The 2011 Elite League speedway season (also known as the Sky Sports Elite League for sponsorship reasons) was the 77th season of the top division of UK speedway and took place between 26 March and 20 October 2011. The Coventry Bees were the defending champions after winning in 2010.
Summary It was a great season for the Poole Pirates, who won the Elite League, the Pairs Championship and the Knockout Cup. Claiming a clean sweep of honours. Throughout the 2010 season, it was rumoured that the Ipswich Witches would prefer to compete in the Premier League from 2011 onwards. Although they survived the promotion/relegation battle with the Newcastle Diamonds, it was decided that they would swap divisions with the Birmingham Brummies. On 27 November 2010, The BSPA announced that both Coventry Bees and Peterborough Panthers would not be riding in the top flight after they failed to declare their intent to compete in the 2011 competition. This then led to the King's Lynn Stars being promoted from the Premier League due to the Elite League needing a minimum of 8 teams. On 15 March 2011 it was announced that both the Coventry Bees and Peterborough Panthers would be part of the 2011 Elite League after all.
Poole Pirates made up for the previous season's disappointment by winning the league and cup double. The Australian quartet of Darcy Ward, Chris Holder, Davey Watt and Jason Doyle were supported well by Swedes Thomas H. Jonasson and Dennis Andersson as the Poole team deservedly won the title after finishing top of the regular season table for the second consecutive year. The Australian domination also extended to the league averages, which were topped by Chris Holder and the Elite League Riders' Championship won by Rory Schlein of Belle Vue.
League table Pos Club M Home Away F A +/- Pts 3W 2W D L 4W 3W D 1L L1 Poole Pirates2810 3 0 1 2 3 0 5 4 1343 1212 582 Eastbourne Eagles28121010402813701202523 King's Lynn Stars2884020316413051266494 Lakeside Hammers2885011202912911255465 Coventry Bees2892120213812621267436 Peterborough Panthers281040000041012841271427 Belle Vue Aces2853242204612671266418 Wolverhampton Wolves2858010015812501326389 Birmingham Brummies28 640410058124113263510 Swindon Robins28 25070103101172139422
Key: Championship play-offs
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
'A' Fixtures
'B' Fixtures
Championship play-offs
Semi-finals Leg 1
Leg 2
Grand final First leg
Second leg
Poole Pirates were declared Elite League Champions, on winning on aggregate 98-85.
Elite League Knockout Cup The 2011 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 73rd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Poole Pirates were the winners of the competition for the second successive year.
First round Date Team one Score Team two08/08 Peterborough 47-45 Coventry06/07 Coventry 42-48 Peterborough Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two15/09Peterborough 43-47 Belle Vue14/09Belle Vue 50-40 Peterborough25/07 Wolverhampton 45-45 Eastbourne22/06 Poole 55-41 Swindon18/06 Eastbourne 50-40 Wolverhampton16/06 Swindon 28-62 Poole10/06 Lakeside 63- 29 Birmingham09/06 Birmingham 36-41 Lakeside Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two12/10 Belle Vue 42-33 Lakeside30/09 Lakeside 48-45 Belle Vue17/09 Eastbourne 39-51 Poole14/09 Poole 46-44 Eastbourne
Final First leg
Second leg
The Poole Pirates were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 102-86.
Riders' Championship Rory Schlein won the Riders' Championship. The final was held in Swindon on 15 October.
Pos. Rider Pts Total SF Final1 Rory Schlein 3 3 2 3 2 13x3 2 Scott Nicholls 1 1 3 3 3 11223 Freddie Lindgren 3 2 2 exc 2 9314 Bjarne Pedersen 3 2 3 0 3 11x05 Chris Holder 2 0 3 3 1 91 6 Chris Harris 2 3 1 2 3 11exc7 Kenneth Bjerre 0 3 1 3 1 88 Darcy Ward 2 3 f/exc 2 1 89 Ben Barker 1 2 1 1 2 7 10 Niels Kristian Iversen 3 0 3 0 f 611 Hans Andersen 0 1 0 1 3 512 Danny King 0 2 1 2 0 513 Nicolai Klindt 0 1 2 1 fx 4 14 Lee Richardson 1 1 2 0 ret 4 15 Stuart Robson 1 0 0 1 2 4 16 Ryan Fisher 2 ret 0 2 ret 2 f=fell, exc=excluded, ret=retired
Pairs The Elite League Pairs Championship was held at the King's Lynn Stadium on 27 April and was won by Poole Pirates.
Group APosTeamPtsRiders1 Peterborough25Batchelor 15, Pedersen 10 2Wolves 21 Lindgren 14, Proctor 7 3 Swindon 21 Nicholls 13, Klindt 8 4 King's Lynn 14 Iversen 11, Bjerre 3 5Birmingham 9Dryml 9, Knight (G) 0
Group BPosTeamPtsRiders1 Poole 26Holder 14, Ward 12 2 Belle Vue 23 Harris 13, Schlein 10 3 Lakeside 19 Richardson 10, Shields 94 Coventry 12 Fisher 10, Kennett 2 5Eastbourne 11 Kylmaekorpi 9, Woodward 2
Semi finals Belle Vue 5 Peterborough 4 - Pedersen, Harris, Schlein, Batchelor Poole 5 Wolves 4 - Lindgren, Ward, Holder, Proctor
Final Poole 7 Belle Vue 2 - Ward, Holder, Harris, Schlein
Leading averages Rider Team Average Darcy WardPoole10.05 Chris Holder Poole 9.99 Freddie Lindgren Wolverhampton 9.66 Kenneth Bjerre Kings Lynn 9.22 Nicki Pedersen Peterborough9.20 Rory Schlein Belle Vue 9.10 Troy Batchelor Peterborough8.84 Peter Karlsson Wolverhampton 8.78 Edward Kennett Coventry 8.77 Bjarne Pedersen Eastbourne 8.61
Riders & final averages Belle Vue
9.10 8.56 7.70 6.48 5.70 5.60 5.22 4.65 4.48 3.30 2.00
Birmingham
7.65 7.46 6.84 6.52 6.16 5.73 5.39 5.33 5.10
Coventry
8.77 8.28 7.96 6.95 6.76 6.06 5.57 4.21 3.88
Eastbourne
8.61 7.92 7.75 7.69 7.22 7.19 3.06
King's Lynn
9.22 8.03 7.88 7.30 6.11 4.48 4.04 4.00
Lakeside
8.46 7.52 7.48 7.26 6.99 6.52 6.35 6.02 5.67 4.21
Peterborough
9.20 8.84 7.83 6.82 6.02 4.47 4.00 3.87
Poole
10.05 9.99 7.93 7.14 6.41 6.23 6.10 5.62 4.84 1.74
Swindon
7.78 7.02 6.86 6.72 6.19 4.89 3.63 2.83
Wolverhampton
9.66 8.78 8.34 5.76 4.56 4.43
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References