CHRIS Holder admitted he had been relieved to hang on for second place in the final of the British Grand Prix.

The Wimborne Road favourite was passed by Niels-Kristian Iversen on turn two and could not close the gap on the Dane.

And Holder was happy to retain second spot given that he had experienced machinery problems in the latter stages in Cardiff.

The Poole star told the Daily Echo: “I lost a lot of speed in the semi and the final because we made a couple of changes that didn’t really work.

“Halfway through the semi the bike suddenly felt different. I lost a bit of power when I ran into the grip.

“I told my guys and asked them to check everything but they couldn’t find anything so I thought it was just me.

"But after Niels went past me in the final, I went in the dirt and the same thing happened. I thought I was going to go back rather than catch him.

“Luckily I held on to second. I'm not sure what went wrong but at the end of the day, second is okay and 18 points is pretty cool."