2011 Elite League speedway season explained

Competition:2011 Sky Sports Elite League
Domesticcup1:Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:Poole Pirates
Domesticcup2:Knockout Cup
Domesticcup2 Winners:Poole Pirates
Domesticcup3:Elite Shield
Domesticcup3 Winners:Wolverhampton Wolves
Domesticcup4:Individual
Domesticcup4 Winners:Rory Schlein
Domesticcup5:Pairs
Domesticcup5 Winners:Poole Pirates
Highest Average:Darcy Ward
Leagues Below:2011 Premier League
2011 National League
Prevseason:2010
Nextseason:2012

The 2011 Elite League speedway season (also known as the Sky Sports Elite League for sponsorship reasons) was the 77th season of the top division of UK speedway and took place between 26 March and 20 October 2011. The Coventry Bees were the defending champions after winning in 2010.[1] [2]

Summary

It was a great season for the Poole Pirates, who won the Elite League, the Pairs Championship and the Knockout Cup. Claiming a clean sweep of honours. Throughout the 2010 season, it was rumoured that the Ipswich Witches would prefer to compete in the Premier League from 2011 onwards. Although they survived the promotion/relegation battle with the Newcastle Diamonds, it was decided that they would swap divisions with the Birmingham Brummies.[3] On 27 November 2010, The BSPA announced that both Coventry Bees and Peterborough Panthers would not be riding in the top flight after they failed to declare their intent to compete in the 2011 competition.[4] This then led to the King's Lynn Stars being promoted from the Premier League due to the Elite League needing a minimum of 8 teams.[5] On 15 March 2011 it was announced that both the Coventry Bees and Peterborough Panthers would be part of the 2011 Elite League after all.[6]

Poole Pirates made up for the previous season's disappointment by winning the league and cup double. The Australian quartet of Darcy Ward, Chris Holder, Davey Watt and Jason Doyle were supported well by Swedes Thomas H. Jonasson and Dennis Andersson as the Poole team deservedly won the title after finishing top of the regular season table for the second consecutive year.[7] The Australian domination also extended to the league averages, which were topped by Chris Holder and the Elite League Riders' Championship won by Rory Schlein of Belle Vue.

League table

width=30 rowspan=2Pos Club M Home Away F width=30 rowspan=2A +/- width=30 rowspan=2Pts
width=303W width=302W width=30D width=30L width=304W width=303W width=30D width=301L width=30L
1Poole Pirates2810 3 0 1 2 3 0 5 4 1343 1212 58
2Eastbourne Eagles2812101040281370120252
3King's Lynn Stars288402031641305126649
4Lakeside Hammers288501120291291125546
5Coventry Bees289212021381262126743
6Peterborough Panthers28104000004101284127142
7Belle Vue Aces285324220461267126641
8Wolverhampton Wolves285801001581250132638
9Birmingham Brummies28 6404100581241132635
10Swindon Robins28 25070103101172139422

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 legSecond leg

Poole Pirates were declared Elite League Champions, on winning on aggregate 98-85.

Elite League Knockout Cup

The 2011 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 73rd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Poole Pirates were the winners of the competition for the second successive year.[8]

First round

width=80Datewidth=250Team onewidth=80Scorewidth=250Team two
08/08Peterborough47-45Coventry
06/07Coventry42-48Peterborough
Quarter-finals
width=80Datewidth=250Team onewidth=80Scorewidth=250Team two
15/09Peterborough43-47 Belle Vue
14/09Belle Vue50-40 Peterborough
25/07Wolverhampton45-45 Eastbourne
22/06Poole 55-41 Swindon
18/06Eastbourne50-40 Wolverhampton
16/06Swindon 28-62 Poole
10/06Lakeside63- 29 Birmingham
09/06Birmingham36-41 Lakeside
Semi-finals
width=80Datewidth=250Team onewidth=80Scorewidth=250Team two
12/10Belle Vue42-33 Lakeside
30/09Lakeside48-45 Belle Vue
17/09Eastbourne39-51 Poole
14/09Poole46-44 Eastbourne

Final

First legSecond leg

The Poole Pirates were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 102-86.

Riders' Championship

Rory Schlein won the Riders' Championship. The final was held at Abbey Stadium on 15 October.[9] [10]

width=25pxPos. width=200pxRider width=100pxPts width=50pxTotal width=50pxSF width=50pxFinal
1 3 3 2 3 2 13x3
2 1 1 3 3 3 1122
3 3 2 2 exc 2 931
4 3 2 3 0 3 11x0
5 2 0 3 3 1 91
6 2 3 1 2 3 11exc
7 0 3 1 3 1 8
8 2 3 f/exc 2 1 8
9 1 2 1 1 2 7
10 3 0 3 0 f 6
11 0 1 0 1 3 5
12 0 2 1 2 0 5
13 0 1 2 1 fx 4
14 1 1 2 0 ret 4
15 1 0 0 1 2 4
16 2 ret 0 2 ret 2

Pairs

The Elite League Pairs Championship was held at the King's Lynn Stadium on 27 April and was won by Poole Pirates.[11]

Group A
width=20Poswidth=80Teamwidth=30Ptswidth=200Riders
1 Peterborough25Batchelor 15, Pedersen 10
2Wolves 21Lindgren 14, Proctor 7
3 Swindon 21Nicholls 13, Klindt 8
4 King's Lynn 14Iversen 11, Bjerre 3
5Birmingham 9Dryml 9, Knight (G) 0
Group B
width=20Poswidth=80Teamwidth=30Ptswidth=200Riders
1 Poole 26Holder 14, Ward 12
2 Belle Vue 23Harris 13, Schlein 10
3 Lakeside 19Richardson 10, Shields 9
4 Coventry 12Fisher 10, Kennett 2
5Eastbourne 11Kylmaekorpi 9, Woodward 2

Semi finals

Final

Leading averages

width=200Riderwidth=200Teamwidth=40Average
Darcy WardPoole10.05
Poole 9.99
Wolverhampton9.66
Kings Lynn 9.22
Nicki PedersenPeterborough9.20
Belle Vue9.10
Peterborough8.84
Wolverhampton 8.78
Coventry 8.77
Eastbourne 8.61

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Birmingham

Coventry

Eastbourne

King's Lynn

Lakeside

Peterborough

Poole

Swindon

Wolverhampton

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Historic league tables. Speedway Archive.
  2. Web site: 2011 league tables. Speedway GB.
  3. News: British Speedway AGM - Key Points . . 2010-11-21 . 2010-11-21.
  4. News: British Speedway Statement . . 2010-11-27 . 2010-11-29.
  5. News: Kings Lynn Join The Elite . . 2010-11-29 . 2010-11-29.
  6. News: Peterborough and Coventry allowed back in Elite League. 15 March 2011 . BBC Sport. BBC. 15 March 2011.
  7. Web site: Speedway riders, history and results. wwosbackup. 1 August 2021.
  8. Web site: 2011 Elite League Knockout Cup. Speedway archive.
  9. Web site: Elite League Riders' Championship . WWOS Backup . 9 June 2023.
  10. Web site: SCHLEIN WINS ELRC . Birmingham Speedway . 9 June 2023.
  11. Web site: 2011 Elite League Pairs . Speedway Updates . 20 May 2023.