The 2008 Elite League speedway season (also known as the

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

Elite League for sponsorship reasons) was the 74th season of the top division of UK speedway and the 12th since its establishment as the Elite League. The first fixtures of the season took place on 29 March and the season ended on 27 October. The

Coventry Bees Coventry Bees were a motorcycle speedway team that existed from 1929 to 2018. They raced at Brandon Stadium, Brandon near Coventry, England. History A Coventry team was first formed in 1928 and competed in the inaugural season of the Southern ...

were the defending champions from 2007.

Summary

New rules introduced for 2008 included three points for an away win compared to two points in 2007, and the removal of the bonus point, in which a team was awarded an extra point for an aggregate win over home and away matches against another team. Also new in 2008 was a relegation and promotion

playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

between an Elite League team and a

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

team. The two teams that finish bottom of the Elite League will face in each other in a two legged playoff with the loser facing the Premier League playoff winner over two legs. The

Poole Pirates Poole Pirates (also known as Poole Speedway) are a motorcycle speedway team based in Poole, England, competing in the SGB Championship. The club have been the champions of the United Kingdom on ten occasions. Poole Speedway is promoted by l ...

finished top of the league table, with the

Lakeside Hammers The Lakeside Hammers were a speedway team who most recently raced in the SGB Championship in 2018. They were founded (as the Arena-Essex Hammers) by promoter Wally Mawdsley and stock car promoter Chick Woodroffe. The team were nicknamed the Hamme ...

Swindon Robins The Swindon Speedway team, also known as the Swindon Robins, are an English motorcycle speedway team established in 1949 that have competed primarily in the top division of speedway league competition in the United Kingdom. They are five times l ...

and

Ipswich Witches The Ipswich Witches are a British speedway club based at Foxhall Stadium near Ipswich, Suffolk. They compete in the British SGB Premiership. Meetings are staged on most Thursdays from March until October, normally commencing at 7.30pm (first ra ...

occupying the other championship playoff places. Poole and Lakeside progressed to the grand final of the playoffs, with Poole winning the first leg at Lakeside 42–48, and the second leg at Poole 60–33, giving them a 108–75 victory. The Poole Pirates were crowned with their third Elite League title, and fifth championship overall.

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

faced Premier League team the

Edinburgh Monarchs The Edinburgh Monarchs are a Scottish Speedway team, currently based in Armadale. They compete in the SGB Championship, racing on Friday nights during the Speedway season. The club is run by a board of directors, chaired by Alex Harkess. The cl ...

in the relegation/promotion playoff final, with Wolverhampton winning comfortably over the two legs with a 106–76 aggregate victory, and thus avoided relegation. Poole still had

Magnus Zetterström Hans Magnus Zetterström (born 9 December 1971 in Eskilstuna, Sweden) is an international motorcycle speedway rider who rides for the Belle Vue Aces in the British Elite League, having previous been with Poole Pirates. Zetterström became Europ ...

Bjarne Pedersen Bjarne Aagaard Pedersen (born 12 July 1978 in Holstebro, Denmark)Oakes, P.(2006). ''Speedway Star Almanac''. is an international motorcycle speedway rider who has represented Denmark in the Speedway World Cup, winning it on two occasions: i ...

and

Daniel Davidsson Daniel Jan Johan Davidsson (born 17 March 1983 in Motala, Sweden) is a speedway rider. His brother, Jonas Davidsson (born 1984), was also a speedway rider for the Lakeside Hammers. Career details World Championships * Individual U-21 Worl ...

in their team, who were all members of the famous double double winners of 2004. They had since recruited

Chris Holder Christopher Robert Holder (born 24 September 1987 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian speedway rider currently riding for Lejonen in the Swedish Elitserien and for Apator Toruń in the Polish Speedway Ekstraliga. He became the Austral ...

Davey Watt David John Watt (born 6 January 1978 in Townsville, Queensland) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from Australia. He won the Queensland state championship in 2005 and was a member of the Australian team that finished second t ...

Adam Skórnicki Adam Skórnicki (born 22 October 1976 in Wolsztyn, Poland) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Poland. Career Skórnicki started racing in Poland for Unia Leszno in the 1994 Polish Speedway First League; he would spend six seasons wit ...

and

Freddie Eriksson Freddie Ove Eriksson (born 23 April 1981 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Sweden. Career summary Eriksson began his British speedway career in 2001 with King’s Lynn with whom he had two relatively successful ...

, who all made significant contributions for the Poole team.

Jason Crump Jason Philip Crump (born 6 August 1975) is an Australian international motorcycle speedway rider. He is a three-time Speedway World Champion, a World Cup winner and a former World Under-21 Champion. In a 21-year career in Speedway, Jason Cr ...

had left Poole for Belle Vue at the beginning of the season and missed out on a league title. Crump and fellow Australian

Leigh Adams Leigh Scott Adams (born 28 April 1971 in Mildura, Victoria)Oakes, P.(2004). ''British Speedway Who's Who''. is an Australian former motorcycle speedway rider. He is a multiple Speedway Grand Prix winner and World Team Champion. He also w ...

were victims of their own success, the pair had been the stand out riders for several seasons but they were so good that the league averages created problems for teams when assembling a side to adhere to the league's points limit allowance. Consequently teams had to decide whether to retain the rider or move them on, in the case of Adams, Swindon kept him but found it hard to bring in new signings to support him.

League table

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

Results

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

'A' Fixtures

''*'' Meeting abandoned after heat 12. Result stands. Last updated: September 11, 2008. Source
BSPA
/small> Colours: Blue = home win; Red = away win; White = draw Home team listed in the left-hand column

'B' Fixtures

''*''Meeting abandoned after heat 13. Result stands. Last updated: October 7, 2008. Source
BSPA
/small> Colours: Blue = home win; Red = away win; White = draw Home team listed in the left-hand column

Championship playoffs

Semi-finals

''Poole and Lakeside progressed to the grand final'' ----

Grand final

First leg

Second leg

''Poole win 108-75 on aggregate and are the 2008 Elite League Champions.''

Relegation playoffs

Semi-finals

''Peterborough win 114-71 on aggregate. Wolverhampton will face the Premier League playoff winners, the

, over two legs.''

Final

''Wolverhampton win 106–76 on aggregate and avoid relegation.''

Averages

The top ten rider

averages In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

in the Elite League as of October 1, 2008:

Elite League Knockout Cup

The 2008 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 70th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams.

Eastbourne Eagles The Eastbourne Eagles were a British speedway team, based at Arlington Stadium, near Eastbourne, England, that raced in the SGB Championship. History Speedway was initially introduced to Eastbourne in 1929. During their first league season th ...

were the winners of the competition.

First round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

First leg

Second leg

The Eastbourne Eagles were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 102-78.

Elite League Riders Championship

The

Elite League Riders Championship The Elite League Riders' Championship is a motorcycle speedway contest between the top riders (or two riders) with the highest average points total from each club competing in the Elite League in the UK. History The competition replaced the Pr ...

involves the riders with the highest

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

from each club competing in the Elite League. It took place on 8 October 2008, at the Premier League track at

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

after the original staging of the event on 20 August was abandoned due to bad weather.

Format

The top 15 highest averaged riders in the Elite League plus one wild card and two reserves take part, although no more than two riders from each club participate. There are 20 qualifying heats, a 'last chance' qualifying heat and a final. The top two scorers from the 20 qualifying heats qualify directly for the final. The next top four scorers take place in the last chance qualifying heat, with the 1st and 2nd place riders from that heat also qualifying to the final.

Result

*2008-10-08,

*Changes: **(5)

Jarosław Hampel Jarosław "Jarek" Hampel (; born 17 April 1982 in Łódź, Poland) is a Polish Speedway rider. He was a participant of the FIM Speedway Grand Prix in 2007 and 2010. He received his speedway license in 1998 with the Polish team Polonia Piła, alth ...

(IPS) → Janniro (COV) **(6) Lee Richardson (EAS) → Kennett **(8) Chris Harris (COV) → Bjerre (PET) **(10)

Scott Nicholls Scott Karl Nicholls (born 16 May 1978) is a British speedway rider, who has won the British Championship seven times,Adam Shields Adam Shields (born 8 February 1977 in Kurri Kurri, New South Wales), is an Australian international speedway rider who has ridden for multiple teams in the British speedway. Speedway career He first rode in the UK for Premier League team the I ...

(LH) → Davidsson **(12)

(PP) → Watt **(13)

Mads Korneliussen Mads Klit Korneliussen (born 15 June 1983) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Denmark. Career Born in Aalborg, Denmark, Mads Korneliussen is the son of Karl Erik Korneliussen and younger brother of Tim Korneliussen, both former riders. ...

(SWI) → King (PET) **(14)

Andreas Jonsson Andreas Karl Rune Jonsson (born 3 September 1980 in Stockholm, Sweden) is an international motorcycle speedway rider. He was a member of the Sweden speedway team that won the World Cup in 2003, 2004 and 2015. Career summary Jonsson won Under ...

(LH) → Schlein (IPS) **(15)

Hans N. Andersen Hans Nørgaard Andersen (born 3 November 1980, in Odense, Denmark) is a motorcycle speedway rider who captained the Denmark speedway team that won the Speedway World Cup in 2006 and 2008. Career summary Despite being original ...

(PET) → Bridger (EAS)

References

External links

British Speedway Promoters Association Website
{{United Kingdom Speedway Seasons SGB Premiership Elite League

Speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta *Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana Types of races and race cours ...

Summary

League table

Results

'A' Fixtures

'B' Fixtures

Championship playoffs

Semi-finals

Grand final

First leg

Second leg

Relegation playoffs

Semi-finals

Final

Averages

Elite League Knockout Cup

First round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

First leg

Second leg

Elite League Riders Championship

Format

Result

See also

References

External links