HOLDER: CLOSING THE GAP IN GORZOW?

Aussie champion Jack Holder is determined to keep the pressure on Speedway GP title rival Bartosz Zmarzlik at tonight’s KGHM FIM Speedway GP of Poland – Gorzow.

Holder climbed into the Speedway GP top two for the first time in his career at the Wölk FIM German Speedway GP on June 10, finishing third as he reached his third straight SGP final.

That result leaves him just 12 points behind Zmarzlik, who leads the way on 70, with the Sheffield rider chasing on 58 as they return to the Edward Jancarz Stadium, where they raced as Stal Gorzow teammates in 2020.

The pair are now colleagues at PGE Ekstraliga champions Lublin after Zmarzlik departed boyhood club Gorzow last winter, with Holder making the switch from Torun.

While they are great teammates in Polish league action, it’s every rider for himself in Speedway GP and Holder is determined to close the gap to Zmarzlik in the SGP title race.

“I am coming for him and doing everything I can,” he said. “We’re only four rounds down and there is plenty more to come. I can’t complain about being on the podium three times in a row. It’s good and we will keep building on it.”

Holder helped Stal Gorzow reach the PGE Ekstraliga play-off final in 2020 and hopes that track experience will pay dividends tonight. He said: “It’s always good to go to a Grand Prix track that you know very well. Sometimes it can work against you, but sometimes it can work for you.”

Having finished 12th in the 2022 Speedway GP series, it’s fair to say Holder was not tipped to be among the frontrunners this year.

But after sealing his first Aussie title, and then going on to take second place in Warsaw and third in Prague and Teterow, Holder is pleased to see a winter of hard work pay off as he continues his surge to the sharp end of Speedway GP.

Asked if he has been surprised by his start to 2023, he said: “Yes and no – I know I am capable of doing it, but it’s the 16 best riders in the world, so it’s quite difficult. I have put in the work, and I am stoked to be here, and I am stoked to be second in the world at the moment.

“Last year it was so nerve-wracking for me in the Grand Prix. Now I have made my first final. I led the first one for a couple of laps before it was stopped in Warsaw, and now I have made three finals on the bounce.

“I know I can do it. It’s all about the heats and just gaining points, points, points. Then you can get that good gate in the semi-final, get through and let it all hang out in the final.”