Chris Holder was quick to blame himself for missing out on Elite League Riders’ Championship glory after finishing third behind Leigh Adams and Chris Harris at Coventry tonight.

Poole’s young gun tied for top spot in the qualifiers with 13 points alongside Harris and had first choice of gate in the final.

But after jetting away from the tapes in front in the blue helmet, Holder had to go wide to peg Fredrik Lindgren behind him.

As he did that, though, Adams and Harris cut back on the second turn to dive inside the Castle Cover Pirates star.

The Swindon and Coventry duo then halted Holder’s attempted charge down the outside of the back straight into the lead to condemn him to third place.

Adams roared away to deservedly take the chequered flag, complete a popular ELRC victory for the first time in his brilliant 20-year British career and take home first prize of a new Jawa bike worth about £3,500.

Harris held off Holder for second with Lindgren retiring with mechanical problems.

Holder, who’d been trying to emulate previous Poole ELRC winners Tony Rickardsson and Bjarne Pedersen, told a bumper Brandon crowd: “I made a really good start in the final.

“But it was a tough one. I didn’t know where to go. I had to try and stop Chris and Leigh at the same time and unfortunately I couldn’t do it.

“I’m really looking forward to riding in the Grand Prix next year and I want to do well, but I won’t do it if I make a silly mistake like that.”

Earlier, Holder began brilliantly, blitzing to a comprehensive tapes-to-flag triumph over Matej Zagar and Mads Korneliussen in heat one.

Pirates team-mate Hans Andersen finished seventh with eight points. He was squeezed out by Adams going into the first bend of race four and was forced to watch in third as the Aussie held off Harris’s strong challenge for victory.

The Dane led heat five but Edward Kennett dived hard under him on the second lap to claim success, with Holder having to blast inside a badly subdued Jonas Davidsson to salvage third.

Holder needed to beat Bees favourite Harris in heat 10 to stay in top-two contention, and he did, diving under Bomber on the fourth turn after the Brit had expertly squeezed outside him into the lead on the back straight.

Andersen got out in front in race 12 but lost out in a close battle with Lindgren, so Adams led with nine at the interval. Holder was joint third on seven and Poole’s Dane seventh with five.

He led heat 14 but Zagar powered past on the first lap with Andersen having to settle for second.

Then Holder trapped like lightning to down Lindgren, Nicholls and Adams, up until then unbeaten but who ran a surprise last, in race 15.

Buccaneers will meet Plymouth in the National League title play-off final if they overcome Weymouth in the semis.

Plymouth beat Buxton 56-38 at home in the second leg of the other semi tonight to complete an aggregate 98-89 triumph.

Bournemouth Castle Cover take a 33-point lead into their second leg at Weymouth on Friday.

HEAT DETAILS Elite League Riders’ Championship at Coventry – Qualifying: Chris Holder (3-1-3-3-3) 13, Chris Harris (2-3-2-3-3) 13, Leigh Adams (3-3-3-0-3) 12, Freddie Lindgren (2-3-3-2-1) 11, Scott Nicholls (2-2-3-1-3) 11, Edward Kennett (3-3-1-1-2) 10, Niels-Kristian Iversen (3-2-1-2-1) 9, Matej Zagar (2-0-2-3-2) 9, Hans Andersen (1-2-2-2-1) 8, Robert Miskowiak (1-1-0-3-2) 7, Adam Skornicki (fell-1-0-2-2) 5, Mads Korneliussen (1-2-1-0-0) 4, Davey Watt (1-0-1-1-0) 3, Jonas Davidsson (0-0-2-0-0) 2, James Wright (0-1-0-0-0) 1, Lee Richardson dnr. Reserves: Josh Auty (0-fell-1) 1, Joe Haines (0-1- Referee: Mick Bates.

Ht 1: Iversen, Nicholls, Watt, Davidsson, 59.2.

Ht 2: Holder, Zagar, Korneliussen, Auty, 58.3.

Ht 3: Kennett, Lindgren, Miskowiak, Wright, 59.3.

Ht 4: Adams, Harris, Andersen, Skornicki (fell), 59.2.

Ht 5: Kennett, Andersen, Holder, Davidsson, 59.6.

Ht 6: (re-run) Lindgren, Korneliussen, Skornicki, Watt, 59.3.

Ht 7: Harris, Nicholls, Wright, Haines, 59.0.

Ht 8: Adams, Iversen, Miskowiak, Zagar, 59.6.

Ht 9: Adams, Davidsson, Korneliussen, Wright, 59.3.

Ht 10: Holder, Harris, Watt, Miskowiak, 58.8.

Ht 11: Nicholls, Zagar, Kennett, Skornicki, 59.5.

Ht 12: Lindgren, Andersen, Iversen, Auty (fell), 60.1.

Ht 13: Miskowiak, Skornicki, Haines, Davidsson, 59.7.

Ht 14: Zagar, Andersen, Watt, Wright, 59.8.

Ht 15: Holder, Lindgren, Nicholls, Adams, 59.4.

Ht 16: Harris, Iversen, Kennett, Korneliussen, 59.8.

Ht 17: Harris, Zagar, Lindgren, Davidsson, 60.1.

Ht 18: Adams, Kennett, Auty, Watt, 59.7.

Ht 19: Nicholls, Miskowiak, Andersen, Korneliussen, 60.5.

Ht 20: Holder, Skornicki, Iversen, Wright, 60.9.

Semi-final – Ht 21: Lindgren, Adams, Kennett, Nicholls, 60.2.

Final – Ht 22: Adams, Harris, Holder, Lindgren (retired), 59.8.

Tonight’s other results, National League title play-off semi-final, second leg: Plymouth 56 Buxton 38 (Plymouth won 98-89 on aggregate and will meet either Bournemouth or Weymouth in the final).