2011 Elite League speedway season

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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 Darcy Ward
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]

Contents

Poole rider and pairs champion Chris Holder.jpg
Poole rider and pairs champion

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

PosClubMHomeAwayFA+/-Pts
3W2WDL4W3WD1LL
1 Poole Pirates 2810301230541343121258
2 Eastbourne Eagles 2812101040281370120252
3 King's Lynn Stars 288402031641305126649
4 Lakeside Hammers 288501120291291125546
5 Coventry Bees 289212021381262126743
6 Peterborough Panthers 28104000004101284127142
7 Belle Vue Aces 285324220461267126641
8 Wolverhampton Wolves 285801001581250132638
9 Birmingham Brummies 286404100581241132635
10 Swindon Robins 2825070103101172139422
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

Home \ Away BV BIR COV EAS KL LH PET PP SWI WOL
Belle Vue Aces 50–4245–4544–4552–4243–4753–4044–4662–3047–43
Birmingham Brummies 43–4751–3943–4952–3852–4049–4442–4848–4248–47
Coventry Bees 56–3848–4546–3949–4458–3454–3849–4242–4850–43
Eastbourne Eagles 54–3966–2453–4045–4850–4355–4157–3959–3457–38
King's Lynn Stars 48–4250–4350–4043–4665–3055–4150–4358–3750–43
Lakeside Hammers 48–4561–3142–3044–4661–3255–4148–4256–3848–45
Peterborough Panthers 50–2450–3746–4452–3848–4550–4249–4463–2759–34
Poole Pirates 47–4248–4255–3155–3958–3658–3655–3550–4256–36
Swindon Robins 41–4942–5150–4051–4142–4843–4747–4349–4350–45
Wolverhampton Wolves 56–3646–4348–4246–4447–4353–4251–3842–5148–42
Source: [8]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

'B' Fixtures

Home \ Away BV BIR COV EAS KL LH PET PP SWI WOL
Belle Vue Aces 45–44n/an/a47–4358–35n/a44–46n/a45–45
Birmingham Brummies 52–4348–42n/an/a38–5450–43n/an/a57–36
Coventry Bees 41–49n/a51–4245–45n/a49–41n/a56–37n/a
Eastbourne Eagles n/an/a53–4046–44n/an/a57–3559–3463–29
King's Lynn Stars 48–42n/a44–4850–42n/a47–43n/a48–45n/a
Lakeside Hammers 48–4151–42n/an/an/a66–2640–38n/a47–46
Peterborough Panthers n/a53–4154–40n/a46–4453–40n/a54–36n/a
Poole Pirates 45–48n/an/a54–40n/a44–43n/a53–4154–42
Swindon Robins n/an/a43–4746–4443–47n/a49–4343–50n/a
Wolverhampton Wolves 52–4148–45n/a49–41n/a47–43n/a45–44n/a
Source: [9]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Championship play-offs

Semi-finals

Leg 1

King's Lynn Stars 48 – 45 Poole Pirates

Leg 2

Poole Pirates 63 – 27 King's Lynn Stars

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
[10]

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
[11]

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. [12]

First round

DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
08/08Peterborough47-45Coventry
06/07Coventry42-48Peterborough

Quarter-finals

DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
15/09Peterborough43-47Belle Vue
14/09Belle Vue50-40Peterborough
25/07Wolverhampton45-45Eastbourne
22/06Poole55-41Swindon
18/06Eastbourne50-40Wolverhampton
16/06Swindon28-62Poole
10/06Lakeside63- 29Birmingham
09/06Birmingham36-41Lakeside

Semi-finals

DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
12/10Belle Vue42-33Lakeside
30/09Lakeside48-45Belle Vue
17/09Eastbourne39-51Poole
14/09Poole46-44Eastbourne

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
[13]

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
[14]

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 at Abbey Stadium on 15 October. [15] [16]

Pos.RiderPtsTotalSFFinal
1 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Rory Schlein 3 3 2 3 213x3
2 Flag of England.svg Scott Nicholls 1 1 3 3 31122
3 Flag of Sweden.svg Freddie Lindgren 3 2 2 exc 2931
4 Flag of Denmark.svg Bjarne Pedersen 3 2 3 0 311x0
5 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Chris Holder 2 0 3 3 191
6 Flag of England.svg Chris Harris 2 3 1 2 311exc
7 Flag of Denmark.svg Kenneth Bjerre 0 3 1 3 18
8 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Darcy Ward 2 3 f/exc 2 18
9 Flag of England.svg Ben Barker 1 2 1 1 27
10 Flag of Denmark.svg Niels Kristian Iversen 3 0 3 0 f6
11 Flag of Denmark.svg Hans Andersen 0 1 0 1 35
12 Flag of England.svg Danny King 0 2 1 2 05
13 Flag of Denmark.svg Nicolai Klindt 0 1 2 1 fx4
14 Flag of England.svg Lee Richardson 1 1 2 0 ret4
15 Flag of England.svg Stuart Robson 1 0 0 1 24
16 Flag of the United States.svg Ryan Fisher 2 ret 0 2 ret2

Pairs

The Elite League Pairs Championship was held at the King's Lynn Stadium on 27 April and was won by Poole Pirates. [17]

Semi finals

Final

Leading averages

RiderTeamAverage
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Darcy Ward Poole10.05
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Chris Holder Poole9.99
Flag of Sweden.svg Freddie Lindgren Wolverhampton9.66
Flag of Denmark.svg Kenneth Bjerre Kings Lynn9.22
Flag of Denmark.svg Nicki Pedersen Peterborough9.20
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Rory Schlein Belle Vue9.10
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Troy Batchelor Peterborough8.84
Flag of Sweden.svg Peter Karlsson Wolverhampton8.78
Flag of England.svg Edward Kennett Coventry8.77
Flag of Denmark.svg Bjarne Pedersen Eastbourne8.61

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Birmingham

Coventry

Eastbourne

King's Lynn

Lakeside

Peterborough

Poole

Swindon

Wolverhampton

See also

References

  1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. "2011 league tables". Speedway GB.
  3. "British Speedway AGM - Key Points". BSPA. 21 November 2010. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
  4. "British Speedway Statement". BSPA. 27 November 2010. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
  5. "Kings Lynn Join The Elite". BSPA. 29 November 2010. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
  6. "Peterborough and Coventry allowed back in Elite League". BBC Sport. BBC. 15 March 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
  7. "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  8. "2011 fixtures & results". British Speedway. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  9. "2011 fixtures & results". British Speedway. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  10. "POOLE: EASTBOURNE 49 PIRATES 41 (EL GRAND FINAL, 1ST LEG)". Speedway GB. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  11. "EASTBOURNE: POOLE 57 EAGLES 36 (EL GRAND FINAL, 2ND LEG)". Speedway GB. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  12. "2011 Elite League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  13. "POOLE: BELLE VUE 47 PIRATES 45 (KOC FINAL, 1ST LEG)". Speedway GB. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  14. "POOLE: PIRATES 57 BELLE VUE 39 (KOC FINAL, 2ND LEG)". Speedway GB. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  15. "Elite League Riders' Championship". WWOS Backup. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  16. "SCHLEIN WINS ELRC". Birmingham Speedway. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  17. "2011 Elite League Pairs". Speedway Updates. Retrieved 20 May 2023.