2011 Elite League speedway season
League | 2011 Sky Sports Elite League |
---|---|
Champions | Poole Pirates |
Knockout Cup | Poole Pirates |
Elite Shield | Wolverhampton Wolves |
Individual | Rory Schlein |
Pairs | Poole Pirates |
Highest average | Chris Holder |
Division/s below | 2011 Premier League 2011 National League |
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.[1][2]
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.[3] 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.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6]
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.[7] 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 | L | |||||||
1 | Poole Pirates | 28 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 1343 | 1212 | 58 | |
2 | Eastbourne Eagles | 28 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 1370 | 1202 | 52 | |
3 | King's Lynn Stars | 28 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 1305 | 1266 | 49 | |
4 | Lakeside Hammers | 28 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 1291 | 1255 | 46 | |
5 | Coventry Bees | 28 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 1262 | 1267 | 43 | |
6 | Peterborough Panthers | 28 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 1284 | 1271 | 42 | |
7 | Belle Vue Aces | 28 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 1267 | 1266 | 41 | |
8 | Wolverhampton Wolves | 28 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 1250 | 1326 | 38 | |
9 | Birmingham Brummies | 28 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 1241 | 1326 | 35 | |
10 | Swindon Robins | 28 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 1172 | 1394 | 22 |
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
Championship play-offs[]
Semi-finals[]
Leg 1
Lakeside Hammers | 47 – 46 | Eastbourne Eagles |
---|---|---|
Leg 2
Grand final[]
First leg
Eastbourne Eagles Cameron Woodward 14 Bjarne Pedersen 9 Simon Gustafsson 8 Joonas Kylmäkorpi 8 Lewis Bridger 5 Timo Lahti 5 | 49 - 41 | Poole Pirates Chris Holder 12 Darcy Ward 10 Davey Watt 9 Kevin Wölbert 5 Dennis Andersson 3 Ricky Wells 2 Thomas H. Jonasson 0 |
---|---|---|
[8] |
Second leg
Poole Pirates Darcy Ward 14 Chris Holder 11 Thomas H. Jonasson 11 Davey Watt 6 Kevin Wölbert 5 Dennis Andersson 5 Ricky Wells 5 | 57 - 36 | Eastbourne Eagles Cameron Woodward 14 Simon Gustafsson 8 Joonas Kylmäkorpi 5 Lewis Bridger 4 Bjarne Pedersen 4 Timo Lahti 1 |
---|---|---|
[9] |
Poole Pirates were declared Elite League Champions, on winning on aggregate 98-85.
Leading averages[]
Rider | Team | Average |
---|---|---|
Chris Holder | Poole | 9.30 |
Freddie Lindgren | Wolverhampton | 9.21 |
Kenneth Bjerre | Kings Lynn | 9.06 |
Darcy Ward | Poole | 8.94 |
Nicki Pedersen | Peterborough | 8.61 |
Tai Woffinden | Wolverhampton | 8.52 |
Rory Schlein | Belle Vue | 8.43 |
Troy Batchelor | Peterborough | 8.24 |
Bjarne Pedersen | Eastbourne | 8.21 |
Hans Andersen | Peterborough | 8.15 |
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.[11]
First Round[]
Date | Team One | Score | Team Two |
---|---|---|---|
08/08 | Peterborough | 47-45 | Coventry |
06/07 | Coventry | 42-48 | Peterborough |
Quarter Finals[]
Date | Team One | Score | Team Two |
---|---|---|---|
15/09 | Peterborough | 43-47 | Belle Vue |
14/09 | Belle Vue | 50-40 | Peterborough |
25/07 | Wolverhampton | 45-45 | Eastbourne |
22/06 | Poole | 55-41 | Swindon |
18/06 | Eastbourne | 50-40 | Wolverhampton |
16/06 | Swindon | 28-62 | Poole |
10/06 | Lakeside | 63- 29 | Birmingham |
09/06 | Birmingham | 36-41 | Lakeside |
Semi Finals[]
Date | Team One | Score | Team Two |
---|---|---|---|
12/10 | Belle Vue | 42-33 | Lakeside |
30/09 | Lakeside | 48-45 | Belle Vue |
17/09 | Eastbourne | 39-51 | Poole |
14/09 | Poole | 46-44 | Eastbourne |
Final[]
First leg
Belle Vue Aces Rory Schlein 12 Chris Harris 9 Ricky Kling 8 Charlie Gjedde 7 Patrick Hougaard 4 Craig Cook 4 Linus Eklöf 3 | 47 - 45 | Poole Pirates Kevin Wölbert 13 Darcy Ward 10 Chris Holder 9 Dennis Andersson 7 Davey Watt 4 Ricky Wells 2 |
---|---|---|
[12] |
Second leg
Poole Pirates Chris Holder 13 Dennis Andersson 13 Darcy Ward 12 Kevin Wölbert 9 Davey Watt 7 Ricky Wells 3 | 57 - 39 | Belle Vue Aces Rory Schlein 11 Chris Harris 8 Charlie Gjedde 6 Ricky Kling 6 Patrick Hougaard 4 Linus Eklöf 4 Craig Cook 0 |
---|---|---|
[13] |
The Poole Pirates were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 102-86.
Team Lineups[]
Belle Vue Aces[]
- Chris Harris
- Rory Schlein
- Patrick Hougaard
- Charlie Gjedde
- Jordan Frampton
- Dawid Stachyra
- Kozza Smith
Birmingham Brummies[]
- Krzysztof Kasprzak
- Danny King
- Daniel Nermark
- Ben Barker
- Joe Screen
- Kevin Wölbert
- Aleš Dryml
Coventry Bees[]
- Hans N. Andersen
- Edward Kennett
- Przemyslaw Pawlicki
- Ryan Fisher
- Kenni Larsen
- Travis McGowan
- Richard Sweetman
Eastbourne Eagles[]
- Bjarne Pedersen
- Joonas Kylmäkorpi
- Lewis Bridger
- Simon Gustafsson
- Lukas Dryml
- Cameron Woodward
- Timo Lahti
King's Lynn Stars[]
- Kenneth Bjerre
- Niels Kristian Iversen
- Mads Korneliussen
- Oliver Allen
- Tomas Topinka
- Sam Masters
- Morten Risager
Lakeside Hammers[]
- Lee Richardson
- Adam Shields
- Piotr Swiderski
- Kauko Nieminen
- Peter Ljung
- Stuart Robson
- Kyle Legault
Peterborough Panthers[]
- Nicki Pedersen
- Troy Batchelor
- Linus Sundstrom
- Krzysztof Buczkowski
- Kacper Gomolski
- Norbert Kościuch
- Richard Lawson
Poole Pirates[]
- Chris Holder
- Darcy Ward
- Davey Watt
- Jason Doyle
- Gary Havelock
- Renat Gafurov
- Dennis Andersson
Swindon Robins[]
- Scott Nicholls
- Simon Stead
- Nicolai Klindt
- Maciej Janowski
- Jesper B. Monberg
- Josh Grajczonek
- Justin Sedgmen
Wolverhampton Wolves[]
- Freddie Lindgren
- Tai Woffinden
- Peter Karlsson
- Ty Proctor
- Ludvig Lindgren
- Ricky Wells
- Tyson Burmeister
See also[]
- List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
- Knockout Cup (speedway)
References[]
- ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
- ^ "2011 league tables". Speedway GB.
- ^ "British Speedway AGM - Key Points". BSPA. 2010-11-21. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
- ^ "British Speedway Statement". BSPA. 2010-11-27. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
- ^ "Kings Lynn Join The Elite". BSPA. 2010-11-29. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
- ^ "Peterborough and Coventry allowed back in Elite League". BBC Sport. BBC. 15 March 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
- ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ "POOLE: EASTBOURNE 49 PIRATES 41 (EL GRAND FINAL, 1ST LEG)". Speedway GB. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
- ^ "EASTBOURNE: POOLE 57 EAGLES 36 (EL GRAND FINAL, 2ND LEG)". Speedway GB. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
- ^ "Greensheet Averages" (PDF). Speedway GB.
- ^ "2011 Elite League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
- ^ "POOLE: BELLE VUE 47 PIRATES 45 (KOC FINAL, 1ST LEG)". Speedway GB. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ "POOLE: PIRATES 57 BELLE VUE 39 (KOC FINAL, 2ND LEG)". Speedway GB. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- SGB Premiership
- 2011 in speedway
- 2011 in British motorsport