Holder scrapes through at Rye (From Bournemouth Echo)

Holder scrapes through at Rye

7:00am Monday 16th June 2008 in

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CHRIS Holder claimed "No-one remembers who wins the semi" after being relegated to third in a world under-21 qualifier at Rye House.

The Pirates star, joint favourite to lift this year's title alongside defending champion Emil Sajfutdinov, beat Morten Risager in a run-off for a podium place.

But it was Troy Batchelor, so many times runner-up to Holder in Australian junior championships, who climbed on to the top step with a 15-point maximum in Hertfordshire.

Tai Woffinden was second with 13, while Holder and Risager tied on 12 in front of a 2,000 crowd yesterday.

They all qualified for the final at Pardubice, Czech Republic, on October 5.

Holder, third behind Batchelor and Woffinden in a spectacular heat 19, said: "No-one remembers who wins the semi.

"I won the semi last year (and was then runner-up to Sajfutdinov in the final). It means nothing.

"If I'd got seven points here and qualified I would be happy.

"It's a big relief because there has been so much pressure on me.

"People say You came second (in the final) last year'. So if I came here and hadn't qualified people would've wondered why.

"I'd only previously had one good meeting at Rye and a lot of bad ones, and in a world under-21 semi you can't have a bad one.

"So I'm just happy I'm through."

Holder, who unexpectedly lost his first outing to Linus Eklof, was on 11 points going into heat 19 with Batchelor (12) and Woffinden (11).

Batchelor got away first, and Woffinden scorched outside Holder on the last lap to bag second.

Holder said: "I wasn't gating well all day and the other two were on the pace.

"It was a good race, good to watch but not to be in.

"I was sort of waiting for Tai to do his cut back thing here so I stayed inside. Troy wasn't moving off the line, then Tai got a bit of drive and got round me.

"Fair play to Troy, he did well to win the meeting and Tai deserved second."

Looking ahead to the final, on a bowl around 140 metres bigger than Rye's, Holder said: "It's my last year in the juniors and I want to do well in it. It's pretty important.

"The meeting is a long way off. If I can have good form going into it I'll be happy, and I'll be happy if I can make five good starts, unlike at Rye. I raced Sajfutdinov in Sweden on Tuesday and it finished one each, so it's not as though I haven't beaten him.

"But he's really quick so I'll have to be on the gas in the final."

Holder travels to Wolves with a full strength Pirates tonight (7.30pm) in the Elite League.

Wolves use rider replacement for Fredrik Lindgren, who injur-ed ribs in a crash in the Danish GP, but have Niels-Kristian Iversen back from injury.

Wolves: 1 Rider replacement for Fredrik Lindgren, 2 Ales Dryml, 3 Niels-Kristian Iversen, 4 Nicolai Klindt, 5 David Howe, 6 Christian Hefenbrock, 7 Kenneth Hansen.

Pirates: 1 Chris Holder, 2 Freddie Eriksson, 3 Bjarne Pedersen, 4 Adam Skornicki, 5 Davey Watt, 6 Magnus Zetterstrom, 7 Daniel Davidsson.

Result, World Under-21 Championship, first semi-final at Rye House: T Batchelor (3-3-3-3-3) 15, T Woffinden (3-3-3-2-2) 13, C Holder (2-3-3-3-1) 12, M Risager (2-2-2-3-3) 12 (after run-off), G Zengota (1-3-2-1-2) 9, W Lawson (3-1-3-1-0) 8, L Bridger (2-0-0-3-3) 8, L Lindgren (0-2-2-2-2) 8 (all qualified for final), S Gustafsson (1-1-0-2-3) 7 (reserve for final), M Szczepaniak (2-2-2-0-1) 7, L Eklof (3-1-1-0-2) 7, R Wells (0-2-1-2-1) 6, T Busch (1-1-0-1-0) 3, T Proctor (1-1) 2, M Dilger (1-0-0-0-fell) 1, R Kasprzak (0-0-1-ret-0) 1, J Auty (0-1) 1, K Nilsson (fell exc-ns-ns-ns-ns) 0.

Fixtures, tonight: Elite League: Eastbourne v Lakeside, Wolves v Pirates.

Knockout Cup, quarter-final, first leg: Belle Vue v Coventry.