Competition: | 2012 Sky Sports Elite League |
Domesticcup1: | Champions |
Domesticcup1 Winners: | Swindon Robins |
Domesticcup2: | Knockout Cup |
Domesticcup2 Winners: | Poole Pirates |
Domesticcup3: | Elite Shield |
Domesticcup3 Winners: | Poole Pirates |
Domesticcup4: | Riders Championship |
Domesticcup4 Winners: | Chris Holder |
Highest Average: | Darcy Ward |
Leagues Below: | 2012 Premier League 2012 National League |
Nextseason: | 2013 |
The 2012 Elite League speedway season (also known as the Sky Sports Elite League for sponsorship reasons) was the 78th season of the top division of UK speedway and took place between March and October 2012.[1]
The Poole Pirates were the defending champions after winning in 2011.[2] Poole nearly repeated the success of the previous season but fell just short. They topped the regular season table for the third year running and won the Knockout Cup for the third year running but lost in the play off final to Swindon Robins. Darcy Ward and Chris Holder were exceptional for the Pirates again but Swindon's triumph (their first since 1967) was put down to a group of riders all maintaining consistent scores. They were Danes Hans Andersen and Peter Kildemand, Australians Troy Batchelor, Nick Morris and Jason Doyle (the latter recruited from Poole) and Sheffield born Simon Stead.[3]
Lakeside Hammers and British speedway was rocked by the news that one of their leading riders Lee Richardson had been killed in a race at the Olympic Stadium in Wrocław, Poland on 13 May. The Hammers did well to finish in a play off place without their main heat leader. Richardson was the 1999 World Under-21 champion and a leading British international. Richardson died of injuries he suffered after touching the wheels of the rider just in front and being thrown into the fence.[4] In recent years fatal accidents had become less frequent and this accident highlighted the dangers still involved in the sport. In part the accident was the catalyst for the decision to make air fences mandatory at tracks the following season.[5]
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 | Poole Pirates | 28 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1355 | 1159 | 72 | ||||
2 | Swindon Robins | 28 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1382 | 1173 | 70 | ||||
3 | Birmingham Brummies | 28 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 1276 | 1276 | 44 | ||||
4 | Lakeside Hammers | 28 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 1279 | 1290 | 44 | ||||
5 | Eastbourne Eagles | 28 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 1265 | 1277 | 42 | ||||
6 | Peterborough Panthers | 28 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 1266 | 1287 | 42 | ||||
7 | Kings Lynn Stars | 28 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 1278 | 1272 | 36 | ||||
8 | Coventry Bees | 27 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1217 | 1229 | 32 | ||||
9 | Wolverhampton Wolves | 27 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 1178 | 1286 | 31 | ||||
10 | Belle Vue Aces | 26 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 1072 | 1319 | 15 |
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
Leg 1
Leg 2
First leg
Second leg
The Swindon Robins were declared Elite League Champions, winning on aggregate 95-89.
The 2012 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 74th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Poole Pirates were the winners of the competition for the third consecutive year.[6] The Knockout Cup was then suspended for four years until it was held again under the new name 2017 SGB Premiership Team KO Cup.
Quarter-finals
width=80 | Date | width=250 | Team one | width=80 | Score | width=250 | Team two |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
10/10 | Belle Vue | 35-42 | Birmingham | ||||
not staged | Birmingham | Belle Vue | |||||
02/06 | Lakeside | 38-49 | Coventry | ||||
01/06 | Coventry | 52-41 | Lakeside | ||||
not staged | Swindon | Peterborough | |||||
not staged | Peterborough | Swindon | |||||
30/05 | Poole | 50-43 | Wolverhampton | ||||
21/05 | Wolverhampton | 39-54 | Poole |
width=80 | Date | width=250 | Team one | width=80 | Score | width=250 | Team two |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
25/10 | Peterborough | 50-43 | Poole | ||||
24/10 | Poole | 51-39 | Peterborough | ||||
18/10 | Birmingham | 45-45 | Coventry | ||||
12/10 | Coventry | 51-45 | Birmingham |
Final----
The Poole Pirates were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 102-78.
Chris Holder won the Riders' Championship. The final was held at Abbey Stadium on 20 October.[7] [8]
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 | x | 3 | |||||||
2 | 3 0 3 3 3 | 12 | x | 2 | |||||||
3 | 2 3 2 2 2 | 11 | 3 | 1 | |||||||
4 | 2 2 1 3 2 | 10 | 2 | f/exc | |||||||
5 | 3 3 2 3 0 | 11 | 1 | ||||||||
6 | 2 3 1 1 3 | 10 | 0 | ||||||||
7 | 3 1 3 0 1 | 8 | |||||||||
8 | 0 1 3 2 2 | 8 | |||||||||
9 | 1 2 2 2 0 | 7 | |||||||||
10 | 1 2 f/exc 1 2 | 6 | |||||||||
11 | 1 2 0 2 1 | 6 | |||||||||
12 | 1 0 0 1 3 | 5 | |||||||||
13 | 0 1 0 3 1 | 5 | |||||||||
14 | 2 0 1 1 0 | 4 | |||||||||
15 | 0 0 2 0 1 | 3 | |||||||||
16 | ret 1 1 0 0 | 2 |
width=200 | Rider | width=200 | Team | width=40 | Average |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Darcy Ward | Poole | 10.90 | |||
Poole | 10.31 | ||||
Poole | 10.18 | ||||
King’s Lynn | 9.51 | ||||
Wolverhampton | 9.09 | ||||
Wolverhampton | 9.08 | ||||
Swindon | 8.95 | ||||
Lakeside | 8.76 | ||||
Lakeside | 8.74 | ||||
Coventry | 8.59 |
Belle Vue
Birmingham
Coventry
Eastbourne
King's Lynn
Lakeside
Peterborough
Poole
Swindon
Wolverhampton