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Chris Holder 2020 Speedway Grand Prix Preview
Aug 272020
The 2020 Speedway Grand Prix series is going to look a little different this year, and while it certainly isn’t a sprint, it isn’t quite going to be the marathon we have become accustomed to.
Eight rounds staged over four venues, four weekends and six weeks. While riders will be used to 14 days between events in regular circumstances, they will have less than 24 hours in some cases this time round.
How that will play out remains to be seen, but it puts more emphasis than ever on a rider preparing perfectly, having a clear head and being able to solve problems quicker than they have ever needed to.
That’s according to 2012 World Champion Chris Holder, a man with 20 GP podium finishes to his name and who knows better than most just what it takes to compete at the very top level.
We caught up with the Sydneysider to get his thoughts on the shortened format, on how that may effect the riders, and on each and every competitor in the 2020 series – and he even gives his overall prediction for the top three.
Over to you CH…
“It’s going to be a hectic six weeks for the boys, having two races on the trot is going to be tough. A Grand Prix weekend is a big build up mentally, you are thinking about it all week and trying to make sure everything is spot on for that Saturday night, so to have two of those on two days will be a big change.
“It will be new for everyone so it’s not like anyone will have an advantage but for sure it won’t suit some of the guys, and there will be some who pick it up and make it work for them.
“The tough thing will be bouncing back if you have a bad night on the Friday, you have to get your head straight real quick and go again. Normally if you have a bad night you’re straight to Poland the next day and you’ve got a couple of weeks to try and sort your issues from the GP but they won’t have that this time, there’s no rest.
“The busiest men in Speedway over that six weeks will be the engine tuners! They’ll be getting calls at all hours of guys trying to solve issues and the boys will be taking so much gear with them to every round. You might be struggling for speed and trying to fix it for the next day, but you might be looking for something you don’t even have with you.
“Usually you can head back to the workshop and take something different to the next event, or you can get something new in, this time you’ll have to take everything with you and hope that you’ve got something that’s going to work.
“There’ll be some sleepless nights on the Friday, that’s for sure. The guys who have struggled will be up all night trying to figure out where they can get more speed from, what they’ve got that might work better, what they can do differently. It’s going to be a challenge.
“You’ll have to be on the money straight away, you can’t have a bad round this year. When you have 11 rounds or whatever, you can probably afford one bad one. This time, every single round is going to be important and whoever is bang on the money from the off will have the advantage, there’s no room for error.”
Holder has raced against all of the 15 full-time riders during his 94 Grand Prix starts, and has raced alongside many of them too, so there are few people better placed to give their views on each and every man lining up in this year’s series.
Here’s the Chris Holder lowdown on the 2020 SGP lineup;The 2020 Speedway Grand Prix series is going to look a little different this year, and while it certainly isn’t a sprint, it isn’t quite going to be the marathon we have become accustomed to.
Eight rounds staged over four venues, four weekends and six weeks. While riders will be used to 14 days between events in regular circumstances, they will have less than 24 hours in some cases this time round.
How that will play out remains to be seen, but it puts more emphasis than ever on a rider preparing perfectly, having a clear head and being able to solve problems quicker than they have ever needed to.
That’s according to 2012 World Champion Chris Holder, a man with 20 GP podium finishes to his name and who knows better than most just what it takes to compete at the very top level.
We caught up with the Sydneysider to get his thoughts on the shortened format, on how that may effect the riders, and on each and every competitor in the 2020 series – and he even gives his overall prediction for the top three.
Over to you CH…
“It’s going to be a hectic six weeks for the boys, having two races on the trot is going to be tough. A Grand Prix weekend is a big build up mentally, you are thinking about it all week and trying to make sure everything is spot on for that Saturday night, so to have two of those on two days will be a big change.
“It will be new for everyone so it’s not like anyone will have an advantage but for sure it won’t suit some of the guys, and there will be some who pick it up and make it work for them.
“The tough thing will be bouncing back if you have a bad night on the Friday, you have to get your head straight real quick and go again. Normally if you have a bad night you’re straight to Poland the next day and you’ve got a couple of weeks to try and sort your issues from the GP but they won’t have that this time, there’s no rest.
“The busiest men in Speedway over that six weeks will be the engine tuners! They’ll be getting calls at all hours of guys trying to solve issues and the boys will be taking so much gear with them to every round. You might be struggling for speed and trying to fix it for the next day, but you might be looking for something you don’t even have with you.
“Usually you can head back to the workshop and take something different to the next event, or you can get something new in, this time you’ll have to take everything with you and hope that you’ve got something that’s going to work.
“There’ll be some sleepless nights on the Friday, that’s for sure. The guys who have struggled will be up all night trying to figure out where they can get more speed from, what they’ve got that might work better, what they can do differently. It’s going to be a challenge.
“You’ll have to be on the money straight away, you can’t have a bad round this year. When you have 11 rounds or whatever, you can probably afford one bad one. This time, every single round is going to be important and whoever is bang on the money from the off will have the advantage, there’s no room for error.”
Holder has raced against all of the 15 full-time riders during his 94 Grand Prix starts, and has raced alongside many of them too, so there are few people better placed to give their views on each and every man lining up in this year’s series.
Here’s the Chris Holder lowdown on the 2020 SGP lineup;
