The 1995 Premier League season was the 61st season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom. It was also the first for the new league, and the first of two seasons in which British speedway was competed as a single division.
Summary The gulf in quality of teams was highlighted because of the merging of the two leagues, with Eastbourne Eagles winning the title 56 points clear of bottom club Exeter Falcons. Eastbourne had been an easy runner-up the previous year to runaway winners Poole Pirates and retained four of their riders Martin Dugard, Dean Barker, Stefan Dannö and Stefan Andersson, which provided enough firepower to seal the Championship. Poole finished mid-table but were missing Craig Boyce who had switched to Swindon Robins.
Bradford Dukes won their fourth Knockout Cup in the last five years. Former World Champion Gary Havelock guided Bradford to the Cup success and also picked up the Premier League Riders Championship.
Final table Pos Team PL W D L BP Pts1 Eastbourne Eagles 40 28 3 9 18 772 Bradford Dukes 40 25 2 13 17 693 Cradley Heath Heathens 40 25 1 14 17 684 Peterborough Panthers 40 25 0 15 12 625 Wolverhampton Wolves 40 23 0 17 14 606 Ipswich Witches 40 23 0 17 13 597 Glasgow Tigers 40 21 1 18 14 578 Belle Vue Aces 40 20 1 19 14 559 Edinburgh Monarchs 40 20 4 16 10 5410 Arena Essex Hammers 40 21 0 19 10 5211 Swindon Robins 40 20 3 17 9 5212 Poole Pirates 40 18 2 20 9 4713 Reading Racers 40 17 4 19 9 4714 Sheffield Tigers 40 19 0 21 9 4715 Coventry Bees 40 17 1 22 8 4316 Hull Vikings 40 17 2 21 4 4017 Oxford Cheetahs 40 16 1 23 6 3918 Long Eaton Invaders 40 14 4 22 7 3919 King's Lynn Stars 40 14 4 22 6 3820 Middlesbrough Bears 40 10 2 28 2 2421 Exeter Falcons 40 8 3 29 2 21M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points
Fixtures & results
Premier League Knockout Cup The 1995 Speedway Star Knockout Cup was the 57th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams but the first to be known as the Premier League Knockout Cup. Bradford Dukes were the winners of the competition.
First round Date Team one Score Team two21/04 Peterborough 64-42 Ipswich20/04 Ipswich 65-44 Peterborough22/04 Eastbourne 52-54 Arena Essex21/04 Arena Essex 56-53 Eastbourne23/04 Glasgow 63-43 Middlesbrough27/04 Middlesbrough 43-64 Glasgow18/05 Sheffield 63-43 Long Eaton19/04 Long Eaton 54-52 Sheffield21/04 Oxford72-36 Poole19/04 Poole 54-51 Oxford Second round Date Team one Score Team two20/07 Ipswich 52-56 Reading17/07 Reading 46-59 Ipswich15/07 Bradford 70-38 Wolverhampton05/07 Kings Lynn 55-53 Coventry17/06 Coventry 65-43 Kings Lynn14/06 Cradley Heath 59-53 Glasgow09/06 Edinburgh 46-61 Hull05/06 Exeter 47-57 Swindon05/06 Wolverhampton 58-46 Bradford04/06 Glasgow 54-53 Cradley Heath03/06 Swindon 55-50 Exeter31/05 Hull 59-49 Edinburgh02/06 Belle Vue 68-36 Sheffield01/06 Sheffield 61-46 Belle Vue02/06 Arena Essex 58-48 Oxford29/05 Oxford 58.5-47.5 Arena Essex Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two10/08 Ipswich 57-50 Coventry05/08 Bradford 72-35 Hull26/07 Coventry 58-49 Ipswich26/07 Hull 54-41 Bradford22/07 Cradley Heath 61-47 Oxford22/07 Swindon 57-50 Belle Vue21/07 Belle Vue 68-38 Swindon21/07 Oxford 54-52 Cradley Heath Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two13/09 Coventry 52-55 Bradford02/09 Bradford 58-50Coventry19/08 Cradley Heath 49-57 Belle Vue18/08 Belle Vue 59-48 Cradley Heath Final
First leg
Second leg
Bradford Dukes were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 111-97.
Riders' Championship Gary Havelock won the Premier League Riders Championship. It was held at Abbey Stadium, Swindon on 14 October.
Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total SF Final1 Gary Havelock 3 2 3 2 10x32 Billy Hamill 0 3 3 3 9323 Jason Crump 3 3 3 2 11x14 Leigh Adams 3 3 3 2 11x05 Greg Hancock 2 2 2 3 92x6 Peter Karlsson1 3 2 3 91x7 Sam Ermolenko 3 2 2 0 7 8 Craig Boyce 3 1 1 2 7 9 Paul Fry 1 1 2 3 7 10 Shane Parker 2 1 1 3 7 11 Brian Andersen 2 2 2 1 7 12 Chris Louis 2 0 3 1 6 13 Lars Gunnestad 1 3 1 1 6 14 Jimmy Nilsen 2 2 1 1 6 15 Mike Faria 3 2 0 0 5 16 Steve Johnston 2 3 0 0 5 17 Ryan Sullivan 1 0 3 1 5 18 Paul Thorp 0 1 1 3 5 19 Stefan Andersson 1 0 2 2 5 20 Charles Ermolenko 0 0 1 2 3 21 Frede Schott 0 1 0 1 2 22 Dave Mullett 1 0 0 0 1 23 Bobby Ott 0 1 0 0 1 24 Greg Bartlett 0 0 0 0 0
Fours Cradley Heathens won the Premier League Four-Team Championship, which was held on 6 August 1995, at the East of England Arena.
Group APosTeamPtsRiders1 Cradley 16 Cross 6, Hancock 5, Hamill 3, Smith 1, Forsgren 12 Arena Essex 13Hurry 5, Larsen 5, Mogridge 2, Adams 13 Edinburgh 11Andersen 3, McKinna 3, Lamb 3, Faria 24 King's Lynn 7Ott 4, Brhel 2, Topinla 1, Grayling 0
Group BPosTeamPtsRiders1 Peterborough 18 Sullivan 6, Pedersen 5, Tesar 5, Poole 2, Clausen 02 Bradford 14Screen 6, Havelock 5, Wilson 2, Stead 13 Wolverhampton 9Ermolenko 4, Carter 2, Karlsson 1, White 1, Juul 14 Hull 7Steachmann 5, Thorp 1, Smith 1, Crabtree 0, Grahame 0
FinalPosTeamPtsRiders1 Cradley 21Cross 8, Hamill 8, Hancock 3, Smith 22 Peterborough 20 Poole 7, Sullivan 7, Tesar 6, Pedersen 0, Clausen 03 Bradford 19Screen 6, Havelock 5, Wilson 5, Pickering 34 Arena Essex 11 Hurry 5, Adams 4, Larsen 2, Mogridge 0
Leading final averages Rider Team Average Billy HamillCradley Heath10.91 Joe ScreenBradford10.82 Chris LouisIpswich10.52 Peter KarlssonWolverhampton10.50 Jason CrumpPoole10.44 Greg HancockCradley Heath10.42 Sam ErmolenkoWolverhampton10.37 Gary HavelockBradford10.25 Martin DugardEastbourne10.22 Craig BoyceSwindon9.99 Leigh AdamsArena Essex9.96 Lars GunnestadPoole9.94 Mark LoramExeter9.78 Brian AndersenCoventry9.53 Dean BarkerEastbourne9.35 Jason LyonsBelle Vue9.06 Bobby OttKings Lynn8.98 Paul ThorpHull8.97 David Norris Reading 8.90 Ryan SullivanPeterborough8.85
Riders & final averages Arena Essex
9.96 8.09 7.45 6.20 6.08 5.82 5.11 4.68 2.69
Belle Vue
9.06 8.35 7.86 7.75 5.92 4.71 4.69 2.74 3.50 3.20
Bradford
10.82 10.25 8.12 6.86 5.40 3.90 3.76 3.33
Coventry
9.53 8.56 6.68 6.51 5.49 5.31 4.05
Cradley Heath
10.91 10.42 9.01 5.44 5.17 4.08 2.01 1.24
Eastbourne
10.22 9.35 8.71 7.80 4.68 4.42 3.75
Edinburgh
8.26 6.87 6.78 6.75 6.69 6.40 5.59 3.54
Exeter
9.78 6.56 6.00 5.62 5.42 4.67 4.04 2.13
Glasgow
8.53 8.48 7.11 6.34 6.26 5.60 5.43
Hull
8.97 8.20 7.15 7.04 4.68 4.35 3.59 1.00 0.71
Ipswich
10.52 8.26 7.34 6.01 5.99 5.75 4.22
King's Lynn
8.98 8.75 8.18 6.92 5.43 3.82 3.50 3.16 2.15
Long Eaton
Jan Stæchmann 10.10 8.84 7.61 7.22 6.81 5.45 5.13 4.58 4.00 3.06
Middlesbrough
8.54 6.55 6.18 5.94 5.67 4.69 3.73 2.26
Oxford
8.36 7.72 7.55 5.93 5.79 4.81 4.81
Peterborough
8.85 8.38 8.15 6.53 6.12 5.11 4.97
Poole
10.44 9.94 8.26 6.83 3.83 3.35 3.01 2.06
Reading
9.44 8.90 8.31 7.74 7.01 5.97 5.02 3.00 1.29
Sheffield
7.31 7.23 6.91 6.84 6.82 5.91 2.93 2.50
Swindon
8.66 8.36 7.92 6.12 5.59 4.49 2.63 1.38
Wolverhampton
10.50 10.37 5.94 5.61 5.10 4.99 4.00 2.71 2.09
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References