2004 Elite League speedway season explained

Competition:Sky Sports Elite League
Domesticcup1:Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:Poole Pirates
Domesticcup2:Knockout Cup
Domesticcup2 Winners:Poole Pirates
Domesticcup3:Individual
Domesticcup3 Winners:Bjarne Pedersen
Domesticcup4:Pairs
Domesticcup4 Winners:Swindon Robins
Leagues Below:Premier League
Conference League
Prevseason:2003
Nextseason:2005

The 2004 Elite League speedway season was the 70th 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] Poole Pirates completed the double (league and cup winners) for the second year running. They were the first team to achieve this since Oxford Cheetahs in 1986.[3]

Season summary

In 2004, the league increased to ten teams, with the Arena Essex Hammers and the Swindon Robins moving up from the Premier League. The title was decided by a play-off between the top five teams. The team that finished top of the table were seeded directly to the final and the next four met in quarter and semi final rounds. The winner of these rounds qualified for the final.[4]

Poole Pirates dominated the season again and completed the 'double double' meaning winning the league and cup for two consecutive seasons. This had not been achieved since Oxford Cheetahs during the 1985 and 1986 seasons. Poole retained the majority of their 2003 squad, five time World Champion Tony Rickardsson, Magnus Zetterström, Antonio Lindbäck and Bjarne Pedersen but Ryan Sullivan was brought in from Peterborough to replace Leigh Adams who moved to Swindon.[5]

Rickardsson topped the league averages but only raced part of the season returning to Sweden to spend more time with his family. Arguably Leigh Adams was the star rider of the season helping new Elite League side Swindon to a respectable mid-table position.[6]

Final table

PosMWDLFAPtsBonTot
1Poole Pirates362321117211603481361
2Wolverhampton Wolves362101517291586421658
3Ipswich Witches362101517011626421153
4Eastbourne Eagles361831516991632391150
5Oxford Silver Machine361901716791672381048
6Swindon Robins36183151657166739645
7Belle Vue Aces35170181630159734943
8Arena Essex Hammers36160201651167932840
9Peterborough Panthers35122211514172223326
10Coventry Bees3690271565176218321
= Qualified for Play Off final
= Qualified for Play Offs

'B' Fixtures

Play-offs

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

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

First legSecond leg

The Poole Pirates were declared League Champions, winning on aggregate 112-71.

Elite League Knockout Cup

The 2004 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 66th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Poole Pirates were the winners of the competition. Poole had started the final second leg under protest because of the Ipswich team changes that included a late replacement rider Davey Watt, who Poole considered was ineligible.[7]

First round

width=80Datewidth=250Team onewidth=80Scorewidth=250Team two
01/04Coventry 42-54 Belle Vue
06/05Swindon 56-38 Wolverhampton
22/03Wolverhampton 50-43 Swindon

Quarter-finals

width=80Datewidth=250Team onewidth=80Scorewidth=250Team two
23/09Swindon 48-42 Belle Vue
11/09Eastbourne 46-48 Ipswich
12/05Kings Lynn 56-39 Isle of Wight
06/05Swindon 56-38 Wolverhampton
07/04Arena Essex 48-46 Oxford
02/04Peterborough 44-46Poole
01/04Coventry42-54 Belle Vue
26/03Oxford 47-46 Arena Essex
25/03Ipswich51-42 Eastbourne
24/03Poole58-37 Peterborough

Semi-finals

width=80Datewidth=250Team onewidth=80Scorewidth=250Team two
07/10Ipswich51-42 Arena Essex
07/10Swindon 53-40 Poole
06/10Arena Essex 43-46 Ipswich
06/10Poole 61-30 Swindon

Final

First leg

Second leg

The Poole Pirates were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 99-87.

Riders' Championship

Bjarne Pedersen won the Riders' Championship. The final was held at Wimborne Road on 17 October.[8]

width=25pxPos. width=200pxRider width=100pxPts width=50pxTotal width=50pxSF width=50pxFinal
1 3 2 2 2 2 1123
2 3 3 3 3 2 14x2
3 1 3 2 3 3 1231
4 3 3 2 1 3 12x0
5 2 3 3 3 0 111
6 2 2 2 3 3 120
7 2 2 3 1 1 9
8 3 1 1 0 3 8
9 2 1 1 2 1 7
10 0 0 3 1 2 6
11 1 1 1 2 0 5
12 0 2 0 0 2 4
13 1 0 0 2 0 3
14 1 1 0 0 1 3
15 0 0 1 1 1 3
16 0 0 0 0 0 0

Pairs

The Elite League Pairs Championship, sponsored by Suzuki, was held at the Abbey Stadium on 11 April and was won by Swindon Robins.[9] Group A

width=25pxPos width=100pxTeamwidth=50pxPts width=200pxRiders
1 Swindon Adams & Gjedde
2 Belle Vue Crump & Screen
3 Oxford 15 Ulamek 11, McGowan 4
4 Coventry Jonsson & Janniro
5 Poole Rickardsson & Lyons
Group B
width=25pxPos width=100pxTeamwidth=50pxPts width=200pxRiders
1 PeterboroughRichardson & Dryml
2 Eastbourne Pedersen & Shields
? WolvesMax & Howe
? IpswichNicholls & Andersen
? Arena Essex Loram & Barker

Semi finals

Final

Leading final averages

width=200Riderwidth=200Teamwidth=40Average
Tony RickardssonPoole10.89
Leigh AdamsSwindon10.83
Jason CrumpBelle Vue10.67
David NorrisEastbourne9.95
Mark LoramArena Essex9.87
Greg HancockOxford9.83
Nicki PedersenEastbourne9.48
Mikael MaxWolverhampton9.39
Scott NichollsIpswich9.33
Andreas JonssonCoventry9.07

Rider & final averages

Arena Essex

Belle Vue

Coventry

Eastbourne

Ipswich

Oxford

Peterborough

Poole

Swindon

Wolverhampton

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Historic league tables. Speedway Archive.
  2. Web site: 2004 league tables. Speedway GB.
  3. Web site: HISTORY ARCHIVE. British Speedway. 4 July 2021.
  4. Book: Bamford, Robert. Tempus Speedway Yearbook 2005. NPI Media Group. 2005. 0-7524-3396-2 .
  5. Web site: Speedway riders, history and results. wwosbackup. 1 August 2021.
  6. Web site: Rickardsson says farewell to Poole as he puts family first. Sunday Times. 1 August 2021.
  7. Web site: 2004 Elite League Knockout Cup. Speedway archive.
  8. Web site: Elite League Riders' Championship . Speedway History . 9 June 2023.
  9. Web site: Speedway: It's home sweet home for Robins . Oxford Mail . 1 July 2023.