PIRATES ace Chris Holder fired his Grand Prix season into life before admitting he had not felt fully fit during his Cardiff heroics.

The 27-year-old Sydneysider, twice a British GP winner in 2010 and 2012, totalled 18 points as he renewed his love affair with the Millennium Stadium.

Holder lost out to Danish star Niels-Kristian Iversen in the final but nonetheless ignited his world championship campaign and moved up seven places to sixth in the standings.

And the Pirates charger earned his silver medal despite suffering from the after-effects of food poisoning, which had caused him to miss Pirates’ Elite League defeat to King’s Lynn on Wednesday.

Holder, who more than doubled his series points tally in the Welsh capital, told the Daily Echo: “I didn’t really eat on Thursday and even on Friday I was a bit shaky.

"That was the first day with a normal breakfast and lunch but then I had to ride a 500cc speedway bike round Cardiff!

“It took me a couple of laps to get it together during practice and I was probably sweating worse than anyone.

“But I felt a lot better on Saturday and could eat properly. I was probably at 90 per cent for the meeting and it was a really good result for me.

“I’d had a tough run in the past three rounds and needed to get a good score under my belt to get me back in the mix and give me something to chase.

“It’s hard when you are so far down, it looks like you are never going to get there. But it worked out well and I had a good night.

“To only drop three points in a Grand Prix meeting is pretty decent – I haven’t done that for a while!

“I’m really happy and everything’s working well so I just have to build on that and, hopefully, take it to the next level.

“I know 18 points is good but I really wanted to win, not because of the extra point but because it’s Cardiff and it’s the best Grand Prix of the lot. It would have been nice but I guess there’s always next year.”

Holder’s display was a huge improvement on previous Grand Prix rounds, the Ringwood-based rider notching 13 points in the qualifying heats.

The Aussie exploded out of a favourable gate one to advance from his semi-final and, unsurprisingly, elected to use the same slot in the final.

However, despite hitting the front going into the first turn, Holder was relegated to second when Iversen blasted round the boards on turn two and held on for victory.

Holder’s most recent Grand Prix triumph was in Cardiff in August 2012, the same year he won the world title.