2011 Premier League speedway season

2011 Premier League speedway season

Season	2011 Season
Premier League	Glasgow Tigers
PL Play-Offs	Not Held
Premier League KOC	Newport Wasps
Premier Shield	Newcastle Diamonds
Premier League Pairs	Glasgow Tigers
Premier League Fours	Ipswich Witches
PLRC	Sam Masters
Highest average	Ben Barker (10.40)
Biggest home win	Sheffield 69-21 Rye House
Biggest away win	Leicester 28-62 Glasgow (PL1)
Competing teams	Berwick Bandits Edinburgh Monarchs Glasgow Tigers Ipswich Witches Leicester Lions Newcastle Diamonds Newport Wasps Plymouth Devils Redcar Bears Rye House Rockets Scunthorpe Scorpions Sheffield Tigers Somerset Rebels Workington Comets

The 2011 Premier League Season is the current Premier League speedway season. Glasgow Tigers won the league after winning both matches of a double-header on 9 October.

Pre-Season

New Entries

The Leicester Lions were hoping to gain entry to the 2010 season. However, the track was not ready in time for them to compete.^[1] They therefore decided to return in 2011. With the stadium getting approval, the Lions were then confirmed as entrants for the 2011 season.^[2]

On 15 November 2011, Plymouth Devils boss Mike Bowden confirmed that the Devils hope to join the 2011 Premier League after spending 5 years in the National League.^[3] On 19 November, it was confirmed that the Stoke Potters were to withdraw from the 2011 Premier League season due to financial climate and making substantial losses over the last three season. However, it was confirmed that they would race in the 2011 National League.^[4] It was also decided at the Yearly AGM meeting that the Birmingham Brummies and the Ipswich Witches would exchange league memberships, meaning the Brummies would move up to the Elite League and the Witches would move down to the Premier League.^[5] On 27 November, the BSPA announced that the Coventry Bees and the Peterborough Panthers failed to declare their intention to race in the forthcoming Elite League season and are therefore seeking a league to compete in.^[6] Because of this, the Kings Lynn Stars elected to compete in the 2011 Elite League and therefore withdrew from the Premier League.^[7] Later that day, the Plymouth Devils announced that they were set to be accepted into the 2011 Premier League season^[8]

Season Format

At the Annual AGM Meeting, it was decided that the Premier League would be expanded to 19 home and 19 away fixtures throughout the season. The 14 teams will initially race each other in Round 1 with a total of 26 meetings (13 home and 13 away). In Round 2 the league then split into two groups of seven teams, with everyone then racing each other in their group for a further 12 meetings (6 home and 6 away). The format and cut-off point for the split is made as each team reaches 10 home and 10 away matches. Group 1 will be teams placed 1st, 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th, 12th and 14th - Group 2 is 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 10th, 11th and 13th. Those additional 12 matches are then added onto the points gained from the 26 meetings in Round 1. The league table above at the end of the season will then show a total of 38 meetings (19 home and 19 away). The team that finishes top after these 38 meetings is declared Premier League Champions.^[9]

The Premier League KOC has been retained for the 2011 season. A new competition, the Premier Shield has been introduced for the 2011 season. It is understood that it will work along the same lines as the Elite Shield, and contested by the previous seasons league winners and KOC champions. The 2011 Premier Shield will be contested between the Edinburgh Monarchs and the Newcastle Diamonds.^[10][11]

The Premier Trophy and the Young Shield do not continue into the 2011 season. It has yet to be confirmed if anything will replace these competitions.^[5]

Team Lineups

The Points Limit was once again set at 42.50 for the third year running. Rolling averages were introduced into the 2011 season in which the first set of averages will be taken at the end of April and will consider the averages from the end of the 2011 season. The first set of new averages was released on 1 May 2011.
The following issue is correct for the month of June 2011

Berwick Bandits		Edinburgh Monarchs		Glasgow Tigers
Rider	CMA	Rider	CMA	Rider	CMA
Sebastian Alden	7.65*	Kevin Wolbert	7.95	Joe Screen (C)	9.20
Ludvig Lindgren	7.27*	Craig Cook	7.61	James Grieves	7.17
Josef Franc	7.16	Andrew Tully	7.32	Richard Sweetman	7.05
Lee Complin (C)	7.08	Matthew Wethers (C)	7.20	Christian Henry	5.57
Kozza Smith	6.79	Kalle Katajisto	6.98	Michal Rajkowski	5.36
Jade Mudgway	3.88	Kyle Howarth	5.28	Theo Pijper	5.10
Mitchell Davey	3.00	Tim Webster	3.00*	Nick Morris	5.02
TOTAL	42.83	TOTAL	45.34	TOTAL	44.06
Remaining	0.00	Remaining	0.00	Remaining	0.00
Ipswich Witches		Leicester Lions		Newcastle Diamonds
Rider	CMA	Rider	CMA	Rider	CMA
Kevin Doolan (C)	8.02	Kauko Nieminen (C)	8.87	Mark Lemon	9.18
Matt Tresarrieu	7.54	Magnus Karlsson	7.81	Stuart Robson	8.85
Lasse Bjerre	6.82	Henning Bager	7.63*	Claes Nedermark	6.26
Taylor Poole	6.42	Jan Graversen	4.64	Derek Sneddon (C)	5.47
Morten Risager	6.29	Ilya Bondarenko	4.53	Jason King	5.09
Chris Mills	5.16	Charles Wright	3.94	Kyle Newman	4.02
Jerran Hart	4.10	John Oliver	3.77	Richie Worrall	3.22
TOTAL	44.35	TOTAL	41.19	TOTAL	42.09
Remaining	0.00	Remaining	1.31	Remaining	0.41
Newport Wasps		Plymouth Devils		Redcar Bears
Rider	CMA	Rider	CMA	Rider	CMA
Jason Doyle	7.92	Ben Barker	10.40	Jason Lyons	8.37
Leigh Lanham (C)	7.60	Jesper Kristiansen	6.32	Matej Kus	7.60
Charlie Gjedde	7.38	Lee Smart (C)	5.70	Aaron Summers	7.16
Justin Sedgman	6.19	Ricky Wells	5.51	Gary Havelock	7.12
Robin Aspegren	5.52	Hynek Stichauer	5.40	Peter Juul Larsen	4.59
Todd Kurtz	4.38	Kyle Hughes	4.18	Lubos Tomicek	4.44
Mark Jones	3.16	Gino Franchetti	3.74	Robert Branford	3.00
TOTAL	42.15	TOTAL	41.25	TOTAL	42.28
Remaining	0.35	Remaining	1.25	Remaining	0.22
Rye House Rockets		Scunthorpe Scorpions		Sheffield Tigers
Rider	CMA	Rider	CMA	Rider	CMA
Jordan Frampton	7.91	David Howe (C)	7.87	Josh Auty	8.20
Chris Neath (C)	7.86	Richard Hall	7.23	Shane Parker (C)	8.19
Steve Boxall	6.59	Michael Palm Toft	7.00*	Ricky Ashworth	8.14
James Brundle	5.14	Tero Aarnio	6.31	Emiliano Sanchez	6.06
Ritchie Hawkins	5.01	Ben Wilson	5.78	Hugh Skidmore	5.81
Luke Bowen	4.79	Thomas Jorgensen	5.26	Simon Lambert	4.98
Tyson Nelson	4.65	Steve Worrall	3.26	Ashley Birks	3.59
TOTAL	41.95	TOTAL	42.71	TOTAL	44.97
Remaining	0.55	Remaining	0.00	Remaining	0.00
Somerset Rebels		Workington Comets
Rider	CMA	Rider	CMA
Travis McGowan	8.11	James Wright	8.06
Cory Gathercole	7.60	Tomas Topinka	7.40
Sam Masters	7.28	Rusty Harrison	7.33
Christian Hefenbrock	6.50	Peter Kildemand	7.11
Anders Mellgren	4.80	Richard Lawson	6.01
James Holder (C)	4.35	Kenny Ingalls	5.27
Alex Davies	3.86	Gary Irving	3.00
TOTAL	42.50	TOTAL	44.18
Remaining	0.00	Remaining	0.00

*Average Assessed.

Last updated: August 1, 2011

Source: BSPA

Fixtures & Results

Phase 1

Phase 1 of the 2011 Premier League consists of each team racing each other, both at their home track and the oppositions away track. This would consist of 26 meetings for each team.

Home\Away	BER	EDI	GLA	IPS	LEI	ND	NW	PLY	RED	RH	SS	SHE	SOM	WOR
Berwick Bandits		53-39	44-46	62-28	46-44	49-43		59-34	48-44	40-38	54-36	51-42	48-44
Edinburgh Monarchs	49-44			53-40	44-45	53-39	51-42	64-28	56-37	55-37	60-32	49-41		48-41
Glasgow Tigers	50-39	58-32		53-37	60-32	50-43		62-31	61-32	54-36	50-43		56-39
Ipswich Witches	53-42	51-41	42-48			47-44	49-41	59-35	49-43	49-47	69-24	53-38	42-51	63-27
Leicester Lions	45-45	44-49	28-62	42-42		52-43	45-45	44-45	41-52	56-35	40-52	45-48	40-50	45-45
Newcastle Diamonds		52-43	41-49		50-40			52-40	42-47	50-43	49-45	49-44	48-45	54-39
Newport Wasps		42-49	57-37	42-50	52-40	48-42			55-38	37-53	43-49	48-44	43-50	43-50
Plymouth Devils			39-45	43-47			40-53		47-43	39-51	51-38	44-45	45-45	41-49
Redcar Bears	46-43	54-41	44-46	45-45	53-37	59-34	50-40	62-30			48-45	48-43	49-41	46-44
Rye House Rockets	54-39	48-42		45-34	54-39	43-44	41-49	54-41				46-44	54-39	51-41
Scunthorpe Scorpions	56-39	46-44	54-36		53-40	47-42	52-41			56-38		46-43	49-41	44-46
Sheffield Tigers	51-41	56-40	52-44	56-36	61-33	52-39	56-35	62-30	57-37	64-29	55-39		43-47	57-36
Somerset Rebels			62-31	59-34	53-41	53-43		48-42	45-45	46-44	62-32	40-53
Workington Comets	57-36		53-42		59-31	51-42	57-38		50-40	60-34	59-37	55-37	53-41

Last updated: August 2, 2011. Source: BSPA

Colours: Green = home win; Red = away win; White = draw

Home team listed in the left-hand column

Phase 2

Phase 2 of the Premier League will be split up into 2 separate fixture lists, with teams racing other teams depending on where they were in the 2011 Premier League Table at the cut off point. The Declaration Point was made on 20 July 2011 and the two groups are as follows:

Group 1

Group 1 consists of Glasgow, Somerset, Edinburgh, Redcar, Scunthorpe, Newport and Leicester.

Home\Away	EDI	GLA	LEI	NW	RED	SS	SOM
Edinburgh Monarchs
Glasgow Tigers
Leicester Lions
Newport Wasps
Redcar Bears
Scunthorpe Scorpions
Somerset Rebels

Last updated: August 2, 2011. Source: BSPA

Colours: Green = home win; Red = away win; White = draw

Home team listed in the left-hand column

Group 2

Group 2 consists of Sheffield, Workington, Ipswich, Rye House, Berwick, Newcastle and Plymouth.

Home\Away	BER	IPS	ND	PLY	RH	SHE	WOR
Berwick Bandits
Ipswich Witches
Newcastle Diamonds
Plymouth Devils
Rye House Rockets
Sheffield Tigers
Workington Comets

Last updated: August 2, 2011. Source: BSPA

Colours: Green = home win; Red = away win; White = draw

Home team listed in the left-hand column

League table

Pos	Club	M	Home				Away					F	A	+/-	Pts
			3W	2W	D	L	4W	3W	D	1L	L
1	Sheffield Tigers	25	12	0	0	1	1	2	0	5	4	1244	1060	+184	51
2	Glasgow Tigers	21	10	0	0	0	2	4	0	0	5	1040	880	+160	50
3	Workington Comets	20	10	0	0	0	2	1	1	1	5	972	870	+102	44
4	Somerset Rebels	21	5	2	1	1	3	1	1	2	5	1001	935	+66	39
5	Ipswich Witches	22	8	2	0	2	1	1	2	0	6	1020	978	+42	39
6	Edinburgh Monarchs	21	9	1	0	1	1	1	0	2	6	1002	930	+72	38
7	Redcar Bears	23	6	4	1	1	1	1	1	2	6	1058	1041	+17	38
8	Rye House Rockets	22	6	2	0	2	2	0	0	3	7	975	1018	-43	33
9	Scunthorpe Scorpions	22	6	3	0	1	1	1	0	2	8	975	1050	-75	33
10	Berwick Bandits	20	5	5	0	1	0	0	1	2	6	922	899	+23	29
11	Newcastle Diamonds	22	5	3	0	2	0	1	0	4	7	985	1039	-54	28
12	Newport Wasps	20	3	2	0	6	2	0	1	0	6	894	943	-49	23
13	Leicester Lions	24	2	0	4	7	0	1	0	1	9	989	1197	-208	14
14	Plymouth Devils	19	1	1	1	6	0	1	0	1	8	745	982	-237	10

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

Last updated: June 22, 2011

Source: BSPA

Premier League KOC

Premier Shield

First leg

Edinburgh Monarchs v Newcastle Diamonds

25 March 2011 19.30

Edinburgh Monarchs	44 - 46	Newcastle Diamonds
Matthew Wethers 11	report	Stuart Robson 13

Armadale Stadium, Armadale, West Lothian Referee: Jim McGregor

1 Kevin Wolbert 0, 1', 0, 0 1+1 2 Matthew Wethers (c) 1, 2, 3, 3, 2 11 3 Andrew Tully F, 0, 1, 3 4 4 Craig Cook 3, 2, 3, 2, F 10 5 Kalle Katajisto 3, 2, 3, 2 10 6 Ashley Morris 2', 0, 0, 1' 3+2 7 Jay Herne 3, 1, 0, 1 5 Manager: John Campbell 1 Rene Bach 2', 3, 1', 1 7+2 2 Derek Sneddon (c) 3, 1, 2, 2 8 3 Lubos Tomicek 1', 1, 1', 2 5+2 4 Stuart Robson 2, 3, 2, 3, 3 13 5 Mark Lemon 2, 3, 2, 3, 1 11 6 Kyle Newman 1, 0, 1', F 2+1 7 Richie Worrall 0, 0, 0, F 0 Manager: George English Second leg Newcastle Diamonds v Edinburgh Monarchs 3 April 2011 18.30 Newcastle Diamonds 48 (94) - 45 (89) Edinburgh Monarchs Stuart Robson 14 report Andrew Tully 10+2 Newcastle Stadium, Newcastle Referee: Michael Breckon 1 Rene Bach 3, 3, 3, 1, 1' 11+1 2 Derek Sneddon (c) 1, 1, 3, 1 6 3 Lubos Tomicek 0, 0, 0, 2 2 4 Stuart Robson 3, 3, 3, 3, 2 14 5 Mark Lemon 3, 3, 3, 0 9 6 Kyle Newman 2, 0, 1, 1 4 7 Richie Worrall 0, 2', 0, 0 2+1 Manager: George English 1 Kevin Wolbert 0, 2, 2, 3, 0 7 2 Matthew Wethers (c) 2, 1', 2, 0 5+1 3 Andrew Tully 1', 1', 2, 6^ 10+2 4 Craig Cook 2, 2, 0, 2 6 5 Kalle Katajisto 0, 2, 2, 2', 3 9+1 6 Ashley Morris 1, 0, 1', 1 3+1 7 Robert Branford (G) 3, 1, 1', 0 5+1 Manager: John Campbell References "Leicester Delay". BSPA. 2009-12-12. Retrieved 2010-11-15. "Leicester: Lions Get Connected". BSPA. 2010-07-15. Retrieved 2010-11-15. "Devils Hoping for Premier". BSPA. 2010-11-15. Retrieved 2010-11-15. "Potters Going National". BSPA. 2010-11-20. Retrieved 2010-11-20. "British Speedway AGM - Key Points". BSPA. 2010-11-21. Retrieved 2010-11-21. "British Speedway Statement". BSPA. 2010-11-27. Retrieved 2010-11-29. "Kings Lynn Join The Elite". BSPA. 2010-11-29. Retrieved 2010-11-29. "Plymouth Make Premier Move". BSPA. 2010-11-29. Retrieved 2010-11-29. http://www.speedwaygb.co/pltable11.html http://www.speedwaygb.co/march11.html http://www.speedwaygb.co/april11.html