PIRATES star Chris Holder maintained his impressive start to the season by climbing to the top of the Speedway Grand Prix standings.

Holder reached his second successive final and banked 12 points after finishing fourth in what proved to an a pulsating second round in Warsaw on Saturday.

The Ringwood-based former world champion backed up his excellent showing in the Slovenian GP at the end of April and took a two-point lead over Tai Woffinden and ex-Poole charger Greg Hancock.

Defending champion Woffinden took victory in the final in the Polish capital, with Hancock second and Slovenian Matej Zagar – the declared winner of last year’s round at this venue – picking up third.

Holder started with a third place behind Woffinden and former Pirate Antonio Lindback – the latter producing some spectacular racing during the course of the meeting.

But two wins from Holder pushed him into the list of front-runners and he looked set for a second place in his fourth ride behind 2015 Poole skipper Maciej Janowski until King's Lynn's Niels-Kristian Iversen found a route through.

Holder made a great start in heat 18 but a third victory was denied when wild card Patryk Dudek produced a good comeback to reel him in.

In his semi-final, Holder nestled in behind Hancock as they eliminated Freddie Lindgren and Janowski but his hopes of victory evaporated when he reared badly in the final allowing Woffinden and Hancock to steal a march.

Although his chances of a medal slipped from his grasp when Zagar stood firm in the final, Holder’s second double-figure return saw him shoot to the top of the leaderboard.

More than 52,000 fans packed into the PGE Narodowy to watch one of the biggest speedway events in the world calander.

Holder, who was crowned champion in 2012, thrives at the sport’s indoor events and is a two-time winner of the British GP at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.

Previewing the event, Holder had told Speedway GP: “If I can go out there and take off from where I left off in Krsko, I’ll be over the moon.

“That whole meeting was extremely tough with the scores. I tried not to look at the scoreboard because I was top at one point and was on eight points. I looked down to 10th and they were on six. It was really close all the way through.

“The new guys who came into the series like Bartosz Zmarzlik, Piotr Pawlicki and Antonio Lindback were right there on 10 points or missing out on countback. They’re only going to get faster and better. It’s going to be a tough one this season.”

Holder will be looking to build on his superb form over the coming nine rounds, starting in the Kjærgaard Danish SGP in Horsens on June 11.

Runner-up Hancock has raced all but one of the 194 rounds staged since the series was launched in 1995. And he believes this year’s Warsaw track was the best temporary circuit he had competed on.

He told SGP: “We have nothing but great things to say about this year’s event. I think Warsaw topped the charts. Hats off to everyone.

“This place has raised the bar. Ole Olsen built his best indoor track so far. I can’t really say there has been a better one yet. We saw so much good racing and passing.”

World Championship standings: 1 Chris Holder 26, 2 Tai Woffinden 24, 3 Greg Hancock 24, 4 Peter Kildemand 21, 5 Maciej Janowski 20, 6 Antonio Lindback 20, 7 Fredrik Lindgren 19, 8 Jason Doyle 18, 9 Matej Zagar 18, 10 Bartosz Zmarzlik 18, 11 Nicki Pedersen 14, 12 Andreas Jonsson 14, 13 Niels-Kristian Iversen 12, 14 Piotr Pawlicki 12, 15 Patryk Dudek 8, 16 Chris Harris 6, 17 Denis Stojs 1, 18 Nick Skorja 1.

Polish GP scores: 1 Tai Woffinden 14, 2 Greg Hancock 14, 3 Matej Zagar 14, 4 Chris Holder 12, 5 Fredrik Lindgren 12, 6 Bartosz Zmarzlik 10, 7 Maciej Janowski 10, 8 Antonio Lindback 10, 9 Patryk Dudek 8, 10 Andreas Jonsson 8, 11 Peter Kildemand 6, 12 Jason Doyle 5, 13 Niels-Kristian Iversen 4, 14 Nicki Pedersen 4, 15 Piotr Pawlicki 4, 16 Chris Harris 3, 17 Maksym Drabik DNR, 18 Pawel Przedpelski DNR.