2001 Elite League speedway season
The 2001 Elite League speedway season was the 67th season of top division of speedway in the United Kingdom and in 2001 was governed by the Speedway Control Board (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA).[1][2]
| League | Sky Sports Elite League |
|---|---|
| Champions | Oxford Cheetahs |
| Knockout Cup | Peterborough Panthers |
| Craven Shield | Poole Pirates |
| Riders Championship | Jason Crump |
| Highest average | Jason Crump |
| Division/s below | Premier League Conference League |
Season summary
In 2001, the league consisted of nine teams and operated on a standard format without play-offs.[3] Oxford Cheetahs won their first title since 1989. Leigh Adams was brought in from King's Lynn to lead the team that retained fellow Australian riders Todd Wiltshire and Steve Johnston, Czech brothers Lukáš Dryml and Aleš Dryml Jr. and Dane Brian Andersen. In a closely fought three way title battle they claimed the crown ahead of Poole and Coventry.[4] Poole were led by three times World Champion Tony Rickardsson who would claim his fourth Speedway World Championship during the season. Jason Crump was runner-up in the World Championship and topped the league averages for King's Lynn.[5]
Final table
| Pos | M | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Bon | Tot | |
| 1 | Oxford Cheetahs | 32 | 20 | 5 | 7 | 1495 | 1367 | 45 | 13 | 58 |
| 2 | Poole Pirates | 32 | 21 | 2 | 9 | 1538 | 1325 | 44 | 13 | 57 |
| 3 | Coventry Bees | 32 | 21 | 2 | 9 | 1518 | 1356 | 44 | 11 | 55 |
| 4 | Ipswich Witches | 32 | 17 | 2 | 13 | 1444 | 1429 | 36 | 7 | 43 |
| 5 | Peterborough Panthers | 30 | 12 | 2 | 16 | 1356 | 1329 | 26 | 7 | 33 |
| 6 | King's Lynn Knights | 31 | 12 | 1 | 19 | 1381 | 1467 | 25 | 7 | 32 |
| 7 | Eastbourne Eagles | 32 | 11 | 3 | 18 | 1373 | 1463 | 25 | 7 | 32 |
| 8 | Wolverhampton Wolves | 32 | 12 | 0 | 20 | 1397 | 1478 | 24 | 4 | 28 |
| 9 | Belle Vue Aces | 30 | 7 | 1 | 22 | 1196 | 1484 | 15 | 1 | 16 |
Peterborough v Belle Vue and Belle Vue v Peterborough not held.
Leading averages
| Rider | Team | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Jason Crump | King's Lynn | 10.39 |
| Scott Nicholls | Ipswich | 10.11 |
| Leigh Adams | Oxford | 10.08 |
| Tony Rickardsson | Poole | 9.66 |
| Ryan Sullivan | Peterborough | 9.52 |
| Billy Hamill | Coventry | 9.26 |
| Greg Hancock | Coventry | 9.05 |
| Nicki Pedersen | King's Lynn | 9.01 |
| Mikael Max | Wolverhampton | 9.00 |
| Peter Karlsson | King's Lynn | 8.75 |
Elite League Knockout Cup
The 2001 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 63rd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Peterborough Panthers were the winners of the competition.[6]
First round
| Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
|---|---|---|---|
| 04/04 | Poole | 50-40 | Ipswich |
| 17/05 | Ipswich | 56-34 | Poole |
Second round
| Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09/07 | Reading | 50-40 | Exeter |
| 08/07 | Stoke | 41-48 | Hull |
| 12/05 | Coventry | 39-50 | Peterborough |
| 12/05 | Eastbourne | 50-40 | Oxford |
| 11/05 | Oxford | 53-37 | Eastbourne |
| 11/05 | Peterborough | 50-40 | Coventry |
| 09/05 | King's Lynn | 56-34 | Belle Vue |
| 07/05 | Belle Vue | 39-47 | King's Lynn |
Semi-finals
| Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09/10 | Ipswich | 46-44 | Oxford |
| 14/09 | Oxford | 45-45 | Ipswich |
| 14/09 | Peterborough | 49-41 | King's Lynn |
| 12/09 | King's Lynn | 38-33 | Peterborough |
Final
First leg
Second leg
Peterborough Panthers were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 93-87.
Teams
Belle Vue Aces
- Mark Burrows
- Wayne Carter
- Neil Collins
- Matej Ferjan
- Henka Gustaffson
- Tomasz Jędrzejak
- Peter Karlsson
- Adam Labedzki
- Leigh Lanham
- Kai Laukkanen
- Jason Lyons
- Jimmy Nilsen
- Andy Smith
- Lee Smethills
- Garry Stead
- Simon Stead
- Carl Stonehewer
- Shaun Tacey
- Tomáš Topinka
Coventry Bees
- Oliver Allen
- Mark Burrows
- Billy Hamill
- Greg Hancock
- Ritchie Hawkins
- Billy Janniro
- Andreas Jonsson
- Leigh Lanham
- Paul Lee
- Lee Richardson
- Stuart Robson
- Adam Shields
- Shaun Tacey
Eastbourne Eagles
- Marcus Andersson
- Stefan Andersson
- Dean Barker
- Sergei Darkin
- Martin Dugard
- Joonas Kylmäkorpi
- David Norris
- Roman Povazhny
- Joe Screen
- Adam Shields
- Garry Stead
- Carl Stonehewer
- Antonín Šváb Jr.
- Shaun Tacey
- Davey Watt
- Brent Werner
Ipswich Witches
- Carl Baldwin
- Craig Boyce
- Jason Bunyan
- Savalas Clouting
- Jeremy Doncaster
- Jarosław Hampel
- Leigh Lanham
- Chris Louis
- Scott Nicholls
- Jamie Smith
- Davey Watt
King's Lynn Knights
- Tomasz Bajerski
- Danny Bird
- Ross Brady
- Luke Clifton
- Jason Crump
- Freddie Eriksson
- Lawrence Hare
- Ritchie Hawkins
- Richard Juul
- Niels Kristian Iversen
- Peter Karlsson
- Niklas Klingberg
- Joachim Kugelmann
- Nicki Pedersen
- Ronni Pedersen
- Tom P. Madsen
- Michal Makovský
- Steve Masters
- Lee Redmond
- Adrian Rymel
- Garry Stead
- Simon Stead
- Mark Steel
- Shaun Tacey
- Davey Watt
- Brett Woodifield
Oxford Cheetahs
- Leigh Adams
- Brian Andersen
- Andrew Appleton
- Aleš Dryml Jr.
- Lukáš Dryml
- Steve Johnston
- Davey Watt
- Todd Wiltshire
Peterborough Panthers
- Oliver Allen
- Jan Andersen
- Matej Ferjan
- David Howe
- Marián Jirout
- John Jørgensen
- Mark Loram
- Grant MacDonald
- Dave Mullett
- Shane Parker
- Adam Pryer
- Adrian Rymel
- Nigel Sadler
- Chris Schramm
- Simon Stead
- Ryan Sullivan
- Zdeněk Tesař
- Brett Woodifield
Poole Pirates
- Hans N. Andersen
- Krzysztof Cegielski
- Lars Gunnestad
- Gary Havelock
- Ray Morton
- Tony Rickardsson
- David Ruud
- Adam Shields
- Carl Stonehewer
- Grzegorz Walasek
- Craig Watson
- Davey Watt
- Magnus Zetterström
Wolverhampton Wolves
See also
External links
- british-speedway.co.uk - Official league tables
References
- ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
- ^ "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
- ^ "2001 league tables". Speedway GB.
- ^ "Oxford". wwosbackup. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
- ^ "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ "2001 Elite League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.