2008 Elite League speedway season

2008 Elite League speedway season
League Sky Sports Elite League
Season 2008
Champions Poole Pirates
Knockout Cup Eastbourne Eagles
Pairs Championship Coventry Bees
Craven Shield Coventry Bees
Elite League Riders Championship Australia Jason Crump
Highest average Australia Jason Crump
(10.80)

The 2008 Elite League (also known as the Sky Sports Elite League for sponsorship reasons) is the 12th since its establishment in 1997. 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.

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 play-off 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 play-off with the loser facing the Premier League play-off winner over two legs.[1]

The Poole Pirates finished top of the league table, with the Lakeside Hammers, Swindon Robins and Ipswich Witches occupying the other championship play-off places. Poole and Lakeside progressed to the grand final of the play-offs, with Poole winning the first leg at Lakeside 42–48, and the second leg at Poole 60–33, giving them a 108–75 victory.[2] 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 play-off final, with Wolverhampton winning comfortably over the two legs with a 106–76 aggregate victory, and thus avoided relegation.[3]

League table

Key:
Competition play offs
Relegation play-offs
Pos Club M Home Away F A +/- Pts
W D L W D L
1 Poole Pirates 32 14 0 2 8 0 8 1600 1321 +279 52
2 Lakeside Hammers 32 15 0 1 7 1 8 1551 1375 +176 52
3 Swindon Robins 32 12 2 2 5 0 11 1498 1434 +64 41
4 Ipswich Witches 32 11 1 4 5 2 9 1483 1439 +44 40
5 Eastbourne Eagles 32 11 0 5 4 0 12 1462 1472 -10 34
6 Coventry Bees 32 10 2 4 2 1 13 1418 1506 -88 29
7 Belle Vue Aces 32 13 0 3 0 2 14 1423 1491 -68 28
8 Peterborough Panthers 32 12 1 3 1 0 15 1371 1528 -157 28
9 Wolverhampton Wolves 32 8 0 8 0 0 16 1341 1581 -240 16

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\Away BV COV EAS IPS LH PET PP SWI WOL
Belle Vue Aces 46-43 42-48 52-38 47-43 52-41 50-43 42-51 60-30
Coventry Bees 45-45 43-47 52-37 41-49 48-42 48-45 52-41 48-45
Eastbourne Eagles 50-40 50-40 42-48 53-39 59-35 41-48 46-44 53-40
Ipswich Witches 52-41 50-43 51-39 42-51 60-31 41-51 43-50 53-38
Lakeside Hammers 54-39 63-29 48-45 51-42 56-37 48-45 50-45 53-40
Peterborough Panthers 47-45 51-38 48-42 49-41 36-36* 35-57 42-48 48-42
Poole Pirates 59-33 53-39 52-41 40-50 54-38 44-46 53-39 62-31
Swindon Robins 49-43 49-43 56-37 45-45 53-40 53-40 39-51 50-42
Wolverhampton Wolves 48-45 44-45 50-39 43-48 41-49 59-33 54-36 42-48

* Meeting abandoned after heat 12. Result stands.

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\Away BV COV EAS IPS LH PET PP SWI WOL
Belle Vue Aces 50-40 48-45 48-42 42-48 53-39 48-42 47-43 49-41
Coventry Bees 52-40 52-41 45-45 42-51 59-36 37-56 52-43 53-40
Eastbourne Eagles 56-37 46-47 41-49 49-44 46-44 41-52 50-43 63-27
Ipswich Witches 48-42 45-45 52-41 44-48 54-38 52-38 54-39 49-41
Lakeside Hammers 59-34 56-37 56-37 55-38 49-41 53-39 41-49 58-32
Peterborough Panthers 52-42 51-42 39-54 52-40 56-37 47-43 52-41 56-37
Poole Pirates 50-31* 54-36 60-33 59-34 50-42 54-36 58-35 55-37
Swindon Robins 45-45 51-39 53-39 49-44 53-39 49-44 42-51 62-29
Wolverhampton Wolves 48-45 47-43 45-48 40-52 43-47 54-38 44-46 47-46

*Meeting abandoned after heat 13. Result stands.

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 play-offs

Semi-finals

2008-09-29
19:30
Poole Pirates 59 – 33 Ipswich Witches
Bjarne Pedersen 13+1 (Report) Kenneth Bjerre (guest) 11
Wimborne Road, Poole
Referee: Dave Watters

Poole and Lakeside progressed to the grand final

Grand final

First leg

Lakeside:
1 Sweden Andreas Jonsson (c) (2,3,0,3,1',3,3) 15+1
2 United Kingdom Leigh Lanham (1',1,1,1,2) 6+1
3 Rider replacement
4 Sweden Jonas Davidsson (1,3,2',2,2,0) 10+1
5Poland Tomasz Jędrzejak (0,2,1,3,2') 8+1
6Sweden Ricky Kling (1,0,1',1') 3+2
7Poland Krzysztof Jabłoński (0,1',0) 1+1
Manager:
United Kingdom Jon Cook
Poole:
1 Australia Chris Holder (3,2,2,0) 7
2 Sweden Magnus Zetterström (0,0,3,1') 4+1
3 Denmark Bjarne Pedersen (c) (2',2',3,3,2) 12+2
4 Poland Adam Skórnicki (3,3,f,3,1') 10+1
5Australia Davey Watt (3,2,1,1) 7
6Sweden Freddie Eriksson (2',0,0) 2+1
7Sweden Daniel Davidsson (3,0,2',0,1') 6+1
Manager:
United Kingdom Neil Middleditch

Second leg

2008-10-13
19:30
Poole Pirates 60 – 33
(108 – 75) 		Lakeside Hammers
Report
Wimborne Road, Poole
Referee: Tony Steele
Poole:
1 Australia Chris Holder (3,3,3,0,3) 12
2 Sweden Magnus Zetterström (2',1,3,2') 8+2
3 Denmark Bjarne Pedersen (c) (3,3,3,3,2') 14+1
4 Poland Adam Skórnicki (1,ex,1,2) 4
5Australia Davey Watt (3,1,2,2) 8
6Sweden Freddie Eriksson (2',0,1',1') 4+3
7Sweden Daniel Davidsson (3,2',2',1,2') 10+3
Manager:
United Kingdom Neil Middleditch
Lakeside:
1 United Kingdom Scott Nicholls (guest) (1,ex,6^,3,1) 11
2 United Kingdom Leigh Lanham (c) (0,1,0) 1
3 Rider replacement
4 Poland Tomasz Jędrzejak (0,2,1,1,3,0) 7+1
5Sweden Jonas Davidsson (2,1,2,2,3,1) 11
6Sweden Ricky Kling (0,ex,0,0) 0
7Poland Krzysztof Jabłoński (1,0,2,0,0,ex) 3
Manager:
United Kingdom Jon Cook

Poole win 108-75 on aggregate and are the 2008 Elite League Champions.

Relegation play-offs

Semi-finals

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

Final

2008-10-27
19:30
Wolverhampton Wolves 53 – 38 Edinburgh Monarchs
Jesper B. Monberg 12 Report Ryan Fisher 16+1
Monmore Green Stadium, Wolverhampton
Referee: Jim Lawrence

Wolverhampton win 106–76 on aggregate and avoid relegation.

Averages

The top ten rider averages in the Elite League as of October 1, 2008:

Rider Average[4] Team
1 Australia Jason Crump 10.80 Belle Vue
2 Australia Leigh Adams 10.48 Swindon
3 Sweden Andreas Jonsson 9.66 Lakeside
4 Denmark Hans Andersen 9.16 Coventry
5 Denmark Bjarne Pedersen 9.13 Poole
6 Australia Chris Holder 8.80 Poole
7 United Kingdom Scott Nicholls 8.76 Eastbourne
8 Sweden Fredrik Lindgren 8.32 Wolverhampton
9 Poland Jarosław Hampel 8.28 Ipswich
10 United Kingdom Lee Richardson 8.16 Eastbourne

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.[5]

Format

The 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.[6]

Result

Placing Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos 2122
1 Australia (2) Jason Crump (BV) 12 3 2 1 3 3 12 3 2 3
2 Australia (14) Rory Schlein (IPS) 10 3 1 1 3 2 10 5 3 2
3 Denmark (8) Kenneth Bjerre (PET) 13 3 2 3 2 3 13 2 1
4 Australia (4) Leigh Adams (SWI) 13 1 3 3 3 3 13 1 0
5 Australia (1) Chris Holder (PP) 11 2 3 3 1 2 11 4 1
6 Australia (12) Davey Watt (PP) 10 2 1 2 2 3 10 6 0
7 United Kingdom (15) Lewis Bridger (EAS) 8 2 2 3 0 1 8 7
8 Denmark (16) Niels K. Iversen (WOL) 7 1 0 2 2 2 7 8
9 United Kingdom (13) Daniel King (PET) 7 E 2 2 1 2 7 9
10 Sweden (3) Fredrik Lindgren (WOL) 6 0 0 2 3 1 6 10
11 Poland (7) Piotr Świderski (IPS) 5 0 3 1 0 1 5 11
12 Sweden (11) Jonas Davidsson (LH) 5 3 1 0 0 1 5 12
13 Australia (10) Troy Batchelor (SWI) 5 1 3 0 1 0 5 13
14 United Kingdom (6) Edward Kennett (EAS) 4 1 0 1 2 0 4 14
15 United States (5) Billy Janniro (COV) 2 2 0 0 0 - 2 15
16 Denmark (9) Charlie Gjedde (BV) 2 0 1 0 1 0 2 16
17 (17) Jay Herne 0 0 0 17
(18) Luke Priest 0 0
Placing Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos 21 22

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside gate B gate C gate D - outside

See also

References

  1. ↑ "British Speedway 2008". British Speedway Promoters' Association. 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
  2. ↑ "Douglas praises champions Poole". BBC Sport. 2008-10-14. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  3. ↑ "Wolves seal EL place". Sky Sports. 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  4. ↑ "2008 Elite League greensheet averages". British Speedway Promoters' Association. 2008. Archived from the original on 12 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
  5. ↑ "Elite League stars in Birmingham". BBC Sport. 2008-10-07. Retrieved 2008-10-16.
  6. ↑ "Elite League Riders Championship". British Speedway Promoters' Association. Archived from the original on May 12, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
  7. ↑ "Crump wygrał w Birmingham" (in Polish). SportoweFakty.pl. 2008-10-08. Archived from the original on 9 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-09.

External links

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