Wikipedia

2006 Elite League speedway season

The 2006 Elite League speedway season was the 72nd season of the top division of speedway in the United Kingdom and governed by the Speedway Control Board (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA).[1][2]

2006 Elite League speedway season
LeagueSky Sports Elite League
ChampionsPeterborough Panthers
Knockout CupCoventry Bees
Craven ShieldPoole Pirates
Elite ShieldCoventry Bees
IndividualJason Crump
PairsBelle Vue Aces
Highest averageJason Crump
Division/s belowPremier League
Conference League

Season summary

edit

In 2006, the league consisted of eleven teams, after the newly named Reading Bulldogs, moved up from the Premier League. The Championship was won by the Peterborough Panthers by a single race point in the play-off final.[3]

Peterborough and Reading battled each other throughout the season finishing level on points in the regular season table before Peterborough edged Reading in the Play off final. Peterborough had a strong all round squad and included Danish trio of Hans Andersen, Jesper Jensen and Niels Kristian Iversen, in addition to Australian Ryan Sullivan.[4] Reading who had come up from the division below had recruited Greg Hancock as their main heat leader who finished 7th in the league averages which were headed once again by Australian stars Jason Crump and Leigh Adams.

Final table

edit
Home Away Bonus
Pos Team M W D L W D L F A Pts W L Tot
1 Peterborough Panthers 40 18 0 2 6 0 14 1942 1731 48 16 4 64
2 Reading Bulldogs 40 16 0 4 9 1 10 1934 1756 51 13 7 64
3 Swindon Robins 40 19 0 1 4 1 15 1893 1786 47 14 6 61
4 Coventry Bees 40 18 1 1 5 0 15 1856 1835 47 11 9 58
5 Belle Vue Aces 40 19 0 1 2 0 18 1880 1761 42 15 5 57
6 Wolverhampton Wolves 40 16 1 3 4 1 15 1827 1840 42 10 10 52
7 Poole Pirates 40 18 0 2 1 0 19 1880 1806 38 13 6 51
8 Ipswich Witches 40 17 0 3 2 0 18 1847 1837 38 8 12 46
9 Eastbourne Eagles 40 17 1 2 3 0 17 1791 1860 41 5 15 46
10 Oxford Cheetahs 40 11 0 9 1 0 19 1696 1989 24 2 18 26
11 Arena Essex Hammers 40 11 0 9 0 0 20 1658 2003 22 3 17 25
= Qualified for Play Off finals

'A' Fixtures

edit
Home \ Away AE BV COV EAS IPS OX PET PP RB SWI WOL
Arena Essex Hammers 48–41 46–43 40–52 49–41 39–53 42–48 55–40 58–33 50–40 46–44
Belle Vue Aces 46–44 58–37 48–42 48–42 56–38 50–40 53–37 51–39 55–41 54–39
Coventry Bees 47–43 49–42 56–40 48–45 50–42 48–44 47–42 42–48 51–43 53–40
Eastbourne Eagles 62–32 48–42 47–41 51–39 60–32 47–46 49–41 42–48 41–55 46–44
Ipswich Witches 50–42 53–42 51–42 57–38 60–30 48–42 50–40 43–47 48–45 50–42
Oxford Cheetahs 64–26 43–50 47–43 42–48 42–51 42–47 50–43 50–44 47–43 41–51
Peterborough Panthers 56–39 46–44 62–32 59–33 55–38 63–31 48–42 41–52 55–40 54–38
Poole Pirates 59–33 55–38 55–38 54–36 57–39 55–40 48–42 45–48 48–42 47–43
Reading Bulldogs 50–46 52–43 41–49 61–34 50–40 67–28 39–51 50–40 46–44 43–47
Swindon Robins 53–38 50–43 56–39 51–39 53–40 56–38 58–34 52–43 44–49 52–42
Wolverhampton Wolves 56–36 46–44 53–40 48–45 56–35 53–37 48–42 52–41 47–44 44–46
Source: [5]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

'B' Fixtures

edit
Home \ Away AE BV COV EAS IPS OX PET PP RB SWI WOL
Arena Essex Hammers 39–56 44–46 48–42 42–48 62–32 58–38 50–40 41–51 43–46 44–46
Belle Vue Aces 51–42 49–41 44–30 51–39 53–39 52–43 42–48 59–34 43–30 61–35
Coventry Bees 65–29 49–44 56–39 46–44 54–38 49–47 49–42 47–46 45–45 51–42
Eastbourne Eagles 53–41 42–36 47–46 54–39 50–45 55–35 53–41 46–44 53–43 45–45
Ipswich Witches 57–37 52–43 44–50 42–48 52–43 51–43 52–44 56–38 56–37 53–43
Oxford Cheetahs 55–37 46–44 44–51 50–42 46–44 41–49 49–47 39–54 48–47 44–46
Peterborough Panthers 62–28 55–39 49–41 61–32 50–40 55–34 47–46 43–49 53–37 47–42
Poole Pirates 66–24 50–44 47–46 49–44 54–36 49–42 36–56 47–43 58–36 59–34
Reading Bulldogs 60–33 55–40 44–46 54–41 57–38 50–42 51–42 53–41 57–35 58–37
Swindon Robins 57–36 51–42 53–40 58–32 57–38 52–38 47–46 49–44 53–40 47–43
Wolverhampton Wolves 54–40 52–39 53–43 47–43 47–46 46–44 44–46 52–40 45–45 41–49
Source: [6]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Play-offs

edit

Semi-final decided over one leg. Grand Final decided by aggregate scores over two legs.

Semi-finals

Final

First leg

Reading Bulldogs
Charlie Gjedde 13
Greg Hancock 12
Janusz Kołodziej 8
Travis McGowan 6
Zdeněk Simota 6
Mark Lemon 4
R/R		49 - 47Peterborough Panthers
Ryan Sullivan 15
Hans N. Andersen 14
Piotr Świderski 8
Richard Hall 6
Ulrich Østergaard 3
Jesper B. Jensen 1
Niels Kristian Iversen R/R

Second leg

Peterborough Panthers
Hans N. Andersen 14
Ryan Sullivan 12
Richard Hall 10
Niels Kristian Iversen 5
Piotr Świderski 4
Jesper B. Jensen 2
Ulrich Østergaard 1		48 - 45Reading Bulldogs
Mark Lemon 12
Greg Hancock 11
Janusz Kołodziej 9
Travis McGowan 7
Charlie Gjedde 4
Zdeněk Simota 2
R/R

The Peterborough Panthers were declared League Champions, winning on aggregate 95-94.

Elite League Knockout Cup

edit
 
Scott Nicholls helped Coventry win the Knockout Cup

The 2006 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 68th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Coventry Bees were the winners of the competition.[7]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
13/04 Swindon 40-50 Reading
10/04 Reading 47-43 Swindon
06/04 Peterborough 57-37 Arena Essex
03/04 Wolverhampton 54-40 Oxford
31/03 Arena Essex 59-35 Peterborough
29/03 Oxford 43-47 Wolverhampton

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
10/07 Belle Vue 56-38 Arena Essex
07/07 Arena Essex 44-46 Belle Vue
07/07 Coventry 56-40 Ipswich
07/07 Reading 51-42 Poole
05/07 Poole 58-34 Reading
03/07 Wolverhampton 41-51 Eastbourne
01/07 Eastbourne 55-38 Wolverhampton
01/06 Ipswich 48-42 Coventry

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
29/09 Coventry 61-31 Eastbourne
28/09 Poole 43-34 Belle Vue
16/09 Eastbourne 46-44 Coventry
11/09 Belle Vue 53-41 Poole

Final

edit

First leg

Belle Vue Aces
Jason Crump 14
Kenneth Bjerre 9
Simon Stead 9
Phil Morris 7
Tom P. Madsen 3
James Wright 3
R/R		45 - 45Coventry Bees
Scott Nicholls 13
Martin Smolinski 8
Rory Schlein 8
Chris Harris7
Emil Kramer 3
Billy Janniro 2
Oliver Allen 2

Second leg

Coventry Bees
Chris Harris 12
Scott Nicholls 9
Martin Smolinski 9
Rory Schlein 8
Troy Batchelor 8
Billy Janniro]5
Oliver Allen 5		56 - 40Belle Vue Aces
Jason Crump 15
Simon Stead 12
Davey Watt 5
James Wright 4
Phil Morris 1
Joel Parsons 1
R/R

The Coventry Bees were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 101-85.

Riders' Championship

edit

Jason Crump won the Riders' Championship for the third time. The final was held at Wimborne Road on 1 October.[8]

Pos. Rider Pts Total SF Final
1   Jason Crump 3 3 3 3 3 15 x 3
2   Nicki Pedersen 3 2 3 3 2 13 x 2
3   Greg Hancock 2 2 3 2 3 12 3 1
4   Scott Nicholls 2 3 1 2 2 10 2 0
5   Hans Andersen 1 1 3 1 3 9 1
6   Todd Wiltshire 3 0 2 2 2 9 0
7   Leigh Adams 0 3 2 3 0 8
8   Billy Hamill 1 2 1 1 3 8
9   Rory Schlein 2 2 1 1 1 7
10   Adam Shields 1 1 2 2 1 7
11   Craig Boyce 0 0 0 3 2 5
12   Krzysztof Kasprzak 0 3 1 - - 4
13   Simon Stead 3 0 0 0 1 4
14   Jesper B. Monberg 0 1 2 1 0 4
15   Mark Loram 2 1 - - - 3
16   Mikael Max 1 0 0 0 1 2
17   Matt Bates (res) 0 0 0 0 0

Pairs

edit

The Elite League Pairs Championship was held at the Abbey Stadium on 4 June and was won by Belle Vue Aces.[9]

Final

  • Swindon 5 Belle Vue 4 - Adams, Crump, Stead, Ulamek

Leading averages

edit
Rider Team Average
  Jason Crump Belle Vue 11.21
  Leigh Adams Swindon 10.47
  Hans Andersen Peterborough 10.40
  Peter Karlsson Wolverhampton 9.94
  Nicki Pedersen Eastbourne 9.92
  Bjarne Pedersen Poole 9.39
  Greg Hancock Reading 9.28
  Scott Nicholls Coventry 9.05
  Mark Loram Ipswich 8.92
  Jesper B Jensen Peterborough 8.76

Riders & final averages

edit

Arena Essex

Belle Vue

Coventry

Eastbourne

Ipswich

Oxford

Peterborough

Poole

Reading

Swindon

Wolverhampton

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ "2006 league tables". Speedway GB.
  3. ^ Bamford, Robert (1 March 2007). Tempus Speedway Yearbook 2007. NPI Media Group. ISBN 0-7524-4250-3.
  4. ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  5. ^ "2006 fixtures & results". British Speedway. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  6. ^ "2006 fixtures & results". British Speedway. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  7. ^ "2006 Elite League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  8. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - MODERN ERA (1991-PRESENT)". British Speedway. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  9. ^ "2006 Elite League Pairs". Speedway Updates. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2006_Elite_League_speedway_season&oldid=1244874876"