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).
Season summary In 2005, the league consisted of ten teams, with the title being decided by a play-off between the top four.
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.
League Final table Pos M W D L F A Pts Bon Tot1 Belle Vue Aces 36 24 0 12 1766 1520 48 13 612 Coventry Bees 36 23 0 13 1739 1605 46 13 593 Peterborough Panthers 36 21 2 23 1709 1598 44 12 564 Eastbourne Eagles 36 19 1 16 1658 1646 39 10 495 Poole Pirates 36 18 1 17 1666 1647 37 10 476 Ipswich Witches 36 16 3 17 1661 1672 35 9 447 Swindon Robins 36 17 2 17 1617 1675 36 7 438 Wolverhampton Wolves 36 14 2 20 1682 1647 30 10 409 Oxford Silver Machine 36 11 1 24 1550 1773 23 3 2610 Arena Essex Hammers 36 11 0 25 1539 1804 22 3 25
= Qualified for Play Offs
'A' Fixtures
'B' Fixtures
Play-offs Semi-final decided over one leg. Grand Final decided by aggregate scores over two legs.
Semi-finals Belle Vue Aces 53-40 Eastbourne Eagles Coventry Bees 55-41 Peterborough Panthers
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.
First round Date Team one Score Team two21/04 Swindon 60-36 Poole20/04 Poole 51-41 Swindon07/04 Ipswich 55-40 Wolverhampton04/04 Wolverhampton 37-53 Ipswich
Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two15/06 Arena Essex 51-40 Ipswich12/06 Swindon 55-39 Coventry26/05 Ipswich 52-42 Arena Essex21/05 Eastbourne 59-36 Peterborough20/05 Coventry 51-41 Swindon19/05 Oxford 49-41 Belle Vue16/05 Belle Vue 59-35 Oxford13/05 Peterborough 56-37 Eastbourne
Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two21/09 Arena Essex 52-41 Eastbourne18/08 Swindon 37-35 Belle Vue27/07 Belle Vue 61-32 Swindon23/07 Eastbourne 55-40 Arena Essex
Final
First leg
Second leg
The Belle Vue Aces were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 97-83.
Craven Shield End of season competition
First Round Group A Team one Team two ScoreArena Essex Ipswich 53–40, 41–49Poole Ipswich 58–33, 50–47 Arena Essex Poole 52–41, n–h
First Round Group B Team one Team two ScoreWolverhampton Swindon 58–36, 40–54Oxford Swindon 41–34, 46–44Oxford Wolverhampton 48–42, 45–51
Semi-final 1 Team one Team two Team three ScorePeterborough Coventry Poole 38–36–34Poole Coventry Peterborough 38–34–35Coventry Peterborough Poole 34–34–40
Semi-final 2 Team one Team two Team three ScoreEastbourne Belle Vue Oxford 37–26–27Oxford Belle Vue Eastbourne 42–32–34Belle Vue Eastbourne Oxford 34–36–38
Final Team one Team two Team three ScoreEastbourne Oxford Poole 41–40–27Poole Eastbourne Oxford 35–34–39Oxford Eastbourne Poole 36–39–33
Riders' Championship Nicki Pedersen won the Riders' Championship. The final was held in Swindon on 28 August.
Pos. Rider Pts Total SF Final1 Nicki Pedersen 1 3 3 2 3 12x32 Scott Nicholls 0 3 3 2 2 10223 Peter Karlsson 3 1 3 1 210314 Bjarne Pedersen 3 1 2 3 312 x05 Charlie Gjedde 3 1 1 3 3 111 6 Lee Richardson 2 0 3 2 3 100 7 Greg Hancock 2 3 2 0 2 9 8 Jason Crump 2 2 0 2 2 8 9 Krzysztof Kasprzak 0 3 1 3 1 8 10 Billy Hamill 3 2 0 - - 5 11 Mark Loram 2 2 0 1 0 5 12 Aleš Dryml Jr. 0 1 0 3 0 4 13 David Howe 1 2 0 0 1 4 14 Davey Watt 1 0 2 1 0 4 15 Freddie Lindgren 0 0 2 1 1 4 16 Simon Stead 1 0 1 0 1 3
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.
Group APosTeamPtsRiders1 Arena Essex 26 Rickardsson 15, Havelock 112Wolves 19 Max 11, Howe 83 Eastbourne 18 Pedersen N 15, Norris 34 Poole 17 Sullivan 8, Pedersen B 9 5Oxford 10 Hancock 10, McGowan 0
Group BPosTeamPtsRiders1 Swindon 27 Adams 14, Richardson 132 Belle Vue 18 Crump 9, Screen 93 Wolves 19 Max 11, Howe 84 Ipswich 16 Andersen 9, Protasiewicz 7 5Coventry 15 Nicholls 13, Jonsson 26 Peterborough 14 Karlsson 10, Ermolenko 4
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 Leigh AdamsSwindon10.42 Jason CrumpBelle Vue10.35 Nicki PedersenEastbourne10.30 Scott NichollsCoventry9.45 Peter Karlsson Peterborough9.48 Hans AndersenIpswich9.44 Mikael Max Wolverhampton 9.39 Greg HancockOxford9.32 Bjarne PedersenPoole9.27 Lee Richardson Swindon 8.85
Riders & final averages Arena Essex
10.06 8.14 6.43 6.21 6.05 5.94 5.66 5.09 4.96 4.48 4.20
Belle Vue
10.35 7.87 7.69 7.35 6.95 6.36 5.09 4.43 1.50 1.43
Coventry
9.45 8.76 7.20 7.20 6.79 6.43 6.22 6.00 4.20
Eastbourne
10.30 7.75 7.22 7.11 6.45 4.76 4.65 2.56
Ipswich
9.44 8.43 7.91 6.99 5.91 5.27 3.82 3.28 3.16
Oxford
9.32 7.95 7.45 6.36 6.24 6.22 5.09 4.15 4.00 3.06 2.67 1.28
Peterborough
9.48 8.19 7.38 7.21 7.10 6.62 6.05 2.95 2.05
Poole
9.27 8.13 7.78 7.38 6.26 5.28 4.35 3.69 2.13
Swindon
10.42 8.85 8.48 4.59 4.38 4.10 3.93 3.89 3.76 1.67
Wolverhampton
8.82 7.44 6.98 6.65 6.36 5.61 5.23
See also Speedway in the United Kingdom List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References