ve raced here in Europe have been great. Speedway is so dangerous – we know what can happen. You can’t do much about it and you can’t dwell on it. You’ve got to get on with it as quick as you can.

“The worst thing for me was waiting from Thursday to Monday and not knowing anything about what’s wrong with my leg. I had a lot of people asking what the matter was, but I couldn’t tell them because I had no information.

“Monday was a really good day. I know where I’m at and I can only move forward now.”

Holder was already planning to stay in Europe after being nominated for the FIM Personality of the Year award at the FIM Gala Ceremony in Monaco on December 2.

He is facing a very sedate month by his standards as he puts his feet up and recovers from his operation.

But Poole skipper Holder, who was on hand to lift the Knockout Cup with Pirates last night, plans to use this time wisely as he plots his World Championship defence, which gets underway at the New Zealand SGP in Auckland on March 23.

He said: “I wanted to go skiing, surfing and do some motocross – that can’t happen now, which is a bit of a bummer. But it’s going to give me time to organise some stuff and really plan out the year ahead.

“Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise, not that I’m injured, but the time I’ve got to sit and think about what’s coming up.”

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