CHRIS Holder dug deep to notch double figures as he rode through the pain barrier of a suspected broken finger in his throttle hand as Pirates swept Belle Vue aside in front of Sky’s cameras last night.

The Australian ace sustained the injury in bizarre circumstances just two hours ahead of his Polish League meeting for Torun at Bydgoszcz on Sunday.

There was a touring fairground outside the track and Poole Castle Cover’s number one elected to have a rodeo ride on a horse that rotates violently up, down and sideways.

But he hit his hand hard aboard the wooden horse and believes he has broken a finger.

Holder made light work of the injury by scoring eight points in Torun’s 58-32 defeat, and he did even better last night, shrugging off the pain as he grabbed a scintillating 10 paid 13 against the Aces.

It was a superb individual display bearing in mind the little finger on his right hand was bent and next to useless while riding his bike.

Holder, due to line up for Lejonen in the Swedish League tonight and make only his second Grand Prix appearance at Gothenburg on Saturday, is probably too busy to go to hospital to get X-rays over the next couple of days.

But he will want to know the full extent of the injury ahead of the Swedish GP.

Holder is prone to sustaining injuries in non-speedway related incidents.

Last year, the luckless Aussie broke his collarbone in a moto-cross crash and was sidelined from some Pirates fixtures just as Hans Andersen was brought into an injury-depleted ailing side.

Holder, in a centre green interview, told Poole’s fans: “I’m lucky to be here. I think I broke my finger on Sunday.

“I did it on a rodeo ride but decided to just get on with riding, although it hurt.”

Andersen, on his return to Wimborne Road with his new club Belle Vue, struggled in his first two outings.

But Aces put up a far better show than Pirates’ previous two visitors, Coventry and Lakeside, with 40-year-old Peter Karlsson winning two races and Andersen and Patrick Hougaard also taking the chequered flag.

Belle Vue, however, were still no match for a rampant Poole side who moved an astonishing 12 points clear of second-placed Aces at the top.

Skipper Davey Watt provided the highlight, with a fantastic fourth-to-first burst to win heat four.

He blitzed outside Ricky Ashworth into second on the fourth corner, second lap, and then swept around Karlsson at the same place on the next circuit.

With Artur Mrockza pipping Ashworth for third on the line, the 4-2 propelled Pirates 15-8 ahead, and they never looked back.

Pirates 59: 1 Chris Holder (2-1*-2*-2*-3) 10+3, 2 Darcy Ward (1*-2-2*-3) 8+2, 3 Bjarne Pedersen (3-3-2-2*-0) 10+1, 4 Jason Doyle (fell exc-2*-1*-2*) 5+3, 5 Davey Watt (3-2-2-3) 10, 6 Leon Madsen (3-0-1*-3-3) 10+1, 7 Artur Mroczka (2*-1-3-exc) 6+1. Team manager: Neil Middleditch. Belle Vue 36: 1 Hans Andersen (0-0-6^-1-2) 9, 2 James Wright (3-2-1-0-0) 6, 3 Patrick Hougaard (exc unfair riding-3-0-0-1) 4, 4 Rider replacement for Tobias Kroner, 5 Peter Karlsson (2-3-6^-ret-1*) 12+1, 6 William Lawson (1-0-0) 1, 7 Ricky Ashworth (0-0-1-1-1-1-0) 4. Team manager: Chris Morton. Referee: Dave Robinson. Points: Pirates 3 Belle Vue 0. Ht 1: Wright, Holder, Ward, Andersen, 59.73 (3-3). Ht 2: Madsen, Mroczka, Lawson, Ashworth, 60.59 (8-4). Ht 3: (2nd re-run) Pedersen, Wright, Hougaard (excluded unfair riding), Doyle (fell exc), 60.45 (11-6). Ht 4: Watt, Karlsson, Mroczka, Ashworth, 60.46 (15-8). Ht 5: Pedersen, Doyle, Wright, Andersen, 60.75 (20-9). Ht 6: Karlsson, Ward, Holder, Lawson, 60.50 (23-12). Ht 7: Hougaard, Watt, Ashworth, Madsen, 61.31 (25-16). Ht 8: Mroczka, Ward, Ashworth, Wright, 60.84 (30-17). Ht 9: Karlsson^ (tactical rider, double points), Pedersen, Doyle, Lawson, 61.42 (33-23). Ht 10: Ward, Holder, Ashworth, Hougaard, 61.22 (38-24). Ht 11: Andersen^ (tactical rider, double points), Watt, Madsen, Wright, 60.50 (41-30). Ht 12: (re-run) Madsen, Pedersen, Ashworth, Hougaard, Mroczka (excluded, for delaying start while under starting orders), 60.91 (46-31). Ht 13: Watt, Holder, Andersen, Karlsson (retired), 60.96 (51-32). Ht 14: Madsen, Doyle, Hougaard, Ashworth, 61.22 (56-33). Ht 15: Holder, Andersen, Karlsson, Pedersen, 61.12 (59-36). Yesterday’s other results, Elite League: Ipswich 50 Peterborough 43, Wolves 56 Coventry 38.