The 2003 Premier League speedway season was the second division of speedway in the United Kingdom and governed by the Speedway Control Board (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA).
Season summary The League consisted of 18 teams for the 2003 season with the addition of the King's Lynn Stars who dropped down from the Elite League.
The League was run on a standard format with no play-offs and was won by Edinburgh Monarchs.
League Final table Pos M W D L F A Pts Bon Tot1 Edinburgh Monarchs 34 26 0 8 1653 1393 52 14 662 Sheffield Tigers 34 22 0 12 1655 1397 44 13 573 Isle of Wight Islanders 34 22 0 12 1603 1463 44 12 564 Swindon Robins 34 20 1 13 1598.5 1451.5 41 12 535 Berwick Bandits 34 20 1 13 1563 1465 41 12 536 King's Lynn Stars 34 19 1 14 1598 1448 39 13 527 Arena Essex Hammers 34 19 0 15 1609 1421 38 12 508 Trelawny Tigers 34 19 0 15 1599.5 1470.5 38 12 509 Workington Comets 34 19 2 13 1551 1489 40 9 4910 Newport Wasps 34 17 2 15 1504 1546 36 8 4411 Newcastle Diamonds 34 17 0 17 1525 1518 34 9 4312 Glasgow Tigers 34 17 2 15 1479 1529 36 7 4313 Exeter Falcons 34 13 0 21 1435 1592 26 5 3114 Rye House Rockets 34 12 1 21 1441 1612 25 5 3015 Stoke Potters 34 10 1 23 1443 1597 21 3 2416 Reading Racers 34 9 2 23 1404 1653 20 2 2217 Somerset Rebels 34 9 2 23 1357 1705 20 2 2218 Hull Vikings 34 8 1 25 1395 1663 17 2 19
Fixtures and results
Premier League Knockout Cup The 2003 Premier League Knockout Cup was the 36th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Isle of Wight Islanders were the winners of the competition.
First round Date Team one Score Team two11/04 Somerset 43-49 Newport06/04 Newport 61-35 Somerset09/04 King's Lynn 52-43 Workington22/03 Workington 46-43 King's Lynn Second round Date Team one Score Team two05/05 Reading 51-45 Trelawny13/05 Trelawny 65-30 Reading13/05 Isle of Wight 54-38 Swindon15/05 Swindon 49-51 Isle of Wight12/05 Exeter 50-43 Newport11/05 Newport 47-43 Exeter10/05 Berwick 52-36 Glasgow11/05 Glasgow 42-42 Berwick15/05 Sheffield 56-43 Hull14/05 Hull 48-41 Sheffield28/05 King's Lynn 62-34 Edinburgh16/05 Edinburgh 59-37 King's Lynn18/04 Arena Essex 44-46 Rye House19/04 Rye House 44-46 Arena Essex11/05 Newcastle 50-40 Stoke10/05 Stoke 51-44 Newcastle23/05replay Arena Essex 55-40 Rye House26/05replay Rye House 44-46 Arena Essex Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two24/06 Isle of Wight 61 34 Exeter23/06 Exeter 53 42 Isle of Wight24/06 Trelawny 61 34 Berwick21/06 Berwick 55 42 Trelawny26/06 Sheffield 50 48 King's Lynn02/07 King's Lynn 48 49 Sheffield27/06 Arena Essex 55 41 Newcastle22/06 Newcastle 49 41 Arena Essex Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two26/08 Isle of Wight 63-27 Trelawny12/08 Trelawny 53-37 Isle of Wight04/09 Sheffield 51-39 Arena Essex29/08 Arena Essex 50-40 Sheffield
Final
First leg
Second leg
Isle of Wight were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 95–91.
British League Cup The British League Cup (BL Cup for short) was the supplementary competition for both the Elite League and Premier League for the 2003 season. See 2003 Elite League speedway season for the results and tables.
Riders' Championship Sean Wilson won the Riders' Championship for the second time. The final was held on 28 September at Owlerton Stadium.
Pos. Rider Pts Total SF Final1 Sean Wilson 3 2 3 3 1 12332 Adam Shields 3 3 3 2 3 14 -23 Carl Stonehewer 3 3 3 3 3 15-14 Craig Watson 2 3 2 2 211 205 Garry Stead 2 0 2 3 2 9 16 Chris Harris ex 2 3 1 3 9 07 Shane Parker 3 0 0 3 288 Kenneth Bjerre 1 3 0 2 1 7 9 Frede Schött 2 2 1 1 1 710 Joonas Kylmäkorpi 1 1 1 0 3 6 11 Michal Makovský 1 2 2 0 16 12 Paul Fry ex 1 1 1 2 5 13 Andrew Appleton 1 1 2 1 0 5 14 Mark Lemon 2 1 0 ex 0 3 15 Jan Staechmann 0 ex 1 2 0 3 16 James Grieves 0 0 0 0 0 0 f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure t=touched tapes
Pairs The Premier League Pairs Championship was held at Derwent Park on 19 July. The event was won by Workington (Carl Stonehewer and Simon Stead) who beat Newport (Frank Smart and Niels Kristian Iversen) in the final.
Fours Swindon Robins won the Premier League Four-Team Championship, which was held on 27 July 2003, at the Abbey Stadium.
Group APosTeamPtsRiders1 Swindon 152 Glasgow 123 Edinburgh10 4 isle of Wight 10
Group BPosTeamPtsRiders1 Newport 15 2 Trelawny 13 3 King's Lynn11 4 Arena Essex 9
FinalPosTeamPtsRiders1 Swindon 25Gjedde 9, Allen, Fry, Neath 2 Trelawny 22Harris 8, Zagar 83 Newport 21 Smart 6, Iversen 6, Watson, Atkin4 Glasgow 4 Stancl 2, Doolan 2
Leading averages Rider Team Average Frede SchöttEdinburgh10.11 Adam ShieldsIsle of Wight9.99 Kenneth BjerreNewcastle9.80 Joonas KylmäkorpiArena Essex9.69 Carl StonehewerWorkington9.68 Leigh LanhamArena Essex9.67 Charlie GjeddeSwindon9.60 Shane ParkerKings Lynn9.59 Sean WilsonSheffield9.48 Simon SteadWorkington9.47
Riders & final averages Arena Essex
Joonas Kylmäkorpi 9.69 Leigh Lanham 9.67 Kelvin Tatum 8.39 David Ruud 7.76 Henning Bager 6.96 Joel Parsons 6.00 Lee Herne 5.94 Jason King 4.74 Danny King 3.82 Andy Galvin 3.65
Berwick
Michal Makovský 7.81 Paul Bentley 7.76 David Meldrum 7.28 Josef Franc 7.03 Adrian Rymel 6.88 Claus Kristensen 6.86 Carlos Villar 5.23 Rob Grant Jr. 4.22
Edinburgh
Frede Schott 10.11 Peter Carr 9.00 Magnus Karlsson 7.58 Rory Schlein 7.55 Theo Pijper 6.33 Wayne Carter 4.77 Matthew Wethers 3.84 Barry Campbell 2.78
Exeter
Michael Coles 8.48 Seemond Stephens 8.05 Mark Simmonds 6.92 Lee Smethills 6.71 Scott Smith 6.34 Krister Marsh 5.82 Roger Lobb 5.11 Corey Blackman 3.76
Glasgow
George Štancl 9.38 James Grieves 8.72 Kevin Doolan 6.37 Les Collins 6.21 Christian Henry 5.19 David McAllan 4.56 Trent Leverington 4.22 Ross Brady 2.40
Hull
Paul Thorp 7.98 Garry Stead 7.39 Bjorn Hansen 6.58 Shaun Tacey 6.28 Neil Collins 6.26 Lee Dicken 4.66 Simon Cartwright 4.61 Barrie Evans 3.87
Isle of Wight
Adam Shields 9.99 Danny Bird 8.95 Ray Morton 8.87 Sebastien Trésarrieu 6.34 Glen Phillips 4.67 Gary Phelps 4.18 Chris Mills 4.05 Mathieu Trésarrieu 3.38 Stéphane Trésarrieu 3.33
King's Lynn
Shane Parker 9.59 Tom P. Madsen 9.54 Davey Watt 9.44 Tomáš Topinka 9.40 Trevor Harding 5.49 Adam Allott 5.47 James Brundle 4.61 Darren Mallett 2.86 Mark Thompson 2.33
Newcastle
Bjarne Pedersen 10.17 Kenneth Bjerre 9.80 Stuart Robson 8.69 Kevin Little 7.73 Richard Juul 5.49 Lee Dicken 5.42 William Lawson 4.93 Kristian Lund 4.44 Jamie Robertson 4.27 Craig Branney 3.87 Steffen Mell 2.71
Newport
Craig Watson 9.17 Niels Kristian Iversen 9.13 Frank Smart 8.39 Tony Atkin 6.98 Carl Wilkinson 4.98 Chris Schramm 4.76 Joel Parsons 2.84 Karl Mason 1.56
Reading
Janusz Kołodziej 8.95 Andrew Appleton 7.67 Phil Morris 7.09 Jonas Davidsson 6.19 Scott Smith 5.80 Paul Clews 5.30 Danny King 4.32 Shane Colvin 4.25 Joel Parsons 3.79 Danny Norton 1.27
Rye House
Edward Kennett 7.82 Scott Robson 7.62 Brent Werner 7.07 Nigel Sadler 6.32 Brett Woodifield 6.14 David Mason 5.14 Mark Courtney 5.08
Sheffield
Sean Wilson 9.48 Andre Compton 8.54 Ricky Ashworth 7.57 Andrew Moore 7.54 Scott Smith 6.86 Ross Brady 5.79 James Birkinshaw 5.13 Richard Hall 4.93 Ben Wilson 3.81
Somerset
Mark Lemon 8.03 Glenn Cunningham 7.10 Marián Jirout 6.63 Matt Read 6.40 Steve Bishop 6.21 Graeme Gordon 5.89 Stephan Katt 5.33 Rob Finlow 3.77 James Mann 3.03 Simon Dyminski 2.84 Paul Candy 0.67
Stoke
Jan Staechmann 8.92 Robbie Kessler 8.00 Paul Pickering 8.00 Scott Smith 6.72 Alan Mogridge 6.43 Jon Armstrong 5.79 Rob Grant Jr. 4.84 Joe Cook 2.69 Nick Simmons 2.55
Swindon
Charlie Gjedde 9.60 Oliver Allen 8.92 Chris Neath 7.80 Paul Fry 7.38 Jamie Smith 5.84 Malcolm Holloway 4.60 Ritchie Hawkins 4.14 Tommy Allen 2.80
Trelawny
Chris Harris 9.33 Matej Žagar 9.12 Pavel Ondrašík 8.02 Steve Masters 7.48 Mirko Wolter 6.45 Emiliano Sanchez 6.33 Richard Wolff 4.77 Simon Phillips 4.10 Malcolm Holloway 4.10 Tom Brown 2.60
Workington
Carl Stonehewer 9.68 Simon Stead 9.47 Rusty Harrison 7.23 Kauko Nieminen 5.70 Blair Scott 4.85 Aidan Collins 4.75 Chris Collins 3.36
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References