Jack Holder wins opening round of ’24 FIM Speedway Grand Prix – his 1st career SGP win

The win for Holder at the Boll FIM Speedway GP of Croatia was his first-ever career SGP win and, to make even that much cooler, coupled with his brother Chris’ success in SGP in the early 2010s (5 SGP wins), makes them the very first brother combination to score SGP victories. 

“I just made history and put the Holder family down as the first brothers to win,” said Holder. “It’s a massive monkey off my back. I have been wanting this victory for so long. My partner Jessica is back home in England and has our son in her belly, so she can’t travel anymore. That one is for her. I can’t wait to get home. Mum and Dad are back home in Australia with my brother Jimbo, and Chris was watching it too. The whole Holder crew – we did it!”

Holder was joined on the podium by his Monster Energy teammate, Freddie Lindgren, who placed 3rd on the night. Lindgren had eight points heading into the semi-finals, and parlayed a 2nd place finish in Semi 2 to make the main event.

“Feels good to get the result,” said Lindgren, the 2023 SGP Championship points Silver medalist. “We were battling hard all the way through, threw away a couple of points coming into the semis because I was riding a bit tight – which gave me the last gate choice. But don’t know how I did it, made that, and made the final. Made it on the box out of the yellow gate, which was terrible.”

For Monster Energy’s 3-time SGP champ, Tai Woffinden, finding traction on the night – on two different bikes – would keep him out of the finals. “Struggling all night to keep the thing from spinning,” said Woffinden. “Probably too much power in those engines for this track, which is frustrating as hell. But anyway, got the first one out of the way and we’re going to head down for the rest of the year.”

Similar story for Monster Energy’s Dan Bewley, who had a small crash early on and finished outside the top ten.

“Not the night I would have likes. But we come back in two weeks in Warsaw with it solved. Just wasn’t our night. Felt we had speed, but I just didn’t put ourselves in a very good position. But if it was easy it wouldn’t be fun.”

Monster Energy results, Croatia SGP
1st – Holder

3rd – Lindgren 

Overall Season Standings
1st - Holder (20 points)

3rd - Lindgren (16 points)

Up next…

FIM Speedway GP returns to action in Warsaw for the Orlen FIM Speedway GP of Poland at PGE Narodowny, May 11. For further information, including the season race schedule, racer bios and timely results, link to: www.fimspeedway.com