2006 Elite League speedway season explained

Competition:Sky Sports Elite League
Domesticcup1:Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:Peterborough Panthers
Domesticcup2:Knockout Cup
Domesticcup2 Winners:Coventry Bees
Domesticcup3:Craven Shield
Domesticcup3 Winners:Poole Pirates
Domesticcup4:Elite Shield
Domesticcup4 Winners:Coventry Bees
Domesticcup5:Individual
Domesticcup5 Winners:Jason Crump
Domesticcup6:Pairs
Domesticcup6 Winners:Belle Vue Aces
Highest Average:Jason Crump
Leagues Below:Premier League
Conference League
Prevseason:2005
Nextseason:2007

The 2006 Elite League speedway season was the 72nd season of the top division of speedway in the United Kingdom and governed by the Speedway Control Board (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA).[1] [2]

Season summary

In 2006, the league consisted of eleven teams, after the newly named Reading Bulldogs, moved up from the Premier League. The Championship was won by the Peterborough Panthers by a single race point in the play-off final.[3]

Peterborough and Reading battled each other throughout the season finishing level on points in the regular season table before Peterborough edged Reading in the Play off final. Peterborough had a strong all round squad and included Danish trio of Hans Andersen, Jesper Jensen and Niels Kristian Iversen, in addition to Australian Ryan Sullivan.[4] Reading who had come up from the division below had recruited Greg Hancock as their main heat leader who finished 7th in the league averages which were headed once again by Australian stars Jason Crump and Leigh Adams.

Final table

HomeAwayBonus
PosTeamMWDLWDLFAPtsWLTot
1Peterborough Panthers4018026014194217314816464
2Reading Bulldogs4016049110193417565113764
3Swindon Robins4019014115189317864714661
4Coventry Bees4018115015185618354711958
5Belle Vue Aces4019012018188017614215557
6Wolverhampton Wolves40161341151827184042101052
7Poole Pirates4018021019188018063813651
84017032018184718373881246
9Eastbourne Eagles4017123017179118604151546
10Oxford Cheetahs4011091019169619892421826
11Arena Essex Hammers4011090020165820032231725
= Qualified for Play Off finals

'B' Fixtures

Play-offs

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

Semi-finals

Final

First legSecond leg

The Peterborough Panthers were declared League Champions, winning on aggregate 95-94.

Elite League Knockout Cup

The 2006 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 68th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Coventry Bees were the winners of the competition.[5]

First round

width=80Datewidth=250Team onewidth=80Scorewidth=250Team two
13/04Swindon 40-50 Reading
10/04Reading 47-43 Swindon
06/04Peterborough 57-37 Arena Essex
03/04Wolverhampton 54-40 Oxford
31/03Arena Essex 59-35 Peterborough
29/03Oxford 43-47 Wolverhampton

Quarter-finals

width=80Datewidth=250Team onewidth=80Scorewidth=250Team two
10/07Belle Vue 56-38 Arena Essex
07/07Arena Essex 44-46 Belle Vue
07/07Coventry 56-40Ipswich
07/07Reading 51-42Poole
05/07Poole 58-34 Reading
03/07Wolverhampton 41-51Eastbourne
01/07Eastbourne 55-38 Wolverhampton
01/06Ipswich48-42 Coventry

Semi-finals

width=80Datewidth=250Team onewidth=80Scorewidth=250Team two
29/09Coventry 61-31 Eastbourne
28/09Poole 43-34 Belle Vue
16/09Eastbourne 46-44 Coventry
11/09Belle Vue 53-41 Poole

Final

First leg

Second leg

The Coventry Bees were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 101-85.

Riders' Championship

Jason Crump won the Riders' Championship for the third time. The final was held at Wimborne Road on 1 October.[6]

width=25pxPos. width=200pxRider width=100pxPts width=50pxTotal width=50pxSF width=50pxFinal
1 3 3 3 3 3 15x3
2 3 2 3 3 2 13x 2
3 2 2 3 2 3 1231
4 2 3 1 2 2 10 2 0
5 1 1 3 1 3 9 1
6 3 0 2 2 2 9 0
7 0 3 2 3 0 8
8 1 2 1 1 3 8
9 2 2 1 1 1 7
10 1 1 2 2 1 7
11 0 0 0 3 2 5
12 0 3 1 - - 4
13 3 0 0 0 1 4
14 0 1 2 1 0 4
15 2 1 - - - 3
16 1 0 0 0 1 2
17 Matt Bates (res) 0 0 0 0 0

Pairs

The Elite League Pairs Championship was held at the Abbey Stadium on 4 June and was won by Belle Vue Aces.[7]

Group A
width=20Poswidth=80Teamwidth=30Ptswidth=200Riders
1 Swindon 31Adams 20, Ulamek 11
2Peterborough26Andersen 15, Iversen 11
3 Eastbourne25 Pedersen N 15, Norris 10
4 Coventry 22 Nicholls 11, Schlein 11
6 Ipswich17 Protasiewicz 10, Jansson 7
5Wolves13Lindgren 11, Correy 2
Group B
width=20Poswidth=80Teamwidth=30Ptswidth=200Riders
1 Belle Vue 21Crump 16, Stead 5
2 Poole 21Lindback 12, Pedersen B 9
3 Reading 19Hancock 10, Zagar 9
4 Oxford15Wiltshire 13, Skornicki 2
5Arena Essex 14 Kylmakorpi 12, Lanham 2

Final

Leading averages

width=200Riderwidth=200Teamwidth=40Average
Jason CrumpBelle Vue11.21
Leigh AdamsSwindon10.47
Hans AndersenPeterborough10.40
Wolverhampton9.94
Nicki PedersenEastbourne9.92
Bjarne PedersenPoole9.39
Greg HancockReading9.28
Scott NichollsCoventry9.05
Mark LoramIpswich8.92
Jesper B JensenPeterborough8.76

Riders & final averages

Arena Essex

Belle Vue

Coventry

Eastbourne

Ipswich

Oxford

Peterborough

Poole

Reading

Swindon

Wolverhampton

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Historic league tables. Speedway Archive.
  2. Web site: 2006 league tables. Speedway GB.
  3. Book: Bamford, Robert. Tempus Speedway Yearbook 2007 . NPI Media Group. 2007-03-01. 0-7524-4250-3 .
  4. Web site: Speedway riders, history and results. wwosbackup. 1 August 2021.
  5. Web site: 2006 Elite League Knockout Cup. Speedway archive.
  6. Web site: BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - MODERN ERA (1991-PRESENT) . British Speedway . 9 June 2023.
  7. Web site: 2006 Elite League Pairs . Speedway Updates . 20 May 2023.

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