The 2004 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 15 teams for the 2004 season after the Swindon Robins and Arena Essex Hammers elected to compete in the Elite League and the closure of the Trelawny Tigers.
The League was run on a standard format with no play-offs and was won by Hull Vikings.
League Final table Pos M W D L F A Pts Bon Tot1 Hull Vikings 28 23 0 5 1445 1166 46 12 582 Workington Comets 28 18 1 9 1425 1179 37 12 493 Reading Racers 28 17 0 11 1389.5 1228.5 34 12 464 Stoke Potters 28 15 0 13 1328 1268 30 9 395 Isle of Wight Islanders 28 13 2 13 1370 1240 28 10 386 Rye House Rockets 28 16 0 12 1243 1353 32 5 377 King's Lynn Stars 28 14 0 14 1321 1281 28 7 358 Sheffield Tigers 28 14 0 14 1344 1252 28 6 349 Berwick Bandits 28 13 0 15 1282 1337 26 7 3310 Exeter Falcons 28 13 0 15 1306.5 1306.5 26 6 3211 Glasgow Tigers 28 12 0 16 1282 1310 24 8 3212 Edinburgh Monarchs 28 12 0 16 1282 1319 24 5 2913 Somerset Rebels 28 12 1 15 1246 1361 25 4 2914 Newport Wasps 28 7 2 19 1127 1450 16 1 1715 Newcastle Diamonds 28 8 0 20 1133 1473 16 1 17
Fixtures and results
Premier League Knockout Cup The 2004 Premier League Knockout Cup was the 37th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Hull Vikings were the winners of the competition.
First round Date Team one Score Team two12/05 Hull 59-36 Berwick24/07 Berwick 42-42 Hull31/05 Exeter 53-19 Newport22/07 Newport 46-50 Exeter11/05 Isle of Wight 63-29 King's Lynn12/05 King's Lynn 56-39 Isle of Wight15/05 Rye House 55-39 Newcastle16/05 Newcastle 41-49 Rye House15/05 Workington 57-35 Edinburgh14/05 Edinburgh 50-43 Workington14/05 Somerset 48-42 Stoke15/05 Stoke 44-46 Somerset10/05 Reading 52-43 Glasgow09/05 Glasgow 47-43 Reading Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two18/08 Hull 53-39 Reading23/08 Reading 51-42 Hull26/07 Exeter 62-29 Sheffield22/07 Sheffield 57-37 Exeter06/07 Isle of Wight 59-36 Rye House31/07 Rye House 52-42 Isle of Wight26/06 Workington 54-40 Somerset25/06 Somerset 48-44 Workington Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two06/10 Hull 62-35 Exeter20/09 Exeter 57-34 Hull02/09 Isle of Wight 56-38 Workington18/09 Workington 43.5-46.5 Isle of Wight
Final First leg
Second leg
Hull were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 99–91.
Premier Trophy
North Group Pos Team P W D L Pts1Glasgow 14 10 1 3 212 Sheffield14806163 Edinburgh 14 8 0 6 164 Hull 14 8 0 6 165 Workington 14 7 0 7 146 Berwick 14 7 0 7 147 Stoke 14 6 1 7 138 Newcastle 14 1 0 13 2
South Group Pos Team P W D L Pts1 Exeter 12 8 0 4 162Reading12714153 Rye House12714154 Somerset11614135 King's Lynn 12 4 1 7 96 Isle of Wight 10 3 2 5 87 Newport 11 2 0 9 4
Semi-final Team one Team two ScoreGlasgow Reading 50–40, 36–57Exeter Sheffield 64–30, 38–56
Final Team one Team two ScoreReading Exeter 46–43, 35–59
Young Shield End of season competition for the highest eight league teams
First Round Team one Team two ScoreKing's Lynn Workington 52–41, 41–55Reading Sheffield 58–34, 41–56Rye House Hull 47–44, 42–52Stoke Isle of Wight 52–40, 32–59
Semi-final Team one Team two Score Workington Hull 52–44, 42–52 Isle of Wight Reading 53–45, 42–51
Final Team one Team two ScoreReading Hull 41–52, 44–52
Riders' Championship Andre Compton won the Riders' Championship for the second time. The final was held on 19 September at Owlerton Stadium. Compton was awarded the title following a last bend crash in the final with Simon Stead, the latter was attributed as the cause of the crash.
Pos. Rider Pts Total SF Final1 Andre Compton 2 3 3 2 0 10332 Mark Lemon 2 2 2 2 311223 Simon Stead 3 3 3 3 3 15-14 Craig Boyce 2 1 3 3 211-ef5 Craig Watson 3 3 2 ex 2 1116 Danny Bird 2 ex 3 1 3 9 07 Carl Stonehewer 3 2 1 3 ex 9 8 Tomáš Topinka 1 3 1 0 3 8 9 Adrian Rymel 0 2 2 3 0 7 10 Jan Staechmann 1 2 2 1 1 7 11 Rory Schlein 3 1 - - - 412 Shane Parker 1 1 1 ex 1 4 13 Glenn Cunningham ex 1 0 ex 2 3 14 Jason Lyons ex ef 0 2 1 315 Chris Neath ex ex 0 2 1 3 16 Luke Priest (res) 2 1 3 17 Paul Cooper (res) 1 0 118 Ross Brady ex ex - - - 0 f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure t=touched tapes
Pairs The Premier League Pairs Championship was held at Smallmead Stadium on 20 June. The event was won by Reading (Danny Bird & Phil Morris) who beat Stoke (Paul Pickering & Alan Mogridge) in the final.
Group APosTeamPtsRiders1Rye House Neath, Robson2Glasgow Parker, Stancl
Group BPosTeamPtsRiders1Reading Bird, Morris2Stoke Pickering, Mogridge
Other teams Berwick: Kristensen, Franc Exeter: Lemon, Stephens Isle of Wight: Boyce, Bunyan Sheffield: Ashworth, Compton Somerset: Fry, Cunningham Workington: Stonehewer, Collins
Semi finals Reading bt Glasgow 6–3 Stoke bt Rye House 5–4
Final Reading bt Stoke 7–2
Fours Workington Comets won the Premier League Four-Team Championship, which was held on 21 August 2004, at Derwent Park.
Group APosTeamPtsRiders1 Workington 17Stonehewer, Stead, Nieminen, Collins 2 Stoke 13Pickering, Staechmann, Mogridge, Kessler3 Reading 12 Zagar, Bird, Morris, Appleton4 Berwick 6 Pietraszko, Rymel, Kristensen, Franc
Group BPosTeamPtsRiders1 Glasgow 15 Parker, Stancl, Bentley, Grieves2 Rye House 14 Werner, Neath, Watt, Robson3 Hull 12 Karlsson, Brady, Stead, Kramer4 Edinburgh 7 Schott, Carr, Schlein, Pijper
FinalPosTeamPtsRiders1 Workington 29Stonehewer, Stead, Nieminen, Collins 2 Stoke 20Pickering, Staechmann, Mogridge, Kessler3 Glasgow 12 Parker, Stancl, Bentley, Grieves4 Rye House 11 Werner, Neath, Watt, Robson
Final leading averages Rider Team Average Jason LyonsNewcastle10.13 Matej ŽagarReading10.02 Simon SteadWorkington10.01 Carl StonehewerWorkington9.84 Sean WilsonSheffield9.69 Danny BirdReading9.67 Craig WatsonNewport9.66 Shane ParkerGlasgow9.58 Frede SchöttEdinburgh9.53 Craig BoyceIsle of Wight9.47
Riders & final averages Berwick
Adrian Rymel 7.62 Michal Makovský 7.23 Lee Smethills 7.19 Claus Kristensen 6.80 Adam Pietraszko 6.70 Josef Franc 6.66 Ritchie Hawkins 6.20 Simon Cartwright 6.01 David Meldrum 5.80 Blair Scott 3.71 Tom Brown 2.47
Edinburgh
Frede Schott 9.53 Rory Schlein 8.94 Peter Carr 8.07 Theo Pijper 6.48 Matthew Wethers 5.26 Cameron Woodward 4.64 Sean Stoddart 1.22
Exeter
Mark Lemon 9.39 Graeme Gordon 7.74 Roger Lobb 7.55 Mark Simmonds 7.47 Seemond Stephens 7.41 Michael Coles 7.14 Nick Simmons 3.61
Glasgow
Shane Parker 9.58 George Štancl 8.56 James Grieves 8.11 Paul Bentley 7.98 Graham Jones 6.31 Eric Carrillo 5.93 David McAllan 4.09 Corey Blackman 2.57 James Cockle 2.08 Barry Campbell 1.94
Hull
Magnus Karlsson 8.50 Garry Stead 7.92 Paul Thorp 7.90 Ross Brady 7.68 Emil Kramer 7.60 Emiliano Sanchez 7.45 Joel Parsons 4.79 Danny Norton 1.71
Isle of Wight
Craig Boyce 9.47 Jason Bunyan 7.67 Sebastien Trésarrieu 7.53 Ray Morton 6.82 Krister Marsh 6.71 Ulrich Østergaard 6.68 Glen Phillips 6.24 Chris Johnson 3.23
King's Lynn
Tomáš Topinka 8.74 Kevin Doolan 7.70 Shaun Tacey 7.23 Tom P. Madsen 6.86 Adam Allott 6.75 Paul Lee 6.53 James Brundle 4.97 Trevor Harding 4.00 Darren Mallett 3.26
Newcastle
Jason Lyons 10.13 Richard Juul 6.16 Kristian Lund 6.06 Kevin Little 5.98 Lee Dicken 5.39 Lee Smethills 5.22 Jamie Robertson 4.77 William Lawson 4.03 Scott Smith 3.81 Luboš Tomíček Jr. 3.56
Newport
Craig Watson 9.66 Mads Korneliussen 6.95 Kristian Lund 6.10 Pavel Ondrašík 5.50 Tony Atkin 5.32 Carl Wilkinson 4.82 Luke Priest 2.43 Karl Mason 2.33 Barrie Evans 2.26
Reading
Matej Žagar 10.02 Danny Bird 9.67 Phil Morris 8.18 Andrew Appleton 8.10 Chris Schramm 5.01 Chris Mills 4.51 Steve Braidford 2.46 Jamie Westacott 1.83
Rye House
Davey Watt 8.43 Brent Werner 8.18 Chris Neath 7.71 Scott Robson 7.02 Steve Masters 6.46 Tommy Allen 4.61 Steve Boxall 4.07 Luke Bowen 1.57
Sheffield
Sean Wilson 9.69 Andre Compton 8.92 Ricky Ashworth 8.29 Andrew Moore 7.39 Richard Hall 5.48 James Birkinshaw 5.28 Ben Wilson 5.15
Somerset
Glenn Cunningham 8.02 John Jorgensen 7.96 Paul Fry 7.48 Neil Collins 6.72 Jamie Smith 6.02 Matt Read 5.23 Steve Bishop 4.79 Simon Walker 3.15
Stoke
Jan Staechmann 9.04 Paul Pickering 8.48 Alan Mogridge 8.28 Robbie Kessler 6.78 Paul Clews 5.47 Trent Leverington 5.06 Rob Grant Jr. 3.89 Daniel Giffard 2.51
Workington
Simon Stead 10.01 Carl Stonehewer 9.84 Kauko Nieminen 6.92 Rusty Harrison 6.66 Brett Woodifield 6.15 Aidan Collins 5.73 James Wright 5.48
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References