Thursday 17th May 2012, 09:17

Poole top gun Chris Holder was pleased to get a “Team Hagon” last-heat 5-1 as Pirates and Lakeside put on a thriller to honour Lee Richardson at Wimborne Road on Wednesday.

Holder, who bagged a 14 paid 15-point full house, teamed up with fellow Hagon Shocks-backed rider Darcy Ward for the heat 15 maximum which earned Pirates a 46-44 victory over Rico’s Hammers.

Richardson shares his main sponsor with Holder and Ward and the SGP star admits it was hard to race in such an emotionally-charged meeting following the Brit’s passing in Wroclaw on Sunday.

He said: “It was tough to go there and race; particularly knowing we were racing against his old team too. It’s not easy at all.

“For me, it was a good night and the team won, so we’re happy. Two Hagon Shocks riders finishing off with a 5-1 was a good little send-off for Lee.

“To try and get excited about racing when we’ve lost a pretty good mate and someone we see every other day wasn’t easy. He was team captain of Team Hagon as well as Lakeside.

“It’s tough, but unfortunately life goes on so fast that you just have to keep going. I’m sure he wouldn’t want it any other way either.”

Holder was quick to pay tribute to the Hammers, who put in a powerful performance and led the hosts most of the way.

“They’ve lost a pretty big player in their team and it’s not easy,” he said. “Fair play to them for coming to Poole, putting up a good fight and pushing us all the way to the end. It was a good effort by their team.”

Pirates went into the meeting with a heavily patched-up side. Dennis Andersson and Ricky Kling were racing in the Swedish Championship semi-final in Avesta, while Sam Masters pulled out after the parade due to the leg injury he sustained at Plymouth on Saturday.

Mateusz Szczepaniak was drafted in as a guest for Kling, rider replacement operated for Andersson and Todd Kurtz, who was set to line-up at No.8, was promoted to No.2 at the last second.

Pirates’ lower order struggled to back up Holder and Ward, who weighed in with 13 paid 14.

Holder said: “We were unfortunate with our team. We had a couple of boys doing the Swedish semi-final – big players in our team. Sam had a leg injury and Kurtzy got called up yesterday afternoon to come and ride – he didn’t know he was in until Sam pulled out.

“It wasn’t easy and I don’t think the track was at it’s best. But we snuck a win and we’re going to be pretty happy with that.”

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