Chris Holder only needs a top-six finish in the final round of the Australian Championship at Mildura on Saturday to lift his third national crown.

Pirates’ star stormed to his third straight victory in this year’s series as he triumphed at Broken Hill today.

The Poole Castle Cover man suffered defeats against Kozza Smith and Davey Watt in the qualifying heats.

But when it mattered most, Holder turned the tables on both riders in the A final to seal a superb success at the remote north-west New South Wales venue.

It means the defending champion, who shrugged off the pain of head, neck and shoulder injuries to triumph, has amassed a maximum 60 points to lead the overall standings by seven.

Even if Watt, who is second overall with 53, wins the fourth round at Mildura, sixth place will be good enough for Holder to emulate his national title successes of 2008 and 2010.

Pirates captain Watt won’t give up the fight though, especially after beating Holder in heat 18 at Broken Hill.

But it looks like he will have to be content with overall runners-up spot and a place in the 2012 Grand Prix qualifiers.

Smith, who signed for Berwick this winter, might well have finished above Watt and Holder in the qualifiers if he hadn’t had to pull up after suffering mechanical failure while leading race 14.

The Premier League man plundered 12 points from his other four outings but finished third behind Holder and Watt in the A final, with Rory Schlein fourth.

Schlein jumped up to third overall with 45 points, two ahead of Poole’s Darcy Ward, who endured a nightmare at Broken Hill.

The two-times world under-21 champion got seven points from his opening four rides.

But, needing a win in his last outing to reach the B final, he also suffered a mechanical failure and failed to finish the race.

Ward dropped to fourth overall with 43 points, but is still on course to bag one of four GP qualifiers’ places on offer.

With Holder, already a GP regular, only needing to take his place at the starting tapes in Mildura to grab two points and guarantee a top-five finish, it means those four places should go to the occupiers of second, third, fourth and fifth positions.

That is, of course, if Holder, as expected, elects not to ride in the GP qualifiers.

Cory Gathercole, who failed to reach the B final in Broken Hill, is currently fifth overall on 41, followed by Smith (37), Cameron Woodward (37), Justin Sedgmen (36), Ty Proctor (36) and Sam Masters (33).

The big loser at Broken Hill was 2010 Pirates rider Jason Doyle.

After crashing heavily at Gillman last Saturday, he was forced to pull out of the third round after aggravating a shoulder injury in the build-up to the meeting.

It left luckless Doyle, denied a GP qualifiers’ place last year through injury, staring the same unsavoury prospect in the face.

By not being able to ride at Broken Hill, he plummeted from fourth to 11th in the overall standings.

And even if he is able to race at Mildura, it’s unlikely he’d be able to grab an overall top-five place now.

Poole new boy Kyle Newman had a good night at Broken Hill though.

The ambitious British teenager celebrated signing up as a Pirates squad member by grabbing two seconds and two thirds to finish 11th, just one place behind Ward.

The reigning Queensland under-21 champion is 14th overall, despite only taking part in two meetings after being called up because Brenton Barnfield was injured in round one.

Australian Championship third round, Broken Hill Qualifying: Davey Watt (3-2-2-3-3) 13, Chris Holder (2-3-3-3-2) 13, Kozza Smith (3-3-3-ret-3) 12, Justin Sedgmen (3-3-1-2-3) 12, Cameron Woodward (1-2-1-3-3) 10, Rory Schlein (1-2-3-2-1) 9, Sam Masters (2-1-3-1-2) 9, Cory Gathercole (0-1-2-3-2) 8, Ty Proctor (1-3-0-2-1) 7, Darcy Ward (2-1-2-2-ret) 7, Kyle Newman (0-2-2-1-1) 6, Richard Sweetman (2-0-1-0-2) 5, Taylor Poole (3-0-1-ns-ns) 4, Mitchell Davey (1-1-0-0-0) 2, Arlo Bugeja (0-0-0-1-1) 2, Ryan Sedgmen (ret-0-0-0-0) 0. Reserve: Robert Medson (1-1) 2.

Ht 1: Poole, Sweetman, Davey, Bugeja, 50.81.

Ht 2: Watt, Ward, Woodward, R Sedgmen, 51.32.

Ht 3: J Sedgmen, Masters, Proctor, Newman 51.32.

Ht 4: Smith, Holder, Schlein, Gathercole, 51.72.

Ht 5: Smith, Newman, Davey, R Sedgmen (retired), 51.56.

Ht 6: Proctor, Schlein, Ward, Poole, 51.12.

Ht 7: J Sedgmen, Watt, Gathercole, Bugeja, 51.03.

Ht 8: Holder, Woodward, Masters, Sweetman, 50.63.

Ht 9: Holder, Ward, J Sedgmen, Davey, 51.09.

Ht 10: Masters, Gathercole, Poole, R Sedgmen, 51.73.

Ht 11: Schlein, Newman, Woodward, Bugeja, 50.34.

Ht 12: Smith, Watt, Sweetman, Proctor, 51.16.

Ht 13: Watt, Schlein, Masters, Davey, 51.45.

Ht 14: Woodward, J Sedgmen, Medson, Smith (retired), 50.75.

Ht 15: Holder, Proctor, Bugeja, R Sedgmen, 50.59.

Ht 16: Gathercole, Ward, Newman, Sweetman, 51.16.

Ht 17: Woodward, Gathercole, Proctor, Davey, 51.25.

Ht 18: Watt, Holder, Newman, Medson, 50.75.

Ht 19: Smith, Masters, Bugeja, Ward (retired), 50.97.

Ht 20: J Sedgmen, Sweetman, Schlein, R Sedgmen, 50.53.

B Final: Schlein, Woodward, J Sedgmen, Masters, 51.38.

A Final: Holder, Watt, Smith, Schlein.

Overall standings: (after three rounds of four) Holder 60, Watt 53, Schlein 45, Ward 43, Gathercole 41, Smith 37, Woodward 37, J Sedgmen 36, Proctor 36, Masters 33, Doyle 29, Sweetman 26, Poole 17, Newman 15, Bugeja 10, Davey 9, Brenton Barnfield 2, R Sedgmen 2.