2015 Elite League speedway season

2015 Elite League speedway season

League	Elite League
Champions	Poole Pirates
Elite Shield	Poole Pirates
Riders' Championship	Jason Doyle
Highest average	Jason Doyle
Division/s below	2015 Premier League 2015 National League
← 2014 2016 →

The 2015 Elite League speedway season was the 81st season of the top division of UK speedway and the nineteenth season of the Elite League that took place between March and October 2015. The Poole Pirates were the defending champions after winning their second consecutive title in 2014. ^{[1] [2]}

League champions Poole Pirates

Summary

Both the Birmingham Brummies and the Eastbourne Eagles elected to ride in the National League in 2015, meaning the Elite League featured just 8 teams as opposed to the 10 teams that started the 2014 season.

The Poole Pirates won the Elite League for a record third successive year, beating the Belle Vue Aces in the two-legged Grand Final. The Aces – in their first Grand Final since 2005  – hosted the first leg at Kirkmanshulme Lane, and at one point trailed by 13 points. However, a tactical ride ^[3] (offering double points) from Matej Žagar started their comeback, ^[4] and despite trailing by 10 with 3 heats to go, the Aces managed to secure a 46–46 draw. ^[5] At Poole Stadium, the Pirates repeated their fast start and the Aces could not gain the lead at any point during the meeting; in the penultimate heat, Kacper Gomólski sealed the title for Poole, the Pirates ultimately winning 92–90 on aggregate. ^[6]

As well as winning the overall championship, the Pirates finished the regular season with the most points for the second season in succession, while the team also won the Elite Shield at the start of the season, defeating the King's Lynn Stars 96–85 on aggregate. ^[7] The Elite League Riders' Championship was won by Australian rider Jason Doyle, a member of the Leicester Lions team. ^[8]

Regulation changes

At the annual Elite League AGM, which was held in November 2014, it was announced that the points limit for the top 5 members of the teams would be raised from 32 to 34. It was also decided that the fixture list for 2015 would be compiled in a matter which was described as "sympathetic" to riders competing in the Grand Prix series, with no fixtures to be ridden in the week prior to a Grand Prix. The effect of this was to potentially result in more of the top riders in World Speedway returning to race in the Elite League in the future. ^[9] However, there was a visa issue for non-EU riders, meaning that many American and Australian riders were unable to race in the Elite League, unless the issue was resolved. ^[10]

Teams

Belle Vue

Coventry

King's Lynn

Lakeside

Leicester

Poole

Swindon

Wolves

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Locations of the 2015 Elite League teams

Personnel and stadia

Team	Team Manager	Captain	Stadium
Belle Vue	Mark Lemon	Scott Nicholls	Kirkmanshulme Lane
Coventry	Gary Havelock	Chris Harris	Brandon Stadium
King's Lynn	Rob Lyon	Rory Schlein	Norfolk Arena
Lakeside	Neil Vatcher	Andreas Jonsson	Arena Essex Raceway
Leicester	Norrie Allan	Jason Doyle	Beaumont Park Stadium
Poole	Neil Middleditch	Maciej Janowski	Wimborne Road Stadium
Swindon	Alun Rossiter	Troy Batchelor	Abbey Stadium
Wolverhampton	Peter Adams	Peter Karlsson	Monmore Green Stadium

Results

Teams faced each other four times: twice home and away. The first of the home and away meetings were called the 'A' fixtures, and the second were the 'B' fixtures.

'A' Fixtures

Home \ Away	BV	COV	KL	LH	LEI	PP	SWI	WOL
Belle Vue Aces		39–51	52–38	52–37	55–37	49–44	46–44	54–39
Coventry Bees	48–42		57–33	39–24	51–39	41–48	36–55	50–42
King's Lynn Stars	50–43	49–41		58–34	51–39	48–45	53–40	50–40
Lakeside Hammers	44–46	42–47	51–39		59–31	44–48	62–28	44–46
Leicester Lions	50–40	42–51	34–50	51–42		43–47	52–38	53–37
Poole Pirates	45–45	41–50	58–34	53–39	52–38		54–36	55–35
Swindon Robins	48–42	47–43	55–37	47–43	50–40	33–47		53–40
Wolverhampton Wolves	49–41	48–42	40–50	52–38	49–43	55–38	39–51

Source: ^[11]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

'B' Fixtures

Home \ Away	BV	COV	KL	LH	LEI	PP	SWI	WOL
Belle Vue Aces		45–45	55–35	52–41	53–37	53–39	48–42	57–33
Coventry Bees	47–43		48–42	52–38	54–36	54–36	47–43	60–32
King's Lynn Stars	49–41	48–42		63–29	44–46	47–46	51–39	56–37
Lakeside Hammers	51–42	45–45	50–39		57–35	40–50	43–50	57–34
Leicester Lions	52–40	42–48	44–46	39–51		38–52	49–42	48–42
Poole Pirates	53–40	53–37	62–30	60–30	64–29		45–45	60–33
Swindon Robins	39–53	49–31	53–39	50–39	51–39	50–42		60–32
Wolverhampton Wolves	36–57	40–50	49–41	60–33	44–46	47–46	38–52

Source: ^[11]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Final league table

^[12]

Pos.	Club	M	Home			Away					F	A	+/−	Pts
			W	D	L	4W	3W	D	1L	L
1	Poole Pirates (Q)	28	11	2	1	5	2	0	4	3	1383	1131	+252	65
2	Coventry Bees (Q)	28	11	0	3	4	2	2	2	4	1278	1189	+89	61
3	Swindon Robins (Q)	28	12	0	2	4	0	1	3	6	1290	1240	+50	57
4	Belle Vue Aces (Q)	28	12	1	1	2	1	1	3	7	1325	1223	+102	53
5	King's Lynn Stars	28	13	0	1	2	1	0	1	10	1276	1263	+13	51
6	Leicester Lions	28	7	0	7	0	2	0	1	11	1172	1360	−188	28
7	Wolverhampton Wolves	28	8	0	6	0	1	0	1	12	1168	1385	−217	28
8	Lakeside Hammers	28	7	1	6	1	0	0	1	12	1207	1308	−101	27

Play-offs

Draw

	Semi-finals							Grand final
	4	Belle Vue Aces	50	47	97
	3	Swindon Robins	36	43	79
								4	Belle Vue Aces	46	44	90
								1	Poole Pirates	46	46	92
	2	Coventry Bees	45	31	76
	1	Poole Pirates	45	58	103

Semi-finals

14 September 2015	Report	Belle Vue Aces	50–36	Swindon Robins	Kirkmanshulme Lane Referee(s): Peter Clarke

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18 September 2015	Report	Coventry Bees	45–45	Poole Pirates	Brandon Stadium Referee(s): Chris Durno

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21 September 2015	Report	Swindon Robins	43–47	Belle Vue Aces	Abbey Stadium Referee(s): Mick Posselwhite

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21 September 2015	Report	Poole Pirates	58–31	Coventry Bees	Poole Stadium Referee(s): Jim Lawrence

Grand Final

28 September 2015	Report	Belle Vue Aces Žagar 14 Cook 12 Nicholls 8 Grajczonek 5 Fricke 4 Worrall 2 Nielsen 1	46–46	Poole Pirates Holder 10 Starke 9 Newman 9 North 7 Watt 5 Janowski 4 Gomolski 2	Kirkmanshulme Lane Referee(s): Graham Flint

---

30 September 2015	Report	Poole Pirates Janowski 11 Newman 7 Watt 7 Gomolski 7 North 6 Holder 4 Starke 4	46–44	Belle Vue Aces Cook 13 Nicholls 10 Žagar 5 Grajczonek 5 Fricke 4 Nielsen 4 Worrall 3	Poole Stadium Referee(s): Mick Bates

Riders' Championship

Jason Doyle won the Riders' Championship. The final was held at Beaumont Park Stadium on 1 March. ^{[13] [14]}

Pos.	Rider	Pts	Total	SF	Final
1	Jason Doyle	2 3 3 2 2	12	3	3
2	Niels Kristian Iversen	3 3 2 1 3	12	x	2
3	Maciej Janowski	1 3 3 3 3	13	x	1
4	Troy Batchelor	1 3 2 0 3	9	2	0
5	Scott Nicholls	1 1 3 3 2	10	1
6	Hans Andersen	3 1 3 0 3	10	0
7	Szymon Woźniak	2 2 1 3 0	9
8	Freddie Lindgren	3 2 2 0 1	8
9	Chris Holder	2 2 2 1 1	8
10	Matej Žagar	3 1 ret 1 2	7
11	Bjarne Pedersen	1 2 ret 2 1	6
12	Kenneth Bjerre	2 1 1 2 ret	6
13	Nick Morris	exc 0 1 3 1	5
14	Richard Lawson	0 0 0 2 2	4
15	Mikkel Bech	0 0 0 1 ret	1
16	Chris Harris	0 ret	0
17	Josh Auty (res)	0 f/exc	0
18	Josh Bates (res)	ret 0	0

• f=fell, exc=excluded, ret=retired ef=engine failure t-touched tapes

Final leading averages

Rider	Team	Average
Jason Doyle	Leicester	9.39
Maciej Janowski	Poole	9.38
Niels Kristian Iversen	Kings Lynn	9.09
Kyle Newman	Poole	8.41
Andreas Jonsson	Lakeside	8.40
Chris Harris	Coventry	8.34
Rory Schlein	King's Lynn	8.15
Jason Garrity	Coventry	8.09
Matej Žagar	Belle Vue	8.03
Scott Nicholls	Belle Vue	7.92

Riders & final averages

Unless otherwise stated, all listed riders were declared at the start of the 2015 Elite League season. ^[15]

Belle Vue

• Matej Žagar 8.03
• Scott Nicholls 7.92
• Craig Cook 7.86
• Steve Worrall 6.98
• Josh Grajczonek 6.64 ^{[N 1]}
• Max Fricke 6.52
• Stefan Nielsen 4.93
• Simon Stead 4.53 ^{[N 1]}

Coventry

• Chris Harris 8.34
• Jason Garrity 8.09
• Joonas Kylmäkorpi 7.45
• Hans N. Andersen 7.29
• Danny King 6.84
• Stuart Robson 5.64 ^{[N 2]}
• James Sarjeant 5.23
• Kyle Howarth 4.36 ^{[N 2]}

King's Lynn

• Niels Kristian Iversen 9.09
• Rory Schlein 8.15 ^{[N 3]}
• Robert Lambert 7.65
• Lewis Kerr 7.15
• Kenneth Bjerre 6.24
• Nicklas Porsing 5.23
• Václav Milík, Jr. 5.14 ^{[N 3]}
• Ashley Morris 4.21

Lakeside

• Andreas Jonsson 8.40
• Kim Nilsson 7.24
• Mikkel Bech 7.16
• Ashley Birks 7.13 ^{[N 4]}
• Edward Kennett 6.63
• Richard Lawson 6.63
• Adam Ellis 4.89

Leicester

• Jason Doyle 9.39
• Josh Auty 7.29
• Sam Masters 6.50 ^{[N 5]}
• Grzegorz Walasek 6.49
• Szymon Woźniak 5.97
• Bjarne Pedersen 4.20 ^{[N 5]}
• Piotr Świderski 4.47 ^{[N 6]}
• Simon Lambert 3.69

Poole

• Maciej Janowski 9.38
• Kyle Newman 8.41
• Chris Holder 7.86
• Davey Watt 7.57 ^{[N 7]}
• Josh Grajczonek 7.25 ^{[N 7]}
• Kacper Gomólski 6.72
• Dakota North 6.70
• Paul Starke 5.34

Swindon

• Darcy Ward 10.40 (10 matches only) ^{[N 8] [N 9]}
• Adrian Miedziński 8.21 (2 matches only) ^{[N 10] [N 8]}
• Peter Kildemand 7.88 ^{[N 10] [N 9]}
• Grzegorz Zengota 7.70
• Troy Batchelor 7.55
• Nick Morris 7.42
• Aaron Summers 7.24 ^{[N 11]}
• Charles Wright 6.63
• Kyle Howarth 6.38 ^{[N 12]}
• Lewis Rose 3.73
• Eduard Krčmář 2.50 ^{[N 12] [N 11]}

Wolverhampton

• Peter Karlsson 7.16
• Fredrik Lindgren 7.13
• Ricky Wells 6.58
• Lewis Blackbird 6.37
• Jacob Thorssell 5.97
• Tobiasz Musielak 5.11
• Josh Bates 4.34

Notes

1. Josh Grajczonek replaced Simon Stead for the seventh declaration of the season. ^[16]
2. Kyle Howarth replaced Stuart Robson for the twenty-second declaration of the season. ^[17]
3. Václav Milík, Jr. replaced Rory Schlein for the thirteenth declaration of the season. ^[18]
4. Steve Boxall replaced Ashley Birks for the third declaration of the season. ^[19] This change was reverted for the fourth declaration. ^[20] Boxall again replaced Birks for the seventh declaration, ^[16] with Birks returning for the thirteenth declaration. ^[18]
5. Sam Masters replaced Bjarne Pedersen for the eleventh declaration of the season. ^[21]
6. Piotr Świderski replaced Lewis Bridger for the fifteenth declaration of the season. ^[22]
7. Josh Grajczonek replaced Davey Watt for the second declaration of the season. ^[23] Watt returned for the sixth declaration. ^[24]
8. Darcy Ward replaced Adrian Miedziński for the seventeenth declaration of the season. ^[26]
9. Peter Kildemand replaced Ward for the twenty-second declaration of the season. ^[17]
10. Peter Kildemand replaced Adrian Miedziński for the sixth declaration of the season. ^[24] Miedziński returned for the twelfth declaration, ^[25] but this change was reverted for the thirteenth declaration. ^[18] Miedziński again returned for the fifteenth declaration. ^[22]
11. Aaron Summers replaced Eduard Krčmář for the twentieth declaration of the season. ^[27]
12. Eduard Krčmář replaced Kyle Howarth for the seventeenth declaration of the season. ^[26]

See also

List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions

References

1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
2. "2015 league tables". Speedway GB.
3. Bromley, Hayley (28 September 2015). "Belle Vue 46 Poole Pirates 46: Aces stage stirring fightback in Grand Final first leg". Manchester Evening News . Trinity Mirror . Retrieved 13 December 2015.
4. "Belle Vue Aces earn first-leg draw against Poole Pirates in Elite League Grand Final". Sky Sports . BSkyB. 29 September 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
5. Mitchell, Andy (28 September 2015). "Poole Pirates drop chunky lead but still draw first blood at Belle Vue". Bournemouth Daily Echo . Newsquest . Retrieved 13 December 2015.
6. Bromley, Hayley (30 September 2015). "Belle Vue Aces' Elite League title dream sunk by Poole Pirates in Grand Final". Manchester Evening News . Trinity Mirror . Retrieved 13 December 2015.
7. Payne, Ned (27 March 2015). "Poole Pirates retain Elite Shield at King's Lynn Stars". Bournemouth Daily Echo . Newsquest . Retrieved 13 December 2015.
8. "Jason Doyle wins Elite League Riders' Championship". Sky Sports . BSkyB. 22 March 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
9. "British Speedway AGM Statement". Speedway GB. British Speedway Promoters' Association. 16 November 2014. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
10. "BRITISH SPEEDWAY IN VISA CRISIS". SpeedwayGP.com. 22 January 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
11. "BRITISH SPEEDWAY – RESULTS & SCORERS". Speedway GP. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
12. "Elite League". SpeedwayGB. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
13. "Elite League Riders' Championship". WWOS Backup. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
14. "SPEEDWAY LIVE: Elite League Riders Championship". Swindon Advertiser. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
15. "2015 Elite League Team Declarations And Green Sheets Issue 1" (PDF). Elite League . Speedway GB. 27 March 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
16. "2015 Elite League Team Declarations And Green Sheets Issue 7" (PDF). Elite League . Speedway GB. 7 May 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
17. "2015 Elite League Team Declarations And Green Sheets Issue 22" (PDF). Elite League . Speedway GB. 27 August 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
18. "2015 Elite League Team Declarations And Green Sheets Issue 13" (PDF). Elite League . Speedway GB. 18 June 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
19. "2015 Elite League Team Declarations And Green Sheets Issue 3" (PDF). Elite League . Speedway GB. 17 April 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
20. "2015 Elite League Team Declarations And Green Sheets Issue 4" (PDF). Elite League . Speedway GB. 20 April 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
21. "2015 Elite League Team Declarations And Green Sheets Issue 11" (PDF). Elite League . Speedway GB. 26 May 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
22. "2015 Elite League Team Declarations And Green Sheets Issue 15" (PDF). Elite League . Speedway GB. 24 June 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
23. "2015 Elite League Team Declarations And Green Sheets Issue 2" (PDF). Elite League . Speedway GB. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
24. "2015 Elite League Team Declarations And Green Sheets Issue 6" (PDF). Elite League . Speedway GB. 1 May 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
25. "2015 Elite League Team Declarations And Green Sheets Issue 12" (PDF). Elite League . Speedway GB. 1 June 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
26. "2015 Elite League Team Declarations And Green Sheets Issue 17" (PDF). Elite League . Speedway GB. 10 July 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2015.
27. "2015 Elite League Team Declarations And Green Sheets Issue 20" (PDF). Elite League . Speedway GB. 17 August 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2015.