PIRATES boss Neil Middleditch has warned the Speedway World Championship front-runners that reigning champion and Wimborne Road favourite Chris Holder “has got his mojo back”.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Prague Grand Prix, Poole’s team boss hailed Holder’s return to the fearsome form that saw the Aussie lift his first world title last year.

The current king of speedway bagged two heat wins and 14 points in Gothenburg a fortnight ago to jump up to sixth in the overall standings, closing the gap to seven points on early championship leader Tomasz Gollob.

And Middleditch, who feels his 25-year-old star will need to start well at the Marketa Stadium, thinks the rest of the field should beware of the Pirates’ talisman as he looks to successfully defend his crown.

The Wimborne Road boss told the Daily Echo: “Chris is certainly in with a shout with the way he is going at the moment. He is getting his equipment right, his club form in Poland and Sweden is good and he has got his mojo back now.

“It is a bit early to tell how it will all take shape – Emil (Sayfutdinov) is on a charge at the moment and Nicki Pedersen is coming back from injury, but anyone in the top eight can turn it around within a couple of meetings. You can’t count anyone out.

“There is a long way to go, but, if Chris can consistently get into those semi-finals and finals and stay injury free then he will be right in there. He just has to race (in the Grand Prix) like it is any other race and forget about last year’s title.”

On this weekend’s showdown in the Czech capital, Middleditch added: “Traditionally, Prague is a bit slick. It is a big track with a very fast racing line and it is very hard to pass. Chris will need to start well.”

Meanwhile, Middleditch said Darcy Ward had taken his omission from Pirates’ one-to-seven, exclusively revealed in yesterday’s Daily Echo, well before adding that changes were necessary to rejuvenate Poole’s flagging campaign.

Middleditch said: “It was a very difficult decision, and I am very close to Darcy, but no rider is bigger than the team.

“He (Ward) suffered a very nasty break and we couldn’t afford to go with a rider replacement for that length of time. He fully understands that and, to be fair to Darcy, he was fine about it and this is certainly not the end for him at Poole.

“If something isn’t right you have to change it. We knew we had to do something and, hopefully, we’ve made the right decision at the right time.”