PIRATES charger Chris Holder is content with his career rebuilding job so far after reaching the German SGP semi-final in Teterow on Saturday.

Holder, who leads Poole into a crunch top-of-the-table Elite League clash away to Belle Vue tonight, fell short of the final with eight points in the 200th Speedway Grand Prix event in Teterow.

This saw the Sydneysider drop a place to fifth in the World Championship on 85 points. He trails series leader Greg Hancock by 24 and third-placed British star Tai Woffinden by 11.

But with three rounds to race, Holder remains in rostrum contention and could still pick up a medal after the final round in Melbourne on October 22.

This would be some feat for a man whose career was stalled by a serious spill at Coventry in July 2013, which left him with a broken hip, pelvis, shoulder and heel. A broken neck and wrist followed in 2014, before Holder dislocated the now plated wrist while practising in Australia in January 2015,

Considering the damage he has endured, the fact the Pirate remains among the sport’s elite stars is a feat in itself, and Holder is happy with his SGP efforts so far this season.

He said: “I’m having a pretty good year. I’m not disgracing myself; I’m in the mix. I’m not really fighting for the championship I suppose, but I am in the top eight and going quite well.

“I’m not too upset about how things are going. I’m just rebuilding my career, I guess, after a few bad years. It’s going well.”

Holder accepts winning his second world title this year is probably beyond him. He said: “You never rule it out, but maybe the championship is a bit out of reach at the minute. I can still steal a third or something. It’s going to be tough, but I’m going to some good tracks, so you never know; we’ll see what happens.

“You never give up until it’s over, but I’ll just try and work towards the next one now and get as many points as I can.”

Pirates are without skipper Hans Andersen for their trip to the National Speedway Stadium tonight as he remains sidelined with a broken finger.

Swindon’s Rohan Tungate guests for the Dane. But Polish star Krzysztof Buczkowski is set to return after recovering from a wrist injury.

Poole must win by seven points or more to take the maximum four league points needed keep their hopes of topping the table and selecting their Elite League semi-final opposition in their own hands.