THEY say you need a little bit of luck and Chris Holder got a deluge of it in Gothenburg.

The Aussie claimed his second career Grand Prix title in monsoon conditions, pipping Greg Hancock on countback as the Swedish Grand Prix was abandoned following heat 16.

Holder had taken the chequered flag in front of veteran Hancock in heat 11 to take the top step of a soaked podium.

In truth, Hancock aside, Holder deserved this triumph simply for dealing with the horrendous track conditions the best.

When others faltered, or fell suffering injury in Jason Crump’s case, Holder kept his nerve, kept the dry inside line and kept it simple.

There were no heroics or exhibition moves akin to those on the relative safety of Wimborne Road and those questioning whether the Aussie had genuinely come of age should now eat their kevlars.

This was a performance of maturity that demonstrated why Holder is a genuine, fair dinkum contender for the world championship top three this summer.

Indeed, Holder wanted to keep going – probably sensing that victory could well have been his even regardless of the weather.

As it was, he had to settle for making a little bit of bizarre history – becoming the first rider to win a Grand Prix without having to race in a final.

But it matters not.

Holder showed he had the speed in his first outing. The Aussie nestled in behind Freddie Lindgren and Jarek Hampel on the first turn, before squeezing up the inside of Hampel on lap two.

Holder was all over Lindgren and almost passed the Swede on the final turn but Lindgren held the line to take the chequered flag.

In heat six, Holder managed to get out in front of Janusz Kolodziej and on what the Aussie described as an “ice rink”, he expertly kept the Pole at bay and secured his first heat win of the 2011 series.

Holder again made a sensational start from gate four in heat 11, holding off the in-form Hancock in second place.

Despite lifting on lap three, Holder maintained control to complete a second race win and all but guarantee his spot in the semi-finals.

Holder was made to wait in heat 13, meanwhile, with Kenneth Bjerre failing to make the start and Simon Gustafsson stepping in as reserve.

But the delay didn’t affect him as he almost got the better of Tomasz Gollob on turn two of the first lap.

Holder had to settle for second behind the reigning world champion, though, as the rain teemed down.

Fellow Pirate Dennis Anders-son, meanwhile, came in as reserve for Crump, who suffered a suspected broken collarbone in a nasty heat 10 fall, in race 15.

The Swede, however, was well off the pace and finished fourth.

The officials managed to get one more heat in before correctly abandoning proceedings following heat 16 as the weather worsened, leaving Holder to pop the Champagne corks.

FIM Swedish Grand Prix, Gothenburg, qualifying: Chris Holder (2, 3, 3, 2) 10; Greg Hancock (3, 2, 2, 3) 10; Antonio Lindback (3, 3, 3, 0) 9 ; Janusz Kolodziej (2, 2, 3, 2) 9; Emil Sayfutdinov (1, 1, 3, 3) 8; Thomas H Jonasson (1, 3, 2, 2) 7; Andreas Jonsson (0, 2, 1, 3) 6; Tomasz Gollob (1, 0, 2, 3) 6; Freddie Lindgren (3, 1, 1, 1) 6; Jason Crump (3, 3, 0) 6; Jarek Hampel (1, 1, 2, 1) 5; Nicki Pedersen (2, 0, 0, 2) 4; Chris Harris (0, 2, 1, 1) 4; Kenneth Bjerre (2, 0, 0, -) 2; Rune Holta (0, 1, 0, 0) 1; Artem Laguta (0, 0, 1, 0) 1; Simon Gustafsson (1) 1; Dennis Andersson (0) 0.