CHRIS Holder has revealed how renowned engine tuner Peter Johns helped him find the injection of pace to blast through his early-season troubles.

Speedway fans across the country were shocked to see the 2012 world champion drop to a second-string berth back in May, just one month after his return to Dorset.

But since then, the 27-year-old Grand Prix star has hit back with some bumper scores to reclaim the number one race jacket in style.

Holder acknowledged his confidence had suffered on the back of a spate of injuries over the past two years, with mixed results across the continent in 2015 prompting a call to long-term ally Johns, who also works with Darcy Ward, Tai Woffinden and Freddie Lindgren among others.

And having bounced back with a strong showing at the British Grand Prix in Cardiff alongside boosted returns in domestic speedway, the Pirates number one has a new-found confidence in his formula.

Holder told the Daily Echo: “My equipment is usually pretty good but maybe things were not quite as sharp as they should have been when I first came back to England.

“I started to work that out after a couple of meetings and spent a lot of time trying to get things right. To be honest, I didn’t really feel like I had found the solution until the home meeting against Leicester at the end of May.

“The last straw for me was the meeting before that, away to Leicester, where I got three paid four. That was a long drive home and I thought to myself ‘I am not doing this again’.

“But Johnsy had managed to come through with a new setup and I had a really good one in the return meeting. I had some more new kit which I used at King’s Lynn the day after and then I took that to Poland where I scored some good points.

“It was a good feeling because I had blamed myself but looking at it now, maybe it wasn’t all me. Since having the better gear underneath me, it has been all good. Hopefully, I can keep it going.

“They were the same engines I had last year, I just had a couple of things tweaked here and there to make them work differently and it has paid off.

“Johnsy knew what he wanted to do but there was a bit of a wait for all the bits to come through. It was all worth it in the end.

“Hopefully, this will help me put those bad meetings behind me. It has given me that extra bit of confidence to go to the track knowing the bikes are all good.

“The setups are totally different for English and Polish tracks but I seem to have found something over the past few weeks and it feels pretty good.”