2000 Elite League speedway season explained

Competition:	Sky Sports Elite League
Domesticcup1:	Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:	Eastbourne Eagles
Domesticcup2:	Knockout Cup
Domesticcup2 Winners:	King's Lynn Knights
Domesticcup3:	Craven Shield
Domesticcup3 Winners:	Coventry Bees
Domesticcup4:	Riders Championship
Domesticcup4 Winners:	Ryan Sullivan
Highest Average:	Leigh Adams
Leagues Below:	Premier League Conference League
Prevseason:	1999
Nextseason:	2001

The 2000 Elite League speedway season was the 66th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom. It was the fourth known as the Elite League and was governed by the Speedway Control Board (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA).^[1]

Season summary

In 2000, the league decreased to nine teams with the Hull Vikings dropping back down to the Premier League after just one season. The league operated on a standard format without play-offs.^[2]

Eastbourne Eagles claimed the millennium season league title but only finished two points clear of King's Lynn Knights. Martin Dugard topped scored for the Eagles but was well supported by their new signing Joe Screen from Hull Vikings. Three other English riders finished with averages in excess of 7 which was the crucial difference during the season. They were David Norris, Paul Hurry and Dean Barker. The King's Lynn Australian pairing of Leigh Adams and Jason Crump topped the league averages but did not have the back up that Eastbourne relied on. King's Lynn gained consolation when winning the Knockout Cup.^[3]

Final table

Pos		M	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Bon	Tot
1	Eastbourne Eagles	32	24	1	7	1544	1322	49	13	62
2	King's Lynn Knights	32	22	2	8	1564	1321	46	14	60
3	Ipswich Witches	32	16	3	13	1456	1409	35	11	46
4	Coventry Bees	32	16	3	13	1442	1427	35	8	43
5	Poole Pirates	32	14	4	14	1437	1426	32	8	40
6	Wolverhampton Wolves	32	15	3	14	1396	1467	33	6	39
7	Peterborough Panthers	32	11	2	19	1431	1425	24	7	31
8	Oxford Cheetahs	31	9	1	21	1296	1477	19	3	22
9	Belle Vue Aces	31	5	3	23	1248	1540	13	1	14

_{Oxford v Belle Vue not held.}

'B' Fixtures

Elite League Knockout Cup

The 2000 Speedway Star Knockout Cup was the 62nd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. King's Lynn Stars were the winners of the competition.^[4]

First round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
12/05	Oxford	45-45	Poole
10/05	Poole	47-43	Oxford

Quarter-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
04/09	Belle Vue	40-44	Coventry
02/08	King's Lynn	52-38	Ipswich
09/06	Peterborough	52-38	Poole
26/06	Wolverhampton	51-39	Eastbourne
24/06	Eastbourne	44-46	Wolverhampton
27/05	Coventry	49-41	Belle Vue
25/05	Ipswich	48-42	King's Lynn
10/05	Poole	47-43	Peterborough

Semi-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
19/10	King's Lynn	63-27	Wolverhampton
18/10	Wolverhampton	43-47	King's Lynn
14/10	Coventry	47-43	Peterborough
13/10	Peterborough	47-43	Coventry
22/10 (replay)	Peterborough	46-44	Coventry
17/10 (replay)	Coventry	45-45	Peterborough

Final

First leg

Second leg

King's Lynn Knights were declared Knockout Cup Champions, on aggregate score 100-80.

Riders' Championship

Ryan Sullivan won the Elite League Riders' Championship, held at the Brandon Stadium on 21 October.^[5]

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=100px	Pts	width=50px	Total	width=50px	SF	width=50px	Final
1		1 3 3 3 2	12	x	3
2		3 3 2 2 2	12	x	2
3		2 3 0 3 1	9	3	1
4		0 2 3 3 2	10	2	0
5		0 1 2 3 3	9	1
6		3 3 0 2 1	9	0
7		3 1 1 1 3	9
8		2 2 0 2 3	9
9		2 2 3 2 0	9
10		3 0 1 1 3	8
11		2 1 2 1 1	7
12		1 0 3 1 1	6
13		1 1 1 0 2	5
14		1 0 2 0 0	3
15		1 0 2 0 0	3
16	Matt Cambridge (res)	0 0 0	0
17	Carl Downs (res)	0	0

Leading final averages

width=200	Rider	width=200	Team	width=40	Average
Leigh Adams	Kings Lynn	10.17
Jason Crump	Kings Lynn	10.15
Mark Loram	Poole	10.10
Martin Dugard	Eastbourne	9.67
Chris Louis	Ipswich	9.57
Tomasz Gollob	Ipswich	9.52
Ryan Sullivan	Peterborough	9.18
Greg Hancock	Coventry	9.00
Joe Screen	Eastbourne	8.82
Billy Hamill	Coventry	8.77

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

8.34
7.02
7.00
6.45
6.20
6.20
5.78
5.58
5.37
5.38
4.64
3.76
2.20

Coventry

9.00
8.77
7.63
5.35
5.34
5.30
5.26
4.56

Eastbourne

9.67
8.82
7.73
7.34
7.20
7.02
5.73
2.89

Ipswich

9.57
9.52
6.53
6.51
6.13
4.65
4.15
3.51
3.46

King's Lynn

10.17
10.15
7.98
6.86
6.57
5.88
4.40
4.14

Oxford

8.24
7.97
7.36
6.93
5.49
5.27
4.57
4.54
4.26

Peterborough

9.18
8.69
6.85
6.84
5.92
5.82
5.67
5.46
4.50
4.47

Poole

10.10
8.57
7.60
7.21
5.17
4.26
3.41
1.28

Wolverhampton

8.32
7.94
7.75
7.48
5.79
5.55
3.72

Notes and References

Web site: Historic league tables. Speedway Archive.
Web site: 2000 league tables. Speedway GB.
Web site: Eastbourne. wwosbackup. 31 July 2021.
Web site: 2000 Elite League Knockout Cup. Speedway archive.
Web site: 2000 Elite League Riders Championship. Edinburgh Speedway . 8 June 2023.