NEW dad Chris Holder has vowed to wipe from the memory his New Zealand nightmare – and welcome son Max into the world with a Pirates points haul.

Holder lines up for Poole Coastal Aluminium in a Good Friday double-header against Coventry today, less than a week after opening his 2012 world championship account with just four points in Auckland.

As well as his on-track struggles Down Under, Pirates captain Holder was more than 10,000 miles away as girlfriend Sealy gave birth to the couple’s first child on Friday afternoon.

And Holder admitted he was keen to make up for what he described as “one of my worst ever meetings” by helping Pirates get their Elite League title defence off to a flyer today.

The 24-year-old Aussie told the Echo: “We had two days of practice in Auckland and the track was fine. Maybe I was trying too hard because there were a lot of people and family there from Australia. Sometimes, the harder the ride, the worse you are and I was just sitting here shaking my head when I watched it back on TV.

“But I can’t do anything about it now. All I can do it make sure I don’t perform like that again.

“I wanted to be in the final and win so to not even get close and only score four points was terrible. It was a long way to go to ride like I did and I had big expectations before I went.

“That was my worst Grand Prix by a long way and probably one of my worst ever meetings in general. I was just stuck and didn’t know how to fix it. It sucked.

“I need to get back on the bike so I can forget New Zealand. I’m mad keen for the two meetings and really looking forward to banging in a few points for Poole over Easter.”

Holder endured a restless pre-race night in Auckland, with Sealy giving birth to Max at around 2am New Zealand time, and the star had to wait until Tuesday to meet his son for the first time.

Holder added: “When I left for New Zealand, he wasn’t here, so it was a funny feeling to come home and have a little person here waiting for me.

“But it was always on the cards that he was going to arrive while I was away, unfortunately.

“It wasn’t great to be honest and, to make it worse, I had a really bad meeting in New Zealand.

“I was on the end of the phone when it was all happening so I guess that was the next best thing.

“At the time in Auckland, I didn’t think the birth had affected me, but I was terrible and I had a long flight back to think about it.

“Looking back, I think being so far away when he was born must have played a part in how bad I was in the meeting.

“But it’s important for me to get going again and, hopefully, I can do well against Coventry.”