| Competition: | Sky Sports Elite League |
| Domesticcup1: | Champions |
| Domesticcup1 Winners: | Poole Pirates |
| Domesticcup2: | Knockout Cup |
| Domesticcup2 Winners: | Poole Pirates |
| Domesticcup3: | Riders Championship |
| Domesticcup3 Winners: | Lee Richardson |
| Highest Average: | Jason Crump |
| Leagues Below: | Premier League Conference League |
| Prevseason: | 2002 |
| Nextseason: | 2004 |
The 2003 Elite League speedway season was the 69th 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]
In 2003, the league decreased to eight teams, after the King's Lynn dropped to the Premier League and reverted back to their traditional name of Stars. They also lost the promotion of Nigel Wagstaff who took over at Oxford, which resulted in Oxford Cheetahs taking over the Silver Machine name from King's Lynn. King's Lynn's leading riders Nicki Pedersen and Sebastian Ułamek also switched to Oxford. Freddie Eriksson went to Ipswich. Oxford also brought in former World Champion Greg Hancock from Coventry but lost Leigh Adams and Lukáš Dryml to Poole.[4]
Poole's decision to recruit Adams and Dryml was instrumental because they went on to claim the title. Adams finished top of the league averages and he was backed up by their five time World Champion Tony Rickardsson and the vastly improved form of Magnus Zetterström. Poole went on to complete the double by winning the Knockout Cup.[5] [6]
| Pos | M | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Bon | Tot | ||
| 1 | Poole Pirates | 28 | 20 | 1 | 7 | 1335 | 1182 | 41 | 11 | 52 | |
| 2 | Coventry Bees | 28 | 17 | 0 | 11 | 1295 | 1224 | 34 | 9 | 43 | |
| 3 | Peterborough Panthers | 28 | 16 | 0 | 12 | 1325 | 1195 | 32 | 8 | 40 | |
| 4 | Oxford Silver Machine | 28 | 16 | 0 | 12 | 1295 | 1224 | 32 | 8 | 40 | |
| 5 | Wolverhampton Wolves | 28 | 14 | 1 | 13 | 1248 | 1265 | 29 | 6 | 35 | |
| 6 | Eastbourne Eagles | 28 | 12 | 1 | 15 | 1261 | 1250 | 25 | 7 | 32 | |
| 7 | Belle Vue Aces | 28 | 9 | 1 | 18 | 1219 | 1298 | 19 | 5 | 24 | |
| 8 | Ipswich Witches | 28 | 6 | 0 | 22 | 1088 | 1428 | 12 | 0 | 12 |
| = Qualified for Play Offs |
Semi-final decided over one leg. Grand Final decided by aggregate scores over two legs.
Semi-finals
First leg
Second leg
The Poole Pirates were declared League Champions, winning on aggregate 100-79.
The 2003 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 65th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Poole Pirates were the winners of the competition.[8]
Quarter-finals
| width=80 | Date | width=250 | Team one | width=80 | Score | width=250 | Team two |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23/05 | Peterborough | 52-38 | Coventry | ||||
| 09/05 | Oxford | 55-35 | Ipswich | ||||
| 05/05 | Ipswich | 41-49 | Oxford | ||||
| 21/04 | Coventry | 52-38 | Peterborough | ||||
| 21/04 | Wolverhampton | 57-33 | Belle Vue | ||||
| 18/04 | Belle Vue | 49-41 | Wolverhampton | ||||
| 18/04 | Eastbourne | 40-32 | Poole | ||||
| 18/04 | Poole | 56-34 | Eastbourne | ||||
| 10/09 (replay) | Peterborough | 44-46 | Coventry | ||||
| 03/09 (replay) | Coventry | 61-29 | Peterborough |
Semi-finals
| width=80 | Date | width=250 | Team one | width=80 | Score | width=250 | Team two |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11/10 | Coventry | 50-40 | Wolverhampton | ||||
| 10/10 | Oxford | 46-44 | Poole | ||||
| 08/10 | Wolverhampton | 48-41 | Coventry | ||||
| 15/09 | Poole | 56-34 | Oxford |
First leg
Second leg
The Poole Pirates were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 90-88.
Lee Richardson won the Riders' Championship. The final was held at Brandon Stadium on 18 October.[9]
| width=25px | Pos. | width=200px | Rider | width=100px | Pts | width=50px | Total | width=50px | SF | width=50px | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 3 2 2 2 | 11 | 2 | 3 | |||||||
| 2 | 3 0 3 3 1 | 10 | 3 | 2 | |||||||
| 3 | 3 0 3 3 2 | 11 | x | 1 | |||||||
| 4 | 2 3 2 3 3 | 13 | x | ret | |||||||
| 5 | 2 3 2 2 1 | 10 | 1 | ||||||||
| 6 | 3 2 3 3 0 | 11 | 0 | ||||||||
| 7 | 3 1 1 0 3 | 8 | |||||||||
| 8 | 1 2 1 1 2 | 7 | |||||||||
| 9 | 0 2 3 1 0 | 6 | |||||||||
| 10 | 1 3 0 2 0 | 6 | |||||||||
| 11 | 2 2 1 0 1 | 6 | |||||||||
| 12 | 0 1 0 1 3 | 5 | |||||||||
| 13 | 0 1 2 2 0 | 5 | |||||||||
| 14 | 1 1 0 0 2 | 4 | |||||||||
| 15 | 1 0 0 1 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| 16 | 0 0 1 0 | 1 | |||||||||
| 17 | Chris Harris (res) | 3 | 3 |
| width=200 | Rider | width=200 | Team | width=40 | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Jason Crump | Belle Vue | 10.79 | |||
| Poole | 10.14 | ||||
 Magnus Zetterström | Poole | 10.07 | |||
| Tony Rickardsson | Poole | 9.64 | |||
| Scott Nicholls | Ipswich | 9.41 | |||
| Nicki Pedersen | Oxford | 9.33 | |||
| Mikael Max | Wolverhampton | 9.28 | |||
 Greg Hancock | Oxford | 9.28 | |||
| Ryan Sullivan | Peterborough | 9.23 | |||
| Billy Hamill | Coventry | 9.23 |
Belle Vue
Coventry
Eastbourne
Ipswich
Oxford
Peterborough
Poole
Wolverhampton