WIMBORNE Road favourites Darcy Ward and Chris Holder gave Australia the perfect start to the European Best Pairs as they triumphed in the first round in Torun tonight.

Pirates captain Ward and asset Holder had to come through the semi-final at the Motoarena - their home track in Poland - before disposing of Danish duo Nicki Pedersen and Niels-Kristian Iversen in the final.

Ward was in magnificent form as he only once failed to finish outside the top two once during his eight rides, scoring 25 points in the 4-3-2-0 points format.

That included four straight race wins in his opening four rides.

After an exclusion in his first outing, Holder went on to rack up a more than useful total of 16 points, finishing off with victory in the final as Ward came in second ahead of Pedersen and Iversen.

The Aussies saw off Polish pair Tomasz Gollob and Patryk Dudek in the semi, leaving the hosts to settle for third.

Sweden, Russia, Latvia and Germany finished lower down the order.

Overall victory means that Australia have 10 points in the bag which puts them in the box seat heading into the second round in Landshut, Germany on Saturday, May 10.

Unfortunately for Ward, that date clashes with Pirates' Elite League meeting at Eastbourne, so he will not be able to fulfil one of his commitments.

The final round is in Eskilstuna, Sweden, on Sunday, May 23.