2005 Elite League speedway season
LeagueSky Sports Elite League
ChampionsCoventry Bees
Knockout CupBelle Vue Aces
Craven ShieldOxford Silver Machine
IndividualNicki Pedersen
PairsSwindon Robins
Highest averageNicki Pedersen
Division/s belowPremier League
Conference League

The 2005 Elite League speedway season was the 71st season of the top division of speedway in the United Kingdom and governed by the Speedway Control Bureau (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA).[1][2][3]

Season summary

In 2005, the league consisted of ten teams, with the title being decided by a play-off between the top four.[4]

Belle Vue Aces topped the regular season table and won the Knockout Cup. Their world champion rider Jason Crump was in superb form throughout the season. Fellow Australian Leigh Adams topped the league averages for Swindon for arguably the second consecutive season but it was Coventry Bees that experienced their first title success since the glory days of the late 1980s. Coventry had finished bottom of the table during the previous season and with the exception of finishing runner-up in 2003 had been starved of success. The club made a change that proved instrumental, they brought in Scott Nicholls from Ipswich and supported by Andreas Jonsson and Chris Harris the team defeated Belle Vue in the Elite League Play off final.[5]

Final table

Pos M W D L F A Pts Bon Tot
1 Belle Vue Aces 36 24 0 12 1766 1520 48 13 61
2 Coventry Bees 36 23 0 13 1739 1605 46 13 59
3 Peterborough Panthers 36 21 2 23 1709 1598 44 12 56
4 Eastbourne Eagles 36 19 1 16 1658 1646 39 10 49
5 Poole Pirates 36 18 1 17 1666 1647 37 10 47
6 Ipswich Witches 36 16 3 17 1661 1672 35 9 44
7 Swindon Robins 36 17 2 17 1617 1675 36 7 43
8 Wolverhampton Wolves 36 14 2 20 1682 1647 30 10 40
9 Oxford Silver Machine 36 11 1 24 1550 1773 23 3 26
10 Arena Essex Hammers 36 11 0 25 1539 1804 22 3 25
= Qualified for Play Offs

Play-offs

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

Semi-finals

Final

First leg

Second leg

The Coventry Bees were declared League Champions, winning on aggregate 101-83.

Elite League Knockout Cup

The 2005 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 67th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Belle Vue Aces were the winners of the competition.[6]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
21/04Swindon60-36Poole
20/04Poole51-41Swindon
07/04Ipswich55-40Wolverhampton
04/04Wolverhampton37-53Ipswich

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
15/06Arena Essex51-40Ipswich
12/06Swindon55-39Coventry
26/05Ipswich52-42Arena Essex
21/05Eastbourne59-36Peterborough
20/05Coventry51-41Swindon
19/05Oxford49-41Belle Vue
16/05Belle Vue59-35Oxford
13/05Peterborough56-37Eastbourne

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
21/09Arena Essex52-41Eastbourne
18/08Swindon37-35Belle Vue
27/07Belle Vue61-32Swindon
23/07Eastbourne55-40Arena Essex

Final

First leg

Second leg

The Belle Vue Aces were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 97-83.

Riders' Championship

Nicki Pedersen won the Riders' Championship. The final was held at Abbey Stadium on 28 August.[7]

Pos.RiderPtsTotalSFFinal
1Denmark Nicki Pedersen1 3 3 2 312x3
2England Scott Nicholls0 3 3 2 21022
3Sweden Peter Karlsson3 1 3 1 21031
4Denmark Bjarne Pedersen3 1 2 3 312x0
5Denmark Charlie Gjedde3 1 1 3 3111
6England Lee Richardson2 0 3 2 3100
7United States Greg Hancock2 3 2 0 29
8Australia Jason Crump2 2 0 2 28
9Poland Krzysztof Kasprzak0 3 1 3 18
10United States Billy Hamill3 2 0 - -5
11England Mark Loram2 2 0 1 05
12Czech Republic Aleš Dryml Jr.0 1 0 3 04
13England David Howe1 2 0 0 14
14Australia Davey Watt1 0 2 1 04
15Sweden Freddie Lindgren0 0 2 1 14
16England Simon Stead1 0 1 0 13

Pairs

The Elite League Pairs Championship was held at the East of England Arena on 27 March and was won by Swindon Robins for the second consecutive year.[8]

Semi finals

  • Belle Vue 5 Arena Essex 4 - Rickardsson, Screen, Crump, Havelock
  • Swindon 7 Wolves 2 - Adams, Richardson, Max Howe

Final

  • Swindon 6 Belle Vue 3 - Adams, Crump, Richardson, Screen

Leading final averages

Rider Team Average
Australia Leigh AdamsSwindon10.42
Australia Jason CrumpBelle Vue10.35
Denmark Nicki PedersenEastbourne10.30
England Scott NichollsCoventry9.45
Sweden Peter KarlssonPeterborough9.48
Denmark Hans AndersenIpswich9.44
Sweden Mikael MaxWolverhampton9.39
United States Greg HancockOxford9.32
Denmark Bjarne PedersenPoole9.27
England Lee RichardsonSwindon8.85

Riders & final averages

Arena Essex

Belle Vue

Coventry

Eastbourne

Ipswich

Oxford

Peterborough

Poole

Swindon

Wolverhampton

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ↑ "2005 league tables". Speedway GB.
  3. ↑ "A Year in Summary : 2005". Speedway Plus. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  4. ↑ Bamford, Robert (2006). Tempus Speedway Yearbook 2006. NPI Media Group. ISBN 0-7524-3692-9.
  5. ↑ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  6. ↑ "2005 Elite League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  7. ↑ "Elite League Riders' Championship". Speedway History. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  8. ↑ "2005 Elite League Pairs". Speedway Updates. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
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