2005 Elite League speedway season

Summary

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]

2005 Elite League speedway season
LeagueSky Sports Elite League
ChampionsCoventry Bees
Knockout CupBelle Vue Aces
Craven ShieldOxford Silver Machine
IndividualNicki Pedersen
PairsSwindon Robins
Highest averageNicki Pedersen
Division/s belowPremier League
Conference League

Season summary edit

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]

Final table edit

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

Play-offs edit

Semi-final decided over one leg. Grand Final decided by aggregate scores over two legs.

Semi-finals edit

Final edit

First leg

Second leg

The Coventry Bees were declared League Champions, winning on aggregate 101-83.

Elite League Knockout Cup edit

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

Final edit

First leg

Second leg

The Belle Vue Aces were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 97-83.

Riders' Championship edit

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

Pairs edit

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

  • Belle Vue 5 Arena Essex 4 - Rickardsson, Screen, Crump, Havelock
  • Swindon 7 Wolves 2 - Adams, Richardson, Max Howe

Final

  • Swindon 6 Belle Vue 3 - Adams, Crump, Richardson, Screen

Leading final averages edit

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

Riders & final averages edit

Arena Essex

Belle Vue

Coventry

Eastbourne

Ipswich

Oxford

Peterborough

Poole

Swindon

Wolverhampton

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ "2005 league tables". Speedway GB.
  3. ^ a b "A Year in Summary : 2005". Speedway Plus. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  4. ^ Bamford, Robert (2006). Tempus Speedway Yearbook 2006. NPI Media Group. ISBN 0-7524-3692-9.
  5. ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  6. ^ "2005 Elite League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  7. ^ "Elite League Riders' Championship". Speedway History. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  8. ^ "2005 Elite League Pairs". Speedway Updates. Retrieved 20 May 2023.