2009 Elite League speedway season explained

Competition:	Sky Sports Elite League
Domesticcup1:	Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:	Wolverhampton Wolves
Domesticcup2:	Knockout Cup
Domesticcup2 Winners:	Lakeside Hammers
Domesticcup3:	Elite Shield
Domesticcup3 Winners:	Eastbourne Eagles
Domesticcup4:	Individual
Domesticcup4 Winners:	Leigh Adams
Domesticcup5:	Pairs
Domesticcup5 Winners:	Poole Pirates
Highest Average:	Freddie Lindgren
Leagues Below:	2009 Premier League 2009 National League
Prevseason:	2008
Nextseason:	2010

The 2009 Elite League speedway season (also known as the Sky Sports Elite League for sponsorship reasons) was the 75th season of the top division of UK speedway and the 13th since its establishment as the Elite League in 1997.^[1]

Summary

The first fixtures of the season took place on 30 March and the season ended on 12 October. The Poole Pirates were the defending champions from 2008.^[2]

Leigh Adams had a stellar season, he once again topped the league averages and became the Australian Champion for the 10th time. He also won the Elite League Riders Championship and nearly led Swindon to a title success, before losing in the play off final to Wolverhampton Wolves. Wolves continued their success of recent years courtesy of heavy scoring throughout the season by Freddie Lindgren, Peter Karlsson and their new signing Tai Woffinden.^[3]

Lee Richardson top scored for the Lakeside Hammers during the season and the team claimed their first top tier trophy in their history when winning the Knockout Cup.^[4]

League table

width=30 rowspan=2	Pos	Club	M	Home				Away					F	width=30 rowspan=2	A	+/-	width=30 rowspan=2	Pts
width=30	3W		width=30	2W	width=30	D	width=30	L	width=30	4W	width=30	3W	width=30	D	width=30		1L	width=30	L
1		32	15	0	0	1	5	3	0	5	3	1602	1331		79
2		32	15	1	0	0	4	2	1	4	5	1580	1361		75
3	Lakeside Hammers	32	9	4	2	1	2	1	1	4	9	1511	1437		54
4	Coventry Bees	32	7	5	2	2	2	2	1	3	8	1451	1456		52
5	Peterborough Panthers	32	10	4	0	2	0	2	0	3	11	1463	1484		47
6	Ipswich Witches	32	9	3	0	4	1	0	1	2	12	1431	1498		41
7	Eastbourne Eagles	32	9	0	1	6	0	1	2	1	12	1393	1527		36
	8	Poole Pirates	32	5	3	2	6	1	0	1	3	11	1391	1526		32
9	Belle Vue Aces	32	4	6	0	6	1	1	0	1	13	1373	1575		32

Key:
Championship play-offs
Relegation play-offs

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

'B' Fixtures

Championship play-offs

Semi-finals

Leg 1

Leg 2

Grand final

First leg

	1		3, 3, 2', 3, 3	14+1
	2		1, 1, 0, 3	5
	3		3, 3, 1', 3	10+1
	4		F, 2', 2, 3	7+1
	5		2, 3, 3, 2', 0	10+1
	6		3, 0, 0	3
	7		1, F, 1, 2', 1	5+1
Manager: Peter Adams

width=25	!	width=25
	1		2, 1, 2, 1, 2	8
	2		0, 0, 3, 1'	4+1
	3	Travis McGowan	1', 1', 0, 0	2+2
	4		2, 2, 1, 4^	9
	5		3, 2, 3, 0^, 1'	9+1
	6		0, 0, 0	0
	7		2, 1, 2', 1, 0	6+1
Manager: Alun Rossiter

Second leg

	1		2, 3, 3, 2, 2'	12+1
	3	Travis McGowan	1', 1, 3, 2'	7+2
	2		2, 0, 1', 2	5+1
	4		0, 3, 2, 2	7
	5		3, 2, 3, 1', 3	12+1
	6		1, 0, 1	2
	7		3, 0, 2', 1', 1'	7+3
Manager: Alun Rossiter

width=25	!	width=25
	1		3, 2, 2, 3, 0	10
	2		0, 1', 0, 0	1+1
	3		1, 1, 1, 6^	9
	4		3, 3, 0, 3, 1	10
	5		2, 2, 3, 0	7
	6		0, 0, 0	0
	7		2, 1', 1, 0, 0	4+1

Wolverhampton were declared Elite League Champions, on Aggregate 95-90.

Knockout Cup

The 2009 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 71st edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams.^[5]

First round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
29/05	Ipswich	45-48	Belle Vue
20/04	Belle Vue	53-40	Ipswich

Quarter-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
26/03	Peterborough	43-47	Coventry
27/03	Coventry	53-37	Peterborough
26/03	Swindon	57-36	Wolverhampton
06/04	Wolverhampton	53-40	Swindon
27/03	Lakeside	57-38	Eastbourne
28/03	Eastbourne	50-43	Lakeside
24/06	Poole	44-49	Belle Vue
27/06	Belle Vue	54-41	Poole

Semi-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
21/08	Coventry	51-39	Belle Vue
05/10	Belle Vue	48-42	Coventry
12/06	Lakeside	49-41	Swindon
11/06	Swindon	44-46	Lakeside

Final

First legSecond leg

The Lakeside Hammers were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 108-77.

Riders' Championship

Leigh Adams won the Riders' Championship. The final was held at Brandon Stadium on 2 October.^[6]

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

Pairs

The Elite League Pairs Championship was held at the Arlington Stadium on 8 August and was won by Poole Pirates.^[7]

width=20	Pos	width=80	Team	width=30	Pts	width=200	Riders
1	Lakeside	24	Richardson 19, Davidsson 9
2	Poole	22	Andersen 19, Holder 13
3	Coventry	21	Harris 15, Kennett 10
4	Eastbourne	21	Watt 20, Bridger 10
5	Wolves	19	Lindgren 11, Karlsson 8
6	Peterborough	18	Iversen 12 Bjerre 6
7	Ipswich	15	Batchelor 8, Nicholls 7
8	Swindon	11	Adams 9, McGowan 2
9	Belle Vue	8	Wright J 4, Risager 4

Semi finals

• Eastbourne 5 Lakeside 4 - Richardson, Watt, Bridger, Davidsson
• Poole 5 Coventry 4 - Harris, Holder, Andersen, Kennett

Final

• Poole 5 Eastbourne 4 - Watt, Holder, Andersen, Bridger

Final leading averages

width=200	Rider	width=200	Team	width=40	Average
Freddie Lindgren	Wolverhampton	10.64
	Swindon	10.33
Hans Andersen	Poole	9.77
	Swindon	9.57
Scott Nicholls	Ipswich	9.39
Jarosław Hampel	Ipswich	9.30
	Poole	9.19
Peter Karlsson	Wolverhampton	9.19
Lee Richardson	Lakeside	8.86
	Coventry	8.74

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• 11.48 (5 matches only)
• 8.67
• 7.09
• 6.65
• 6.41
• 6.40
• 6.38
• 6.12
• 6.11
• 4.18
• 2.95
• 2.15

Coventry

• 8.74
• 8.58
• 8.28
• 7.68
• 7.59
• 6.65
• 4.72
• 4.30
• 4.24
• 2.72

Eastbourne

• 7.63
• 7.46
• 6.86
• 6.64
• 6.09
• 5.65
• 5.08
• 3.90

Ipswich

• 9.39
• 9.30
• 8.00
• 8.27
• 7.40
• 6.23
• 6.11
• 4.86
• 4.64
• 4.21
• 4.16

Lakeside

• 8.86
• 8.72
• 8.46
• 8.36
• 6.78
• 6.26
• 5.23
• 4.97
• 3.78

Peterborough

• 8.26
• 8.12
• 6.88
• 6.80
• 5.71
• 5.50
• 5.02

Poole

• 9.77
• 9.19
• 8.31
• 7.07
• 4.31
• 4.00
• 3.85
• 3.79
• 3.41
• 3.15
• 2.14

Swindon

• 10.33
• 9.57
• 7.38
• 7.22
• 7.12
• 6.88
• 6.59
• 6.31
• 6.00
• 4.36
• 4.12

Wolverhampton

• 10.64
• 9.19
• 8.30
• 7.27
• 6.03
• 5.88
• 2.77
• 1.88

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: 2009 league tables. Speedway GB.
3. Web site: Speedway riders, history and results. wwosbackup. 1 August 2021.
4. Web site: Knockout Cup Final history. Reader Exacteditions .com. 1 August 2021.
5. Web site: 2009 Elite League Knockout Cup. Speedway archive.
6. Web site: Elite League Riders' Championship . Speedway History . 9 June 2023.
7. Web site: 2009 Elite League Pairs . Speedway Updates . 20 May 2023.