Eight-times Sidecar Ace of Aintree winner Dave Holden kicked off his title defence in fine style by winning the opening round of this year's Championship.

The Veteran racer from Great Harwood, and passenger Richard Jacques, had only ridden his freshly acquired Windle Chassis, powered by a Suzuki GSXR1000cc engine, once previously at Oulton Park in May, and the pair were eager to give the outfit some race mileage.

Holden said: "It was raining for practice and we had to use full wet tyres. Conditions were a little better in the first race and we used intermediate tyres, but the track was still quite slippery and I was almost caught out a couple of times."

The finishing positions of the first race decided the grid positions for the point scoring final and in the greasy conditions Dave was quite happy to have finished fourth, which put him on row two.

He added: "It was dry for the final, which was what we wanted and the bike was running perfect, no problems at all.

"We had taken the lead by the end of the first lap and held onto it comfortably throughout the seven-lap race, it was great to be able to push the bike hard, it's unbelievably quick."

Holden's next outing is on Sunday when he competes on the newly reconstructed Anglesey Circuit.