2004 Elite League speedway season

2004 Elite League speedway season
League	Sky Sports Elite League
Champions	Poole Pirates
Knockout Cup	Poole Pirates
Individual	Bjarne Pedersen
Pairs	Swindon Robins
Highest average	Tony Rickardsson
Division/s below	Premier League; Conference League
	← 2003; 2005 →;

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).^[1]^[2] 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.^[3]

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.^[4]

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.^[5]

Rickardsson topped the league averages but only raced part of the season returning to Sweden to spend more time with his family. Arguably Leigh Adams was the star rider of the season helping new Elite League side Swindon to a respectable mid-table position.^[6]

Final table[]

Pos		M	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Bon	Tot
1	Poole Pirates	36	23	2	11	1721	1603	48	13	61
2	Wolverhampton Wolves	36	21	0	15	1729	1586	42	16	58
3	Ipswich Witches	36	21	0	15	1701	1626	42	11	53
4	Eastbourne Eagles	36	18	3	15	1699	1632	39	11	50
5	Oxford Silver Machine	36	19	0	17	1679	1672	38	10	48
6	Swindon Robins	36	18	3	15	1657	1667	39	6	45
7	Belle Vue Aces	35	17	0	18	1630	1597	34	9	43
8	Arena Essex Hammers	36	16	0	20	1651	1679	32	8	40
9	Peterborough Panthers	35	12	2	21	1514	1722	23	3	26
10	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

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[]

4 October 2004

Wolverhampton Wolves	41 - 49	Poole Pirates Antonio Lindbäck 12

Monmore Green Stadium

Second leg[]

11 October 2004

Poole Pirates Bjarne Pedersen 12 Antonio Lindbäck 11 Ryan Sullivan 11 Matej Ferjan 8 Daniel Davidsson 8 Magnus Zetterström 7 Krzysztof Kasprzak 6	63 - 30	Wolverhampton Wolves Freddie Lindgren 12 Mikael Max 7 Sam Ermolenko 7 Adam Skórnicki 2 David Howe 2 Magnus Karlsson 0 R/R

Poole Stadium

The Poole Pirates were declared League Champions, winning on aggregate 112-71.

Leading averages[]

Rider	Team	Average
Tony Rickardsson	Poole	10.89+
Leigh Adams	Swindon	10.83
Jason Crump	Belle Vue	10.67
David Norris	Eastbourne	9.95
Mark Loram	Arena Essex	9.87
Greg Hancock	Oxford	9.83
Nicki Pedersen	Eastbourne	9.48
Mikael Max	Wolverhampton	9.39
Scott Nicholls	Ipswich	9.33
Andreas Jonsson	Coventry	9.07

+11 meetings only

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.^[7]

First Round[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
01/04	Coventry	42-54	Belle Vue
06/05	Swindon	56-38	Wolverhampton
22/03	Wolverhampton	50-43	Swindon

Quarter Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
23/09	Swindon	48-42	Belle Vue
11/09	Eastbourne	46-48	Ipswich
12/05	Kings Lynn	56-39	Isle Of Wight
06/05	Swindon	56-38	Wolverhampton
07/04	Arena Essex	48-46	Oxford
02/04	Peterborough	44-46	Poole
01/04	Coventry	42-54	Belle Vue
26/03	Oxford	47-46	Arena Essex
25/03	Ipswich	51-42	Eastbourne
24/03	Poole	58-37	Peterborough