SGP - Holta: The Forgotten Man...

http://www.worldspeedway.com/artman/publish/article_13638.shtml

He was in 6th place in the world rankings for 2010 before the GP circus arrived to Malilla, Sweden. He’d scored more points than Nicki Pedersen, Hans Andersen, Andreas Jonsson and Greg Hancock to name but a few.


However, this man’s had been the forgotten rider of the GP series so far! Rune Holta, riding under the Polish license, has quietly been putting in good performances. He may not receive all the attention and media hype, but the points he has picked up have been vital to maintaining a solid top 8 position. Yes, he may have slipped under the radar until the summer break but now he’s made an impact.

He arrived to his home track of Dackarna in Sweden for the next round of the GP series. Tomasz Gollob and Jarek Hampel were living up to their reputation ion the championship by proving to be the men to beat early on, but the Czestochowa rider was the man on fire in the final. Beating triple world champion, Jason Crump and the new championship leader, Gollob. A nice treat for him was also bagging 20 points!

This fantastic victory has now moved him up to fourth in the standings. He must surely be eyeing at least a bronze medal in the championship of his rich vein of form continues. Holta was of course part of the successful Polish team that claimed gold in the Speedway World Cup in July. He’s riding on the crest of a wave! Holta admits he has his eye on a medal and his aim is a top three in the final standings. He may make it a Polish one, two, three at this rate!

Holta of course qualified for the 2010 GP series by finishing 7th in last year’s series and then had doubts whether he would take up his place for this season’s GP. After much debate the 36 year old, decided not to relinquish his hard earned GP spot and has been scoring consistently through-put, if not spectacular.

A positive start to this year’s campaign saw him take 10 points in his home round in Leszno, Poland. With a string of around 6-7 points, he then was narrowly missing out on fighting through to the semi-finals. However, back in Poland, he was about to have his best performance so far this series with a 2nd place at Torun scoring a massive 19 points.

Cardiff was not a repeat of the sensational result he had a few weeks before, but still important, picking up a valuable 8 points on the night.

It seems Poland has been very kind to Holta, so he must be relishing grabbing some more when the SGP circus arrives at Bydgoszcz for the finale. Last year saw a superb performance by him at the final GP which secured his place in the top eight.

Holta also has the challenge of fighting to keep his Polish team from dropping to Division 1 when his club takes on Bydgoszcz in a relegation battle later in the few months. Can Holta continue to keep into the spotlight? We will find out in the next round in Croatia.