7:00am Thursday 22nd May 2008
By Phil Chard
CHRIS Holder has ruled himself out of Pirates' trip to Swindon tonight after injury forced him to withdraw midway through his side's shock 50-40 home league defeat against Ipswich.
Holder, who sustained internal injuries in a crash in Poland on Sunday, scored five points from two rides against the Witches last night.
But, with Poole Castle Cover trailing 25-23, he had already aggravated back and bruised kidney problems.
He was deemed "too dizzy" and in "too much pain" to continue and pulled out on the track doctor's advice.
Pirates, who had dug deep to drag a 22-14 deficit back to 30-30, could not cover Holder's absence late on and collapsed to their first home defeat since September.
Holder was unavailable for interview straight after last night's meeting as he tried to grab some sleep before hoping to make a late night visit to Poole Hospital.
But his mechanic and brother James, who rides for Isle of Wight, said: "Chris thought he was alright to ride.
"Sometimes, though, you think you are alright until you get on the bike and race.
"He said it was just too painful to ride. He couldn't move and was stiff.
"Now he's light-headed and it is getting worse, so he wants to go to hospital.
"He just needs to lay down on his back because when he's standing he's getting really dizzy and stiff."
James, who saw the Australian champion win heat three handsomely ahead of Tobias Kroner and Steve Johnston, added: "He wanted to pull out of race five but went out and did it.
"After his first one he didn't feel that brilliant and I saw he didn't look the same on the bike.
"He couldn't ride where he wanted to ride because he was restricted by the pain in his body.
"There's no way he can ride at Swindon tonight.
"It's better for him to rest and get his injuries checked out properly."
Pirates team manager Neil Middleditch, who saw his side beaten at home for the first time since Coventry triumphed 44-31 in the Knockout Cup eight months ago, said: "Chris said he couldn't really go on after his first ride.
"I was hoping to pull him out of his second and use him later, but he rode it and was in too much pain.
"He couldn't really move. It's a shame. We've had so much bad luck with injuries."
Pirates will use rider replacement for Holder at table-topping Swindon (7.30pm), who are at full strength.
Swindon: 1 Leigh Adams, 2 James Wright, 3 Mads Korneliussen, 4 Travis McGowan, 5 Troy Batchelor, 6 Theo Pijper, 7 Sebastian Alden.
Pirates: 1 Krzysztof Kasprzak, 2 Freddie Eriksson, 3 Rider replacement for Chris Holder, 4 Magnus Zetterstrom, 5 Davey Watt, 6 Daniel Davidsson, 7 Adam Skornicki.
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