Thursday 1st November 2012, 12:45

World champion Chris Holder has confirmed he wants to spearhead Poole’s British Elite League charge again in 2013, but he hopes to see the Wimborne Road track given an upgrade.

The 25-year-old is waiting to undergo surgery to fix the broken leg he suffered in Pirates’ Knockout Cup semi-final, second leg at Peterborough on October 25.

But he appeared in Poole on Monday to lift the cup after his injury-depleted side beat Coventry 102-78 on aggregate to win the final.

Some were questioning whether Holder would stay in the Elite League while many of his World Championship rivals enjoy far less congested fixture lists by riding only in Sweden, Poland and Denmark.

Holder is ready to commit to the Pirates cause, but still has concerns about the state of British tracks.

He said: “I want to be back at Poole – 100 percent. Riding here has got me where I am and I don’t forget about that stuff. I don’t feel the need to change.

“I feel pretty good. I’ve felt strong throughout this year; I didn’t really have too many dips in form because I was tired or anything. It was more other issues that were annoying me a bit, things like track preparation.

“Looking back, you couldn’t do much with the weather, but we don’t really get this stuff thrown at us in Poland and Sweden. They have much better equipment and they fix up wet tracks really easily.

“Coming back to England and sometimes racing on a lot of rubbish isn’t what we need – we could do without that. That’s the way it goes here. I understand it’s not on the same level as the other countries. But hopefully the weather will be better next year and there will be no complaints.”

Holder has reached four play-off finals in five years since joining Poole in 2008 and he believes some work on the Wimborne Road shale over the winter would ensure this success continues.

He said: “I’ll talk to (club owner) Matt (Ford) about that because it’s a major thing. If you have a happy team, you’ll have good results. Everyone wants to race.

“But if you come here and it’s not ideal, it becomes a job and not a hobby. We have the best following and the best sponsors here, so we should have the best track.

“The weather has been terrible so I’m not blaming anything on anybody. But maybe it’s time for an upgrade on the track. It has done a few years now.”

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