TEAM boss Neil Middleditch reckons Chris Holder has finally found the magic mix after racking up 17 points with his new equipment.

Holder led the charge as Poole Pirates overcame a 12-point deficit to rescue a point in a 48-45 defeat at play-off rivals King’s Lynn.

The Aussie ace won four of his five heats, which included triumphs in a tactical ride and the nominated heat in which Pirates almost wrecked their hosts’ unbeaten home record.

But having trailed 27-15 after seven heats, Middleditch was happy to escape with some sort of return and lauded the efforts the 2012 world champion.

Middleditch told the Daily Echo: “Chris recently got his new engines through and is absolutely rocketing round. He is a completely different rider, his whole demeanour round the pits has changed and everything about him looks back to his old self.

“If you had offered me a point after heat seven I would have ripped your hand off. King’s Lynn hit us hard early on but it was a good fightback and we almost nicked it at the end.

“We came up here expecting a bit more but the track was tricky and we couldn’t quite get the setups right until later on.”

Holder gated well to take a shared opening heat but the Stars nudged in front in the first reserve outing of the night.

Sam Masters just gated in front of Maciej Janowski in heat three and valiantly held on despite the Pole’s persistent pursuit.

King’s Lynn’s Nicklas Porsing protected reserve and race winner Lewis Kerr as the hosts secured their first maximum of the night before teenager Robert Lambert squeezed Holder out of pole position in the fifth.

And when North ran wide to allow Grand Prix star Niels-Kristian Iversen and Masters through in heat seven, Poole were left with a mountain to climb.

Holder donned the back and white helmet and claimed six points from his tactical ride but Porsing and Kerr limited the damage.

The flying Lambert rescued parity to deny Pirates their first maximum in heat nine, while Holder’s sensational form yielded limited rewards with Watt’s third zero of the night proving costly.

But the Aussie’s efforts teed up a stirring recovery as Dakota North and Janowski gated for Pirates to secure their first maximum and reduce to five the arrears.

North then led the way with a 4-2 in heat 14 which took matters to a last-ditch decider and Holder and Janowski were sent out to try and achieve the unthinkable.

But while the dream was alive after the gate, Lambert and Iversen reined in Janowski and Poole had to make do with a point.

RIDER SCORES AND HEAT DETAILS

KING’S LYNN 48: 1 Niels-Kristian Iversen (2-3-2-0-2-1*) 10+1, 2 Robert Lambert (1*-3-3-1-1*-2) 11+2, 3 Sam Masters (guest) (3-1*-2*-1*-2) 9+3, 4 Nicklas Porsing (0-2*-2-2-0) 6+1, 5 Rider replacement for Kenneth Bjerre, 6 Ashley Morris (3-1-0-2) 6, 7 Lewis Kerr (1-3-1*-1*) 6+2. Team manager: Rob Lyon.

PIRATES 45: 1 Davey Watt (0-0-0) 0, 2 Chris Holder (3-2-6^-3-3) 17, 3 Dakota North (1*-1-3-3) 8+1, 4 Kacper Gomolski (0-0-1*-1) 2+1, 5 Maciej Janowski (2-3-2*-3-0) 10+1, 6 Paul Starke (0-0-0) 0, 7 Kyle Newman (2-1-0-2-3-0) 8. Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

Ht 1: Holder, Iversen, Lambert, Watt, 59.38 (3-3)

Ht 2: Morris, Newman, Kerr, Starke, 60.84 (7-5)

Ht 3: Masters, Janowski, North, Porsing, 59.90 (10-8)

Ht 4: Kerr, Porsing, Newman, Gomolski, 59.97 (15-9)

Ht 5: Lambert, Holder, Morris, Starke, 59.72 (19-11)

Ht 6: Janowski, Porsing, Masters, Watt, 58.85 (22-14)

Ht 7: Iversen, Masters, North, Gomolski, 59.06 (27-15)

Ht 8: Holder (tactical ride), Porsing, Kerr, Newman, 59.21 (30-21)

Ht 9: Lambert, Newman, Gomolski, Morris, 60.28 (33-24)

Ht 10: Holder, Iversen, Masters, Watt, 59.72 (36-27)

Ht 11: North, Janowski, Lambert, Iversen, 59.81 (37-32)

Ht 12: Newman, Morris, Kerr, Starke, 60.66 (40-35)

Ht 13: Janowski, Iversen, Lambert, Newman, 59.75 (43-38)

Ht 14: North, Masters, Gomolski, Porsing, 60.82 (45-42)

Ht 15: Holder, Lambert, Iversen, Janowski, 59.91 (48-45)