The 2011 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 77th season of the top division of UK speedway and took place between 26 March and 20 October 2011. 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 Souther ...
were the defending champions after winning in 2010.
Summary
It was a great season for 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 ...
, 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
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 r ...
would prefer to compete in the Premier League from 2011 onwards. Although they survived the promotion/relegation battle with the
Newcastle Diamonds
Newcastle Diamonds were a motorcycle speedway team that raced in the SGB Championship, every Sunday night during the season (March–October) from their home at the Newcastle Stadium on the Fossway, Byker. The Stadium, previously known as Broug ...
, it was decided that they would swap divisions with the
Birmingham Brummies
Birmingham Brummies are a British speedway team founded in 1928. They were inaugural members of the Southern League in 1929. The team have twice finished runner-up in the highest tier of British speedway, during the 1952 Speedway National Le ...
. 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. This then led to the
King's Lynn Stars
King's Lynn Stars are a motorcycle speedway team who compete in the SGB Premiership. The nickname "Stars" comes from the defunct Norwich Stars team. The team was founded in 1965 and has been running continually since then, except for 1996 when Ki ...
being promoted from the Premier League due to the Elite League needing a minimum of 8 teams. 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.
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 ...
made up for the previous season's disappointment by winning the league and cup double. The Australian quartet of
Darcy Ward
Darcy Stephen Ward (born 4 May 1992 in Nanango, Queensland) is an Australian former motorcycle speedway rider who won the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Australian Under-21 Championships as well as the 2009 and 2010 World Under-21 Championships. His ...
,
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 Austra ...
,
Davey Watt and
Jason Doyle
Jason Kevin Doyle (born 6 October 1985) is an Australian motorcycle speedway rider. He became World Champion in 2017. He won the 2015 Australian Solo Championship. He has also won the South Australian Championship in 2014, and the Elite Le ...
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.
The Australian domination also extended to the league averages, which were topped by Chris Holder and 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 ...
won by
Rory Schlein of Belle Vue.
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
Championship play-offs
Semi-finals
Leg 1
Leg 2
Grand final
First leg
Second leg
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
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 ...
were the winners of the competition for the second successive year.
First round
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
First leg
Second leg
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
Abbey Stadium is a football stadium in Cambridge, England. It has been the home ground of Cambridge United F.C. since 1932, and currently has a maximum capacity of 8,127 spectators. Cambridge Regional College F.C., Cambridge United's feeder cl ...
on 15 October.
*f=fell, exc=excluded, ret=retired
Pairs
The
Elite League Pairs Championship was held at the
King's Lynn Stadium
King's Lynn Stadium, also known as the Adrian Flux Arena and previously as the Norfolk Arena, is a short oval stadium situated to the south of King's Lynn on Saddlebow Road in Norfolk County, England. It currently hosts BriSCA Formula 1 Stock C ...
on 27 April and was won by Poole Pirates.
Semi finals
*Belle Vue 5 Peterborough 4 - Pedersen, Harris, Schlein, Batchelor
*Poole 5 Wolves 4 - Lindgren, Ward, Holder, Proctor
Final
*Poole 7 Belle Vue 2 - Ward, Holder, Harris, Schlein
Leading averages
Riders & final averages
Belle Vue
* 9.10
* 8.56
* 7.70
* 6.48
* 5.70
* 5.60
* 5.22
* 4.65
* 4.48
* 3.30
* 2.00
Birmingham
* 7.65
* 7.46
* 6.84
* 6.52
* 6.16
* 5.73
* 5.39
* 5.33
* 5.10
Coventry
* 8.77
* 8.28
* 7.96
* 6.95
* 6.76
* 6.06
* 5.57
* 4.21
* 3.88
Eastbourne
* 8.61
* 7.92
* 7.75
* 7.69
* 7.22
* 7.19
* 3.06
King's Lynn
* 9.22
* 8.03
* 7.88
* 7.30
* 6.11
* 4.48
* 4.04
* 4.00
Lakeside
* 8.46
* 7.52
* 7.48
* 7.26
* 6.99
* 6.52
* 6.35
* 6.02
* 5.67
* 4.21
Peterborough
* 9.20
* 8.84
* 7.83
* 6.82
* 6.02
* 4.47
* 4.00
* 3.87
Poole
* 10.05
* 9.99
* 7.93
* 7.14
* 6.41
* 6.23
* 6.10
* 5.62
* 4.84
* 1.74
Swindon
* 7.78
* 7.02
* 6.86
* 6.72
* 6.19
* 4.89
* 3.63
* 2.83
Wolverhampton
* 9.66
* 8.78
* 8.34
* 5.76
* 4.56
* 4.43
* 2.73
See also
*
List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
*
Knockout Cup (speedway)
Knockout Cup (sometimes referred to as the KO Cup) is a type of British motorcycle speedway competition, examples of which have run annually since 1929.
Each tier of British Speedway has its own respective Knockout Cup. The current Knockout Cup c ...
References
{{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 ...