SKIDDING for a living. That is what Chris Holder does and he does it well.

Anyone who follows Holder on social network site Twitter would be used to the young Aussie’s ‘yeewwwwww’s and #wolfpackbehaviour hashtag.

As well as that, Holder’s off-track banter with the likes of Freddie Lindgren, Lewis Bridger, Scott Nicholls, Davey Watt and, in particular, Greg Hancock, down the broadband line is laugh out loud funny. Or ‘lol’ if you prefer.

“I love Twitter,” enthuses Holder just 24 hours before he is due to take to the track at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.

“You can just chat on an open forum, you talk to your friends and it’s great for the fans because they like to know what’s going on and get replies from people they like.

“I feel the same as the fans, though. If I write to someone I’m following and they write back, I’m wrapped!”

Holder’s performances have certainly had Pirates chief Matt Ford both wrapped and stoked in recent weeks, for the 23-year-old has not been beaten in any heat by any opposing rider in Poole Castle Cover’s past two meetings.

He notched consecutive full 15-point maximums in both legs of Pirates’ thrashing of Swindon in the Elite Knockout Cup – ideal form for a spirited defence of his British Grand Prix crown in Wales this evening.

Behind him, he will have a double dose of usual suspects – his brother James, the Somerset rider and Pirates team-mate Darcy ‘Darky’ Ward. No Davey Watt, though.

“Watty is in Latvia or somewhere,” says Holder, “but Darky, my brother and all the rest of the boys are coming so I’ll have plenty of support.”

It’s clear Holder and his elder sibling are very close. When James isn’t sliding round a track somewhere for the Rebels in the Premier League, he has a spanner in one hand and an ‘Aussie Pride’ hat on his head grafting away on Chris’s bikes.

“James is at Somerset now and they are doing well,” says the younger Holder. “He’s having a good year and is enjoying himself.

“He works hard. It’s tough when your brother is doing well because everyone expects you to do the same, but it doesn’t work like that.

“He is doing his own thing and he is enjoying it so that is cool. I try to help him out as much as I can and he helps me out a lot too so it works well.”

Speedway is certainly in the Holder blood.

Dad Mick rode in his homeland with Pirates legend Craig Boyce, while youngest brother Jack, 14, is making waves Down Under.

“We played soccer and baseball in Aussie when we were growing up, but then we started racing bikes all the time – BMX and everything!” raves Holder.

“Craig Boyce was a massive influence when I was growing up. He is a good friend of the family and he and my dad used to muck about a bit.”

After winning the Aussie under-21 title in 2005, Holder made his first venture to England the following year, signing as a Pirates asset and riding for the Isle of Wight in the Premier League “To be honest, I didn’t know anything about the English leagues until I came over in 2006,” he says. “I knew Boycie lived in Southampton and raced for Poole but that was about it.

“I just wanted to get a start somewhere and make my way from there.”

He has certainly made strides. From Premier League hopeful to Grand Prix winner, Elite League number one and world champion in the making inside four years.

With which comes travel, schedules, hassle and stress, but it’s now clear where Holder’s heart is.

He has just bought a house near Poole, is settled with girlfriend Sealy – a Bournemouth girl – and “loves” riding for Pirates.

“England, and Dorset, does feel like home,” he says sincerely. “My base in England is down here and I spend pretty much all of my time here.

“Poland is where I make my money and it’s a tougher league so I would never turn down a Polish meeting, but England is important to me. I’m not English, but it is like my home.

“I brought a house in the Bearwood area and I’m having it done up how I want it now and then it will be my base for as long as I am in England I reckon.”

He speaks fondly of Sealy, although apparently the story of how they met is “too long to go into”.

“Sealy is originally from Scotland but has been living down here since she was about 15 I think. She travels with me sometimes, but it’s hard. People think we go on holiday every time we do a meeting.

“We pretty much fly in, go to the hotel, do the meeting, sleep in the hotel and fly out again early the next morning.

“It’s tough trying to convince people that we’re not just going there to wander about, have a nice time and go to the shops!

“She goes to the Grand Prix meetings but with the league racing it’s more of a hindrance having your girlfriend there because if I have to leave at 4am to get a flight, I get up at 3.55am and get out straight away. I couldn’t wait around for her!”

As @chris_holder23 would say: Yeewwwwwwwwww!