2003 Elite League speedway season

2003 Elite League speedway season
League	Sky Sports Elite League
Champions	Poole Pirates
Knockout Cup	Poole Pirates
Riders Championship	Lee Richardson
Highest average	Jason Crump
Division/s below	Premier League; Conference League
	← 2002; 2004 →;

The 2003 Elite League speedway season was the 69th 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).^[1]^[2]^[3]

Season summary[]

In 2003, the league decreased to eight teams, after the King's Lynn dropped to the Premier League and reverted back to their traditional name of Stars. They also lost the promotion of Nigel Wagstaff who took over at Oxford, which resulted in Oxford Cheetahs taking over the Silver Machine name from King's Lynn. King's Lynn's leading riders Nicki Pedersen and Sebastian Ułamek also switched to Oxford. Freddie Eriksson went to Ipswich. Oxford also brought in former World Champion Greg Hancock from Coventry but lost Leigh Adams and Lukáš Dryml to Poole.^[4]

Poole's decision to recruit Adams and Dryml was instrumental because they went on to claim the title. Adams finished top of the league averages and he was backed up by their five time World Champion Tony Rickardsson and the vastly improved form of Magnus Zetterström. Poole went on to complete the double by winning the Knockout Cup.^[5]

^[6]

Final table[]

Pos		M	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Bon	Tot
1	Poole Pirates	28	20	1	7	1335	1182	41	11	52
2	Coventry Bees	28	17	0	11	1295	1224	34	9	43
3	Peterborough Panthers	28	16	0	12	1325	1195	32	8	40
4	Oxford Silver Machine	28	16	0	12	1295	1224	32	8	40
5	Wolverhampton Wolves	28	14	1	13	1248	1265	29	6	35
6	Eastbourne Eagles	28	12	1	15	1261	1250	25	7	32
7	Belle Vue Aces	28	9	1	18	1219	1298	19	5	24
8	Ipswich Witches	28	6	0	22	1088	1428	12	0	12

= Qualified for Play Offs

Play-offs[]

Semi-Final decided over one leg. Grand Final decided by aggregate scores over two legs.

Semi-finals[]

Poole Pirates 48-42 Oxford Silver Machine
Coventry Bees 60-30 Peterborough Panthers

Final[]

First leg[]

29 September 2003

Coventry Bees Andreas Jonsson 15 Lee Richardson 7 Jason Bunyan 7 Billy Hamill 6 Billy Janniro 4 Robson 4 Ryan Fisher 1	44 - 45	Poole Pirates Tony Rickardsson 11 Todd Wiltshire 9 Leigh Adams 7 Bjarne Pedersen 6 Dryml 4 Davey Watt 4 Antonio Lindbäck 4

Brandon Stadium

Second leg[]

6 October 2003

Poole Pirates Dryml 14 Tony Rickardsson 13 Leigh Adams 11 Mark Loram 8 Bjarne Pedersen 5 Antonio Lindbäck 4 Davey Watt 0	55 - 35	Coventry Bees Andreas Jonsson 13 Ryan Fisher 6 Billy Janniro 6 Lee Richardson 4 Joe Screen 3 Robson 2 Jason Bunyan 1

Poole Stadium

The Poole Pirates were declared League Champions, winning on aggregate 100-79.

Leading averages[]

Rider	Team	Average
Jason Crump	Belle Vue	10.79
Leigh Adams	Poole	10.14
Magnus Zetterström	Poole	10.07
Tony Rickardsson	Poole	9.64
Scott Nicholls	Ipswich	9.41
Nicki Pedersen	Oxford	9.33
Mikael Max	Wolverhampton	9.28
Greg Hancock	Oxford	9.28
Ryan Sullivan	Peterborough	9.23
Billy Hamill	Coventry	9.23

Elite League Knockout Cup[]

The 2003 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 65th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Poole Pirates were the winners of the competition.^[7]

Quarter Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
23/05	Peterborough	52-38	Coventry
09/05	Oxford	55-35	Ipswich
05/05	Ipswich	41-49	Oxford
21/04	Coventry	52-38	Peterborough
21/04	Wolverhampton	57-33	Belle Vue
18/04	Belle Vue	49-41	Wolverhampton
18/04	Eastbourne	40-32	Poole
18/04	Poole	56-34	Eastbourne
10/09 (replay)	Peterborough	44-46	Coventry
03/09 (replay)	Coventry	61-29	Peterborough