CHRIS Holder and Australia booked their place in the Speedway World Cup final with a ruthless display of riding at King’s Lynn.

Pirates star Holder totalled 11 points as Mark Lemon’s side showed superb nerve in the nominated races despite intense pressure from Great Britain.

Australia finished on 47 points at the Adrian Flux Arena, four clear of GB, with the United States well back in third and Latvia fourth.

Thursday’s race-off in Vojens, Denmark will be contested by Poland, Great Britain, Russia and the United States, with just the victors due to advance to Saturday’s final at the same venue.

Reigning champions Denmark, Australia and Sweden lie in wait.

Holder won heat three despite pressure from Danny King and was in cruise control in his next outing, helped by the exclusion of Robert Lambert after the Brit had touched the tapes.

Ringwood-based Holder becoming the first Aussie to finish outside the top two in heat 10 as he was kept out by Ryan Fisher, with Tai Woffinden stealing the show as he charged from last to first.

Holder had his colours lowered for the second time in heat 16 after the in-form Chris Harris roared in front out of turn two, bringing GB to within a single point of the Roos in the process.

But Nick Morris, Troy Batchelor and Jason Doyle won the first three nominated races which rendered Holder’s second-place finish in the closing heat academic.

RIDERS’ SCORES

Great Britain: Chris Harris (3-3-2-3-2) 13, Danny King (2-2-2-3-1) 10, Tai Woffinden (3-1-3-3-3) 13, Robert Lambert (1-x-2-2-2) 7.

United States: Greg Hancock (3-3-2^-3-0-1) 12, Gino Manzares (1-1-1-1-0) 4, Ryan Fisher (1-x-2-1-1) 5, Max Ruml (0-0-1-0) 1.

Australia: Chris Holder (3-3-1-2-2) 11, Nick Morris (2-2-3-2-3) 12, Troy Batchelor (2-2-1-3-3) 11, Jason Doyle (2-3-3-2-3) 13.

Latvia: Maksim Bogdanovs (0-1-0-1-1) 3, Andzejs Lebedevs (r-2-1-0-0-2) 5, Kjastas Puodzuks (1-0-0-0-f) 1, Jevgenijs Kostigovs (0-0-0-0) 4.