PIRATES have confirmed that captain Chris Holder sustained a broken shoulder, hip and heel in the crash that forced the abandonment of their 43-41 defeat at Coventry last night.

Team manager Neil Middleditch reported that the world champion had suffered the multiple injuries during the final and decisive heat which brought the Elite League meeting to a premature end.

Holder was taken to a nearby hospital after receiving lengthy attention on the track at Brandon after he had hit the air fence during the second lap of heat 15.

Middleditch accompanied Holder in the ambulance as doctors assessed the extent of the popular Pirates talisman’s injuries.

And just after midnight, the long-serving Pirates chief tweeted: "Chris got broken shoulder, hip and heel. In good hands at Cov hospital. #sadnews"

The news comes as a massive blow to Pirates’ play-off prospects after promoter Matt Ford had just rebuilt his side around Holder and the returning Darcy Ward for a late-season title tilt.

And with the injuries  as bad as initially feared, Holder’s chances of retaining the world title he won in stunning fashion last year have also been cruelly ended.

With the result standing after 14 completed heats, Pirates were left with one league point following Coventry’s 43-41 victory.

But the importance of the outcome would have been the last thing on the minds of everyone connected with the club, with all thoughts now with Holder to wish the Australian star a speedy recovery.

In the meeting itself, Poole had opened their account with a trio of heat advantages with Darcy Ward, reserve Kozza Smith and Holder grabbing heat wins, but the Bees quickly hit back with a maximum to stem the tide.

Scott Nicholls led the way with reserve Aaron Summers battling his way to second before Zengota’s superb ride to trump Ward in heat five restored parity.

The clash became too close to call when the next three heats ended all square as Poole asset Krzysztof Kasprzak trumped Smith and Janowski before Nich-olls grabbed a second heat win of the evening with Holder uncharacteristically taking third.

Guest Patrick Hougaard, who finished behind Nicholls, then went one better in heat eight, but with Smith bringing up the rear, the teams remained neck and neck. However, a poor start saw Janowski’s slump to the back on the entrance to turn one continue his night to forget as Zengota and Szczepaniak gave the Bees their buzz back.

Holder was back on form to take the last race before the interval but Hougaard’s first duck prevented Pirates from making inroads with the four-point gap maintained when the ruthless Nicholls barged his way through for three wins from three.

Holder headed Poole’s pursuit of points with another victory in heat 12, and it was Pirates’ first maximum of the night but Zengota recovered from a wobble to reel Smith in.

Ward cruised home to become the first man to finish ahead of Nicholls, but the ineffective Janowski provided no support and the visitors stayed narrowly behind going into the penultimate leg.

Poole remained in contention when reserve change Smith snaffled his second three point haul of the night, but guest Hougaard couldn’t score with the result in the balance.

It was down to the much-lauded Turbo Twins to turn the tables but Holder’s massive spill marred the evening.

RIDERS' SCORES AND HEAT DETAILS

Coventry Bees 43 Poole Pirates 41.

Coventry 43: 1 Krzysztof Kasprzak (2,3,2,1*) 8+1 2 Rider replacement for Stuart Robson 3 Grzegorz Zengota (2,3,3,2) 10 4 Michal Szczepaniak (0,1,2*1*,1*) 5+3 5 Scott Nicholls (3,3,3,2) 11 6 Aaron Summers (0,2,2*,0,2,0,2) 8+1 7 Adam Roynon (0,0,1*,0) 1+1 Team manager: Gary Havelock.

Pirates 41: 1 Darcy Ward (3,2,2,3) 10 2 Rider replacement for Rohan Tungate 3 Chris Holder (3,1*,3,3) 10+1 4 Patrick Hougaard (1,2,3,0,0) 6 5 Maciej Janowski (1,1*,1,0) 3+1 6 Kozza Smith (1,3,2,0,1*,1,3) 11+1 7 Micky Dyer (1,0,0,0) 1 Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

League points: Coventry Bees 2, Poole Pirates 1.

Ht 1: Ward, Kasprzak, Smith, Summers 60.1 (2-4)

Ht 2: Smith, Summers, Dyer, Roynon 59.8 (4-8)

Ht 3: Holder, Zengota, Hougaard, Szczepaniak 59.7 (6-12)

Ht 4: Nicholls, Summers, Janowski, Dyer 59.8 (11-13)

Ht 5: Zengota, Ward, Szczepaniak, Dyer 59.1 (15-15)

Ht 6: Kasprzak, Smith, Janowski, Roynon 60.6 (18-18)

Ht 7: Nicholls, Hougaard, Holder, Summers unknown time (21-21)

Ht 8: Hougaard, Summers, Roynon, Smith 60.9 (24-24)

Ht 9: Zengota, Szczepaniak, Janowski, Dyer 60.7 (29-25)

Ht 10: Holder, Kasprzak, Szczepaniak, Hougaard 60.4 (32-28)

Ht 11: Nicholls, Ward, Smith, Summers 60.6 (35-31)

Ht 12: Holder, Zengota, Smith, Roynon 60.7 (37-35)

Ht 13: Ward, Nicholls, Kasprzak, Janowski 61.1 (40-38)

Ht 14: Smith, Summers, Szczepaniak, Hougaard 62.0 (43-41)

Ht 15: Meeting abandoned.