HOLDER'S CARDIFF CELEBRATION

01/07/2022

HOLDER'S CARDIFF CELEBRATIONHOLDER'S CARDIFF CELEBRATION

Former world champion Chris Holder has revealed he celebrated winning his first FIM Speedway GP of Great Britain – Cardiff in style – by sleeping in Luton Airport car park.

The Principality Stadium celebrates its 20th FIM British Speedway GP on Saturday, August 13 (5pm) as the event roars back into the Welsh capital after a three year break, with tickets including entry to the FIM SGP2 of Great Britain on Sunday, August 14 at 1pm.

Holder took victory in Cardiff’s 10th Speedway GP event in 2010 as he fended off then world champion Jason Crump to claim his first-ever SGP win.

The Sydneysider then went to Poland the next day and struggled to one point in the PGE Ekstraliga for Torun.

It was assumed he had been celebrating his big win in Cardiff. But Holder admits the evening wasn’t quite as glamorous as many believed.

Holder, who also topped the podium in 2012, said: “We had Poland the next day and I had all the family travelling with me. Poole Speedway had a Mini, so we drove in that to Luton Airport.  I wasn’t that prepared at the time. I went to book a hotel and I think the Silverstone Grand Prix was on that weekend, so all the hotels were full.

“It was me, my brother Jack, Mum and Dad and the trophy, which weighs about 10kg. It’s quite a big trophy, so there wasn’t a lot of room left in that Mini! But we all slept in the car park at Luton Airport.

“I then went to Zielona Gora with Torun and ran a last, a third and got pulled out of the meeting. That was a full-blown reality check. I won Cardiff the previous night and didn’t even get the chance to soak it up. I slept in a car at the airport to get to Poland, did two heats and then I was on the sidelines. That was pretty wild.

“I remember it being summertime in Zielona Gora the next day. It was red-hot and I had hardly had any sleep. I did those two rides and they just pulled me out of the meeting, thinking I had been out celebrating all night. Clearly I wish I did now!”

Holder nearly didn’t make it to Cardiff at all after injuring his arm when he was inadvertently run over by American legend Greg Hancock at the FIM Torun Speedway GP three weeks earlier.

“I didn’t break the arm,” he said. “But I had a massive bruise. I thought I was going to miss Cardiff. I think I had maybe a week or a couple of weeks off trying to get my arm sorted.”

In an era when riders have the best of modern medicine available to them, Holder revealed some home remedies from Bridget Middleditch – mother of Poole team manager Neil Middleditch – got him back on the bike.

“Middlo’s mum used some old-school, witch-doctor tactics and managed to get all the bruising out,” Chris said. “She wrapped my arm up in apple cider vinegar and this bandage. I had that on for a few days and then she changed it and put a fresh one on.

“I don’t know what it did, but my arm went from not much bruising to just black and blue from my shoulder down to my forearm. It was pretty insane how it brought it all out. I don’t know if I rode from Torun until that GP, but she fixed it enough so that I could bend it and I managed to nab that win, which was pretty sweet.”

Tickets for the FIM British Speedway GP in Cardiff are still available online. Be part of the 20th anniversary celebrations and book here now: https://bit.ly/3ixX9wQ