2008 Elite League speedway season explained

Competition:Sky Sports Elite League
Domesticcup1:Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:Poole Pirates
Domesticcup2:Knockout Cup
Domesticcup2 Winners:Eastbourne Eagles
Domesticcup3:Craven Shield
Domesticcup3 Winners:Coventry Bees
Domesticcup4:Elite Shield
Domesticcup4 Winners:Swindon Robins
Domesticcup5:Individual
Domesticcup5 Winners:Jason Crump
Domesticcup6:Pairs
Domesticcup6 Winners:Coventry Bees
Highest Average:Leigh Adams
Leagues Below:2008 Premier League
2008 Conference
Prevseason:2007
Nextseason:2009

The 2008 Elite League speedway season (also known as the Sky Sports Elite League for sponsorship reasons) was the 74th season of the top division of UK speedway and the 12th since its establishment as the Elite League. The first fixtures of the season took place on 29 March and the season ended on 27 October. The Coventry Bees were the defending champions from 2007.[1] [2]

Summary

New rules introduced for 2008 included three points for an away win compared to two points in 2007, and the removal of the bonus point, in which a team was awarded an extra point for an aggregate win over home and away matches against another team. Also new in 2008 was a relegation and promotion playoff between an Elite League team and a Premier League team. The two teams that finish bottom of the Elite League will face in each other in a two legged playoff with the loser facing the Premier League playoff winner over two legs.[3]

The Poole Pirates finished top of the league table, with the Lakeside Hammers, Swindon Robins and Ipswich Witches occupying the other championship playoff places. Poole and Lakeside progressed to the grand final of the playoffs, with Poole winning the first leg at Lakeside 42–48, and the second leg at Poole 60–33, giving them a 108–75 victory.[4] The Poole Pirates were crowned with their third Elite League title, and fifth championship overall. Wolverhampton faced Premier League team the Edinburgh Monarchs in the relegation/promotion playoff final, with Wolverhampton winning comfortably over the two legs with a 106–76 aggregate victory, and thus avoided relegation.[5] Poole still had Magnus Zetterström, Bjarne Pedersen and Daniel Davidsson in their team, who were all members of the famous double double winners of 2004. They had since recruited Chris Holder, Davey Watt, Adam Skórnicki and Freddie Eriksson, who all made significant contributions for the Poole team.[6]

Jason Crump had left Poole for Belle Vue at the beginning of the season and missed out on a league title. Crump and fellow Australian Leigh Adams were victims of their own success, the pair had been the stand out riders for several seasons but they were so good that the league averages created problems for teams when assembling a side to adhere to the league's points limit allowance. Consequently teams had to decide whether to retain the rider or move them on, in the case of Adams, Swindon kept him but found it hard to bring in new signings to support him.

League table

Key:
Competition playoffs
Relegation playoffs
width=30 rowspan=2Pos Club M Home Away F width=30 rowspan=2A +/- width=30 rowspan=2Pts
width=30W width=30D width=30L width=30W width=30D width=30L
1Poole Pirates32140280816001321+27952
2Lakeside Hammers32150171815511375+17652
3Swindon Robins321222501114981434+6441
4Ipswich Witches32111452914831439+4440
5Eastbourne Eagles321105401214621472-1034
6Coventry Bees321024211314181506-8829
7Belle Vue Aces321303021414231491-6828
8Peterborough Panthers321213101513711528-15728
9Wolverhampton Wolves32808001613411581-24016

Home: 3W = Home win by 7 points or more; 2W = Home win by between 1 and 6 points
Away: 4W = Away win by 7 points or more; 3W = Away win by between 1 and 6 points; 1L = Away loss by 6 points or less
M = Meetings; D = Draws; L = Losses; F = Race points for; A = Race points against; +/- = Race points difference; Pts = Total Points

Results

Teams face each other four times: twice home and away. The first of the home and away meetings are called the 'A' fixtures, and the second are the 'B' fixtures.

A Fixtures

  Home\Awaywidth=40pxBVwidth=40pxCOVwidth=40pxEASwidth=40pxIPSwidth=40pxLHwidth=40pxPETwidth=40pxPPwidth=40pxSWIwidth=40pxWOL
Belle Vue Aces46-4342-4852-3847-4352-4150-4342-5160-30
Coventry Bees45-4543-4752-3741-4948-4248-4552-4148-45
Eastbourne Eagles50-4050-4042-4853-3959-3541-4846-4453-40
Ipswich Witches52-4150-4351-3942-5160-3141-5143-5053-38
Lakeside Hammers54-3963-2948-4551-4256-3748-4550-4553-40
Peterborough Panthers47-4551-3848-4249-4136-36*35-5742-4848-42
Poole Pirates59-3353-3952-4140-5054-3844-4653-3962-31
Swindon Robins49-4349-4356-3745-4553-4053-4039-5150-42
Wolverhampton Wolves48-4544-4550-3943-4841-4959-3354-3642-48

Last updated: September 11, 2008. Source: BSPA

Colours: Blue = home win; Red = away win; White = draw

Home team listed in the left-hand column

B Fixtures

  Home\Awaywidth=40pxBVwidth=40pxCOVwidth=40pxEASwidth=40pxIPSwidth=40pxLHwidth=40pxPETwidth=40pxPPwidth=40pxSWIwidth=40pxWOL
Belle Vue Aces50-4048-4548-4242-4853-3948-4247-4349-41
Coventry Bees52-4052-4145-4542-5159-3637-5652-4353-40
Eastbourne Eagles56-3746-4741-4949-4446-4441-5250-4363-27
Ipswich Witches48-4245-4552-4144-4854-3852-3854-3949-41
Lakeside Hammers59-3456-3756-3755-3849-4153-3941-4958-32
Peterborough Panthers52-4251-4239-5452-4056-3747-4352-4156-37
Poole Pirates50-31*54-3660-3359-3450-4254-3658-3555-37
Swindon Robins45-4551-3953-3949-4453-3949-4442-5162-29
Wolverhampton Wolves48-4547-4345-4840-5243-4754-3844-4647-46

Last updated: October 7, 2008. Source: BSPA

Colours: Blue = home win; Red = away win; White = draw

Home team listed in the left-hand column

Championship playoffs

Semi-finals

Poole and Lakeside progressed to the grand final----

Grand final

First leg

Lakeside:
1 Andreas Jonsson (c) (2,3,0,3,1',3,3) 15+1
2 (1',1,1,1,2) 6+1
3 Rider replacement
4 (1,3,2',2,2,0) 10+1
5(0,2,1,3,2') 8+1
6(1,0,1',1') 3+2
7(0,1',0) 1+1
Manager:
Jon Cook
Poole:
width=25!width=25
1 (3,2,2,0) 7
2 (0,0,3,1') 4+1
3 Bjarne Pedersen (c) (2',2',3,3,2) 12+2
4 (3,3,f,3,1') 10+1
5(3,2,1,1) 7
6(2',0,0) 2+1
7(3,0,2',0,1') 6+1
Manager:
Neil Middleditch

Second leg

Poole:
1 (3,3,3,0,3) 12
2 (2',1,3,2') 8+2
3 Bjarne Pedersen (c) (3,3,3,3,2') 14+1
4 (1,ex,1,2) 4
5(3,1,2,2) 8
6(2',0,1',1') 4+3
7(3,2',2',1,2') 10+3
Manager:
Neil Middleditch
Lakeside:
width=25!width=25
1 Scott Nicholls (guest) (1,ex,6^,3,1) 11
2 Leigh Lanham (c) (0,1,0) 1
3 Rider replacement
4 (0,2,1,1,3,0) 7+1
5(2,1,2,2,3,1) 11
6(0,ex,0,0) 0
7(1,0,2,0,0,ex) 3
Manager:
Jon Cook
Poole win 108-75 on aggregate and are the 2008 Elite League Champions.

Relegation playoffs

Semi-finals

Peterborough win 114-71 on aggregate. Wolverhampton will face the Premier League playoff winners, the Edinburgh Monarchs, over two legs.

Final

Wolverhampton win 106–76 on aggregate and avoid relegation.

Elite League Knockout Cup

The 2008 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 70th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Eastbourne Eagles were the winners of the competition.[7]

First round

width=80Datewidth=250Team onewidth=80Scorewidth=250Team two
07/04Wolverhampton 54-38Ipswich
03/04Ipswich 50-42 Wolverhampton

Quarter-finals

width=80Datewidth=250Team onewidth=80Scorewidth=250Team two
23/06Wolverhampton52-40 Eastbourne
21/06Eastbourne62-30 Wolverhampton
20/06Coventry56-37 Belle Vue
20/06Lakeside50-42 Peterborough
19/06Peterborough39-51 Lakeside
19/06Swindon 50-40 Poole
18/06Poole53-40 Swindon
16/06Belle Vue49-44 Coventry

Semi-finals

width=80Datewidth=250Team onewidth=80Scorewidth=250Team two
30/08Eastbourne54-39 Lakeside
13/08Lakeside52-41 Eastbourne
13/08Poole45-45 Coventry
11/08Coventry45-45 Poole

Final

First leg

Second leg

The Eastbourne Eagles were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 102-78.

Elite League Riders Championship

The Elite League Riders Championship involves the riders with the highest average from each club competing in the Elite League. It took place on 8 October 2008, at the Premier League track at Birmingham after the original staging of the event on 20 August was abandoned due to bad weather.[8]

FormatThe top 15 highest averaged riders in the Elite League plus one wild card and two reserves take part, although no more than two riders from each club participate. There are 20 qualifying heats, a 'last chance' qualifying heat and a final. The top two scorers from the 20 qualifying heats qualify directly for the final. The next top four scorers take place in the last chance qualifying heat, with the 1st and 2nd place riders from that heat also qualifying to the final.[9]

Result

Pairs

The Elite League Pairs Championship was held at the Abbey Stadium on 17 August and was won by Coventry Bees. The original date had been set for King's Lynn Stadium on 5 April but was postponed.[11]

width=20Poswidth=80Teamwidth=30Ptswidth=200Riders
1 Swindon 26Adams 16, Korneliussen 10
2Belle Vue 25 Crump 15, Gjedde 10
3 Coventry 23 Andersen 14, Harris 9
4 Ipswich21 Swiderski 11, Schlein 10
5 Poole 20 Pedersen B 11, Holder 9
6 Wolves 15 Iversen 13, Lindgren 2
7 Peterborough 12Bjerre 6, King 6
8 Eastbourne 11Richardson 9, Woodward 2
9Lakeside 9Shields 9, Davidsson 0

Semi finals

Final

Leading final averages

width=200Riderwidth=200Teamwidth=40Average
Swindon 11.04
Belle Vue 10.94
Lakeside 9.98
Coventry 9.89
Scott NichollsEastbourne 9.58
Poole 9.30
Poole8.95
Piotr ŚwiderskiIpswich8.67
Lee RichardsonEastbourne8.65
Jarosław HampelIpswich8.55

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Coventry

Eastbourne

Ipswich

Lakeside

Peterborough

Poole

Swindon

Wolverhampton

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Historic league tables. Speedway Archive.
  2. Web site: 2008 league tables. Speedway GB.
  3. Web site: British Speedway 2008 . . 2007 . 2008-05-22 .
  4. Web site: Douglas praises champions Poole . . 2008-11-03 . 2008-10-14.
  5. Web site: Wolves seal EL place . . 2008 . 2008-11-03.
  6. Web site: Speedway riders, history and results. wwosbackup. 1 August 2021.
  7. Web site: 2008 Elite League Knockout Cup. Speedway archive.
  8. Web site: Elite League stars in Birmingham . . 2008-10-16 . 2008-10-07.
  9. Web site: Elite League Riders Championship . . 2008-08-02 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080512153601/http://www.super7even.com/elrc.htm . May 12, 2008 .
  10. Web site: pl . Crump wygrał w Birmingham . SportoweFakty.pl. 2008-10-08 . 2008-10-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081009193209/http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2008/10/08/crump-wygral-w-birmingham/. 9 October 2008 . live.
  11. Web site: 2008 Elite League Pairs . Speedway Updates . 20 May 2023.