Holder hailed as worthy winner

7:00am Saturday 25th October 2008

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YOUNG gun Chris Holder is your Daily Echo Pirates rider of the year after holding off strong claims from Adam Skornicki and Bjarne Pedersen.

The Aussie ace has been a revelation for Poole Castle Cover this year, scorching to a scintillating 8.86 average in his debut Elite League campaign.

Holder’s talents are there for all to see, and our readers have recognised it by voting him their best Pirates rider of the season.

He topped our poll with 39 per cent, followed by Skornicki with 25 per cent and Pedersen with 21 per cent.

The Poole heat leader will receive our prestigious trophy during the club’s dinner dance at AFC Bournemouth tomorrow night.

Pirates chief Matt Ford said: “Chris has just been outstanding this year and fully deserves the Echo’s accolade.

“People have been talking about him all year long and I’m saying nothing new now.

“I clearly rated him years ago and acted quickly to make sure he became a Poole asset.

“It was a very neat bit of business at the time and we as a club are always looking for these kind of people.

“So it’s no surprise to me the Echo’s readers have voted Chris their best Pirate of 2008.

“For him to win it this year shows just how highly the fans rate Chris as well. All seven Pirates who have helped us win the league and get to the cup final have enjoyed outstanding seasons individually.

“So for Chris to come out on top and win this award has not been easy.”

To emphasize that fact, all seven Pirates riders in their team at the end of the campaign received votes for the first time in the nine-year history of our award.

Our trophy is just the latest of many Holder has won this month.

He has already lifted the Swedish, British and Polish top-flight titles with Lejonen, Poole and Torun.

Ford said: “To win the domestic titles in each country is a great achievement and something I’m very proud of.

“We know it’s not easy with all the work that goes into riding an awful lot of meetings in three leagues.

“It’s been such an outstanding season for Chris and let’s hope he can finish it off by helping Pirates lift the KO Cup.”

How you voted: 1 Chris Holder 39%, 2 Adam Skornicki 25%, 3 Bjarne Pedersen 21%, 4 Magnus Zetterstrom 8%, 5 Davey Watt 3%, 6 Daniel Davidsson 3%, 7 Freddie Eriksson 1%.

Previous Daily Echo Trophy winners: 2000 Mark Loram. 2001 Krzysztof Cegielski. 2002 Tony Rickardsson. 2003 Leigh Adams. 2004 Bjarne Pedersen. 2005 Bjarne Pedersen. 2006 Craig Boyce. 2007 Jason Crump.