CHRIS Holder admitted he had “stuffed up” after throwing away a golden chance to win the Grand Prix of Poland.

The Pirates captain had tussled and toiled his way to 10 qualifying points on a testing track at the Edward Jancarz Stadium in Gorzow, admitting he had endured a “tough time” simply getting through four laps.

But having done the hard work and received a favourable pick of gates in the final, Holder ran wide after the first turn and allowed Jarek Hampel to coast up the inside and hold on for the victory.

Holder said: “I didn’t realise I rode such a good first corner in the final, but I made a little mistake. If you make half a mistake, you get passed really easily. I stuffed up and Jarek was there, he passed me and took off.

“I didn’t have the pace to catch him. He was gone. But I am happy with second and it feels good to be on the podium.

“Gorzow is a tricky track and I was having a tough time getting around it, but my mechanics were awesome. They got the bike working a lot better for me and, towards the end, it was a bit better to get around. I was a bit faster.”

Holder’s night got off to the worst possible start in the re-run of heat three. Having led initially before Nicki Pedersen went to ground, Holder was pipped at the start by the Dane when the riders lined up for a second time.

And the Aussie had no answer as both Tomasz Gollob and former Pirates team-mate Krzysztof Kasprzak followed Pedersen to leave him trailing.

Holder, though, made up for his early woes in race seven, holding off Martin Vaculik going into turn one, before keeping a resurgent Tai Woffinden at bay to take his first race win.

The Sydneysider made a mockery of the poor outside gate in heat nine when he nestled in nicely behind race winner Hampel to take his tally for the night to five, while the world champion moved within touching distance of a semi-final berth when he secured another two points in race 14 behind series leader Emil Sayfutdinov.

And gate three worked the oracle for the Bearwood-based rider when he swept to the front past Matej Zagar, Niels-Kristian Iversen and Andreas Jonsson in the final qualifying race to book his semi-final spot.

Iversen got the better of Holder from the tapes in semi-final two, with the Aussie finding himself in third behind the Dane and Kasprzak.

But a stunning move around the outside of Iversen at the start of the second lap bagged Holder a final spot behind Hampel, before the 25-year-old’s uncharacteristic error saw the Pole again get the better of him in the final race.

  • GP standings: (top eight after six rounds) 1 Emil Sayfutdinov 84, 2 Tai Woffinden 73, 3 Chris Holder 68, 4 Jarek Hampel 66, 5 Nicki Pedersen 64, 6 Niels-Kristian Iversen 60, 7 Greg Hancock 57, 8 Tomasz Gollob 52.