The 2004 Elite League speedway season was the 70th 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). Poole Pirates completed the double (league and cup winners) for the second year running. They were the first team to achieve this since Oxford Cheetahs in 1986.
Season summary In 2004, the league increased to ten teams, with the Arena Essex Hammers and the Swindon Robins moving up from the Premier League. The title was decided by a play-off between the top five teams. The team that finished top of the table were seeded directly to the final and the next four met in quarter and semi final rounds. The winner of these rounds qualified for the final.
Poole Pirates dominated the season again and completed the 'double double' meaning winning the league and cup for two consecutive seasons. This had not been achieved since Oxford Cheetahs during the 1985 and 1986 seasons. Poole retained the majority of their 2003 squad, five time World Champion Tony Rickardsson, Magnus Zetterström, Antonio Lindbäck and Bjarne Pedersen but Ryan Sullivan was brought in from Peterborough to replace Leigh Adams who moved to Swindon.
Rickardsson topped the league averages but only raced part of the season returning to Sweden to spend more time with his family.
Final table Pos M W D L F A Pts Bon Tot1 Poole Pirates 36 23 2 11 1721 1603 48 13 612 Wolverhampton Wolves 36 21 0 15 1729 1586 42 16 583 Ipswich Witches 36 21 0 15 1701 1626 42 11 534 Eastbourne Eagles 36 18 3 15 1699 1632 39 11 505 Oxford Silver Machine 36 19 0 17 1679 1672 38 10 486 Swindon Robins 36 18 3 15 1657 1667 39 6 457 Belle Vue Aces 35 17 0 18 1630 1597 34 9 438 Arena Essex Hammers 36 16 0 20 1651 1679 32 8 409 Peterborough Panthers 35 12 2 21 1514 1722 23 3 2610 Coventry Bees 36 9 0 27 1565 1762 18 3 21 * Belle Vue v Peterborough not held
= Qualified for Play Off final = Qualified for Play Offs
'A' Fixtures
'B' Fixtures
Play-offs Quarter-final and Semi-final decided over one leg. Grand Final decided by aggregate scores over two legs.
Quarter-finals Wolverhampton Wolves 61-33 Oxford Silver Machine Ipswich Witches 55-39 Eastbourne Eagles
Semi-finals Wolverhampton Wolves 45-45 Ipswich Witches (Mikael Max beat Hans Andersen in run-off)
Final
First leg
Second leg
The Poole Pirates were declared League Champions, winning on aggregate 112-71.
Elite League Knockout Cup The 2004 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 66th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Poole Pirates were the winners of the competition. Poole had started the final second leg under protest because of the Ipswich team changes that included a late replacement rider Davey Watt, who Poole considered was ineligible.
First round Date Team one Score Team two01/04 Coventry 42-54 Belle Vue06/05 Swindon 56-38 Wolverhampton22/03 Wolverhampton 50-43 Swindon
Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two23/09 Swindon 48-42 Belle Vue11/09 Eastbourne 46-48 Ipswich12/05 King's Lynn 56-39 Isle of Wight06/05 Swindon 56-38 Wolverhampton07/04 Arena Essex 48-46 Oxford02/04 Peterborough 44-46 Poole01/04 Coventry 42-54 Belle Vue26/03 Oxford 47-46 Arena Essex25/03Ipswich 51-42 Eastbourne24/03 Poole 58-37 Peterborough
Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two06/10 Arena Essex 43-46 Ipswich06/10 Poole 61-30 Swindon07/10 Ipswich 51-42 Arena Essex07/10 Swindon 53-40 Poole
Final
First leg
Second leg
The Poole Pirates were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 99-87.
Riders' Championship Bjarne Pedersen won the Riders' Championship. The final was held at Wimborne Road on 17 October.
Pos. Rider Pts Total SF Final1 Bjarne Pedersen 3 2 2 2 2 11232 Ryan Sullivan 3 3 3 3 2 14x23 Hans Andersen 1 3 2 3 3 12314 Rory Schlein 3 3 2 1 3 12x05 Matej Ferjan 2 3 3 3 0 1116 Mikael Max 2 2 2 3 3 1207 Leigh Adams 2 2 3 1 1 9 8 Scott Nicholls 3 1 1 0 3 8 9 Adam Shields 2 1 1 2 1 7 10 David Howe 0 0 3 1 2 6 11 Davey Watt 1 1 1 2 0 5 12 Gary Havelock 0 2 0 0 2 4 13 Rafał Dobrucki 1 0 0 2 0 3 14 Chris Harris 1 1 0 0 1 3 15 Josh Larsen 0 0 1 1 1 3 16 Sebastien Trésarrieu 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pairs The Elite League Pairs Championship, sponsored by Suzuki, was held in Swindon on 11 April and was won by Swindon Robins.
Group A Pos TeamPts Riders1 Swindon Adams & Gjedde2 Belle Vue Crump & Screen3 Oxford 15 Ulamek 11, McGowan 4 4 Coventry Jonsson & Janniro5 Poole Rickardsson & Lyons
Group B Pos TeamPts Riders1 Peterborough Richardson & Dryml2 Eastbourne Pedersen & Shields? Wolves Max & Howe? Ipswich Nicholls & Andersen? Arena Essex Loram & Barker
Semi finals Swindon beat Eastbourne Belle Vue beat Peterborough 7–2
Final Swindon beat Belle Vue 5–4
Leading final averages Rider Team Average Tony RickardssonPoole10.89 Leigh AdamsSwindon10.83 Jason CrumpBelle Vue10.67 David NorrisEastbourne9.95 Mark LoramArena Essex9.87 Greg HancockOxford9.83 Nicki PedersenEastbourne9.48 Mikael MaxWolverhampton9.39 Scott NichollsIpswich9.33 Andreas JonssonCoventry9.07
Rider & final averages Arena Essex
9.87 6.67 6.57 6.18 6.06 6.02 5.82 5.66 4.44
Belle Vue
10.67 7.40 7.27 7.25 7.13 7.10 6.13 6.03 4.91 4.73 4.51 3.68 2.12 1.57 0.47
Coventry
9.07 7.11 6.68 6.49 6.00 5.85 5.67 4.76 2.29 1.05
Eastbourne
9.95 9.48 8.18 7.02 5.00 4.52 4.20 2.92 2.42 2.07
Ipswich
9.33 8.59 8.29 7.30 6.49 5.96 3.30 1.41
Oxford
9.83 6.74 6.60 6.25 6.25 5.96 5.20 4.91
Peterborough
8.62 7.86 6.86 6.55 5.40 4.55 4.00 2.21 2.00
Poole
10.89 8.77 8.66 8.63 7.65 6.29 5.86 5.43 4.80 4.72
Swindon
10.83 7.23 6.98 6.41 6.05 5.79 3.89 2.74
Wolverhampton
9.39 7.48 7.37 6.86 6.52 6.43 5.59 2.12
See also Speedway in the United Kingdom List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References