SWEDISH veteran Magnus Zetterstrom was the shock winner of an incident-packed Grand Prix Challenge in front of a packed Brandon crowd.
But Buildbase Bees skipper Chris Harris will have to wait on his Grand Prix future after finishing fifth and being unable to book an automatic place in next year's series.
Zetterstrom's victory would have been a story in itself at the age of 37, even allowing for his excellent record at Brandon in the past.
But it was all the more remarkable that he picked himself up from two heavy crashes during Heat 15 to still score the points required - and he then beat Chris Holder in a run-off to win the meeting.
Holder won his first four outings and always looked to be in control - the Australian is certainly ready for the Grand Prix, and it is good news for the series that he has made it for 2010.
The third qualifying place went to a thoroughly consistent Jarek Hampel, who conjured a fast start just when required to win his last ride and go clear of his rivals.
Harris paid dearly for running a last place off the outside gate in a tough Heat 1, and he was another rider to suffer a crash, which occurred in Heat 12 when Piotr Protasiewicz spun right in front of him, and Harris and Fredrik Lindgren were both caught up in the resulting carnage.
Harris was in pain from an elbow injury but recovered to post double-figures from the meeting, whilst the crash did serious damage to Protasiewicz's hopes, as he had looked one of the likely qualifiers in the early stages.
In a meeting of so many incidents and re-runs, the only withdrawal was Grzegorz Walasek, who damaged his leg in an awkward first-bend pile-up with Kenneth Bjerre in Heat 11.
GP CHALLENGE RESULT: Magnus Zetterstrom 14, Chris Holder 14, Jarek Hampel 13, Fredrik Lindgren 12, Chris Harris 10, Piotr Protasiewicz 10, Davey Watt 6, Martin Smolinski 6, Kenneth Bjerre 6, Adrian Miedzinski 6, Grzegorz Walasek 4, Lukas Dryml 4, Jonas Davidsson 3, Jurica Pavlic 3, Maksims Bogdanovs 3, Kauko Nieminen 3, Ales Dryml (res) 1, Morten Risager (res) 1.
