The 2005 Elite League speedway season was the 71st season of the top division of speedway in the United Kingdom and governed by the Speedway Control Bureau (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA).[1][2][3]
League | Sky Sports Elite League |
---|---|
Champions | Coventry Bees |
Knockout Cup | Belle Vue Aces |
Craven Shield | Oxford Silver Machine |
Individual | Nicki Pedersen |
Pairs | Swindon Robins |
Highest average | Nicki Pedersen |
Division/s below | Premier League Conference League |
In 2005, the league consisted of ten teams, with the title being decided by a play-off between the top four.[4]
Belle Vue Aces topped the regular season table and won the Knockout Cup. Their world champion rider Jason Crump was in superb form throughout the season. Fellow Australian Leigh Adams topped the league averages for Swindon for arguably the second consecutive season but it was Coventry Bees that experienced their first title success since the glory days of the late 1980s.[3]
Coventry had finished bottom of the table during the previous season and with the exception of finishing runner-up in 2003 had been starved of success. The club made a change that proved instrumental, they brought in Scott Nicholls from Ipswich and supported by Andreas Jonsson and Chris Harris the team defeated Belle Vue in the Elite League Play off final.[5]
Pos | M | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Bon | Tot | |
1 | Belle Vue Aces | 36 | 24 | 0 | 12 | 1766 | 1520 | 48 | 13 | 61 |
2 | Coventry Bees | 36 | 23 | 0 | 13 | 1739 | 1605 | 46 | 13 | 59 |
3 | Peterborough Panthers | 36 | 21 | 2 | 23 | 1709 | 1598 | 44 | 12 | 56 |
4 | Eastbourne Eagles | 36 | 19 | 1 | 16 | 1658 | 1646 | 39 | 10 | 49 |
5 | Poole Pirates | 36 | 18 | 1 | 17 | 1666 | 1647 | 37 | 10 | 47 |
6 | Ipswich Witches | 36 | 16 | 3 | 17 | 1661 | 1672 | 35 | 9 | 44 |
7 | Swindon Robins | 36 | 17 | 2 | 17 | 1617 | 1675 | 36 | 7 | 43 |
8 | Wolverhampton Wolves | 36 | 14 | 2 | 20 | 1682 | 1647 | 30 | 10 | 40 |
9 | Oxford Silver Machine | 36 | 11 | 1 | 24 | 1550 | 1773 | 23 | 3 | 26 |
10 | Arena Essex Hammers | 36 | 11 | 0 | 25 | 1539 | 1804 | 22 | 3 | 25 |
= Qualified for Play Offs |
Semi-final decided over one leg. Grand Final decided by aggregate scores over two legs.
First leg
Second leg
The Coventry Bees were declared League Champions, winning on aggregate 101-83.
The 2005 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 67th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Belle Vue Aces were the winners of the competition.[6]
First round
Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
---|---|---|---|
21/04 | Swindon | 60-36 | Poole |
20/04 | Poole | 51-41 | Swindon |
07/04 | Ipswich | 55-40 | Wolverhampton |
04/04 | Wolverhampton | 37-53 | Ipswich |
Quarter-finals
Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
---|---|---|---|
15/06 | Arena Essex | 51-40 | Ipswich |
12/06 | Swindon | 55-39 | Coventry |
26/05 | Ipswich | 52-42 | Arena Essex |
21/05 | Eastbourne | 59-36 | Peterborough |
20/05 | Coventry | 51-41 | Swindon |
19/05 | Oxford | 49-41 | Belle Vue |
16/05 | Belle Vue | 59-35 | Oxford |
13/05 | Peterborough | 56-37 | Eastbourne |
Semi-finals
Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
---|---|---|---|
21/09 | Arena Essex | 52-41 | Eastbourne |
18/08 | Swindon | 37-35 | Belle Vue |
27/07 | Belle Vue | 61-32 | Swindon |
23/07 | Eastbourne | 55-40 | Arena Essex |
First leg
Second leg
The Belle Vue Aces were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 97-83.
Nicki Pedersen won the Riders' Championship. The final was held at Abbey Stadium on 28 August.[7]
Pos. | Rider | Pts | Total | SF | Final |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nicki Pedersen | 1 3 3 2 3 | 12 | x | 3 |
2 | Scott Nicholls | 0 3 3 2 2 | 10 | 2 | 2 |
3 | Peter Karlsson | 3 1 3 1 2 | 10 | 3 | 1 |
4 | Bjarne Pedersen | 3 1 2 3 3 | 12 | x | 0 |
5 | Charlie Gjedde | 3 1 1 3 3 | 11 | 1 | |
6 | Lee Richardson | 2 0 3 2 3 | 10 | 0 | |
7 | Greg Hancock | 2 3 2 0 2 | 9 | ||
8 | Jason Crump | 2 2 0 2 2 | 8 | ||
9 | Krzysztof Kasprzak | 0 3 1 3 1 | 8 | ||
10 | Billy Hamill | 3 2 0 - - | 5 | ||
11 | Mark Loram | 2 2 0 1 0 | 5 | ||
12 | Aleš Dryml Jr. | 0 1 0 3 0 | 4 | ||
13 | David Howe | 1 2 0 0 1 | 4 | ||
14 | Davey Watt | 1 0 2 1 0 | 4 | ||
15 | Freddie Lindgren | 0 0 2 1 1 | 4 | ||
16 | Simon Stead | 1 0 1 0 1 | 3 |
The Elite League Pairs Championship was held at the East of England Arena on 27 March and was won by Swindon Robins for the second consecutive year.[8]
|
|
Semi finals
Final
Rider | Team | Average |
---|---|---|
Leigh Adams | Swindon | 10.42 |
Jason Crump | Belle Vue | 10.35 |
Nicki Pedersen | Eastbourne | 10.30 |
Scott Nicholls | Coventry | 9.45 |
Peter Karlsson | Peterborough | 9.48 |
Hans Andersen | Ipswich | 9.44 |
Mikael Max | Wolverhampton | 9.39 |
Greg Hancock | Oxford | 9.32 |
Bjarne Pedersen | Poole | 9.27 |
Lee Richardson | Swindon | 8.85 |
Arena Essex
Belle Vue
Coventry
Eastbourne
Ipswich
Oxford
Peterborough
Poole
Swindon
Wolverhampton