2001 Elite League speedway season explained

Competition:	Sky Sports Elite League
Domesticcup1:	Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:	Oxford Cheetahs
Domesticcup2:	Knockout Cup
Domesticcup2 Winners:	Peterborough Panthers
Domesticcup3:	Craven Shield
Domesticcup3 Winners:	Poole Pirates
Domesticcup4:	Riders Championship
Domesticcup4 Winners:	Jason Crump
Highest Average:	Jason Crump
Leagues Below:	Premier League Conference League
Prevseason:	2000
Nextseason:	2002

The 2001 Elite League speedway season was the 67th season of top division of speedway in the United Kingdom and in 2001 was governed by the Speedway Control Board (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA).^{[1] [2]}

Season summary

In 2001, the league consisted of nine teams and operated on a standard format without play-offs.^[3] Oxford Cheetahs won their first title since 1989. Leigh Adams was brought in from King's Lynn to lead the team that retained fellow Australian riders Todd Wiltshire and Steve Johnston, Czech brothers Lukáš Dryml and Aleš Dryml Jr. and Dane Brian Andersen. In a closely fought three way title battle they claimed the crown ahead of Poole and Coventry.^[4] Poole were led by three times World Champion Tony Rickardsson who would claim his fourth Speedway World Championship during the season. Jason Crump was runner-up in the World Championship and topped the league averages for King's Lynn.^[5]

Final table

Pos		M	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Bon	Tot
1	Oxford Cheetahs	32	20	5	7	1495	1367	45	13	58
2	Poole Pirates	32	21	2	9	1538	1325	44	13	57
3	Coventry Bees	32	21	2	9	1518	1356	44	11	55
4	Ipswich Witches	32	17	2	13	1444	1429	36	7	43
5	Peterborough Panthers	30	12	2	16	1356	1329	26	7	33
6	King's Lynn Knights	31	12	1	19	1381	1467	25	7	32
7	Eastbourne Eagles	32	11	3	18	1373	1463	25	7	32
8	Wolverhampton Wolves	32	12	0	20	1397	1478	24	4	28
9	Belle Vue Aces	30	7	1	22	1196	1484	15	1	16

_{Peterborough's home fixtures with Belle Vue were not held.}

'A' Fixtures

+awarded

'B' Fixtures

Elite League Knockout Cup

The 2001 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 63rd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Peterborough Panthers were the winners of the competition.^[6]

First round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
04/04	Poole	50-40	Ipswich
17/05	Ipswich	56-34	Poole

Second round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
09/07	Reading	50-40	Exeter
08/07	Stoke	41-48	Hull
12/05	Coventry	39-50	Peterborough
12/05	Eastbourne	50-40	Oxford
11/05	Oxford	53-37	Eastbourne
11/05	Peterborough	50-40	Coventry
09/05	King's Lynn	56-34	Belle Vue
07/05	Belle Vue	39-47	King's Lynn

Semi-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
09/10	Ipswich	46-44	Oxford
14/09	Oxford	45-45	Ipswich
14/09	Peterborough	49-41	King's Lynn
12/09	King's Lynn	38-33	Peterborough

Final

First leg

Second leg

Peterborough Panthers were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 93-87.

Riders' Championship

Jason Crump won the Elite League Riders' Championship for the second time. The final was held at Owlerton Stadium on 20 September.^[7]

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

Leading final averages

width=200	Rider	width=200	Team	width=40	Average
Jason Crump	King's Lynn	10.39
Scott Nicholls	Ipswich	10.11
Leigh Adams	Oxford	10.08
Tony Rickardsson	Poole	9.66
Ryan Sullivan	Peterborough	9.52
Billy Hamill	Coventry	9.26
Greg Hancock	Coventry	9.05
Nicki Pedersen	King's Lynn	9.01
Mikael Karlsson	Wolverhampton	9.00
	King's Lynn	8.75

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• 8.00
• 7.78
• 6.74
• 6.33
• 6.14
• 5.81
• 4.74
• 4.21
• 4.13
• 4.00
• 3.79
• 3.65

Coventry

• 9.26
• 9.05
• 7.90
• 7.44
• 5.39
• 5.17
• 2.88

Eastbourne

• 8.16
• 7.60
• 6.80
• 6.70
• 6.46
• 6.07
• 6.00
• 5.42
• 5.39
• 5.06

Ipswich

• 10.11
• 8.06
• 7.79
• 7.35
• 6.35
• 2.66
• 2.08

King's Lynn

• 10.39
• 9.01
• 8.75
• 6.76
• 6.64
• 5.20
• 4.71
• 4.00
• 2.08
• 1.83

Oxford

• 10.08
• 7.16
• 6.99
• 6.75
• 6.47
• 6.12
• 2.73

Peterborough

• 9.52
• 8.37
• 7.31
• 6.59
• 6.18
• 5.86
• 5.66
• 5.23
• 0.38

Poole

• 9.66
• 8.34
• 8.16
• 6.73
• 6.53
• 6.51
• 5.86
• 4.87

Wolverhampton

• 9.00
• 7.34
• 7.33
• 5.71
• 5.62
• 4.70
• 2.76
• 1.69

See also

• Speedway in the United Kingdom
• List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
• Knockout Cup (speedway)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Historic league tables. Speedway Archive.
2. Web site: HISTORY ARCHIVE. British Speedway. 4 July 2021.
3. Web site: 2001 league tables. Speedway GB.
4. Web site: Oxford. wwosbackup. 31 July 2021.
5. Web site: HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK. Speedway.org. 1 August 2021.
6. Web site: 2001 Elite League Knockout Cup. Speedway archive.
7. Web site: Elite League Riders' Championship . WWOS Backup . 8 June 2023.