2011 Elite League speedway season

The 2011 Elite League speedway season (also known as the Sky Sports 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 were the defending champions after winning in 2010.[1][2]

2011 Elite League speedway season
League2011 Sky Sports Elite League
ChampionsPoole Pirates
Knockout CupPoole Pirates
Elite ShieldWolverhampton Wolves
IndividualRory Schlein
PairsPoole Pirates
Highest averageDarcy Ward
Division/s below2011 Premier League
2011 National League

Summary

It was a great season for the Poole Pirates, 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 would prefer to compete in the Premier League from 2011 onwards. Although they survived the promotion/relegation battle with the Newcastle Diamonds, it was decided that they would swap divisions with the Birmingham Brummies.[3] 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.[4] This then led to the King's Lynn Stars being promoted from the Premier League due to the Elite League needing a minimum of 8 teams.[5] 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.[6]

Poole Pirates made up for the previous season's disappointment by winning the league and cup double. The Australian quartet of Darcy Ward, Chris Holder, Davey Watt and Jason Doyle 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.[7] The Australian domination also extended to the league averages, which were topped by Chris Holder and the Elite League Riders' Championship won by Rory Schlein of Belle Vue.

League table
PosClubMHomeAwayFA+/-Pts
3W2WDL4W3WD1LL
1 Poole Pirates 28 10 3 0 1 2 3 0 5 4 1343 1212 58
2 Eastbourne Eagles 28 12 1 0 1 0 4 0 2 8 1370 1202 52
3 King's Lynn Stars 28 8 4 0 2 0 3 1 6 4 1305 1266 49
4 Lakeside Hammers 28 8 5 0 1 1 2 0 2 9 1291 1255 46
5 Coventry Bees 28 9 2 1 2 0 2 1 3 8 1262 1267 43
6 Peterborough Panthers 28 10 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 10 1284 1271 42
7 Belle Vue Aces 28 5 3 2 4 2 2 0 4 6 1267 1266 41
8 Wolverhampton Wolves 28 5 8 0 1 0 0 1 5 8 1250 1326 38
9 Birmingham Brummies 28 6 4 0 4 1 0 0 5 8 1241 1326 35
10 Swindon Robins 28 2 5 0 7 0 1 0 3 10 1172 1394 22
Key:
Championship play-offs

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

King's Lynn Stars48 – 45Poole Pirates
Lakeside Hammers47 – 46Eastbourne Eagles

Leg 2

Poole Pirates63 – 27King's Lynn Stars
Eastbourne Eagles53 - 39Lakeside Hammers

Grand final

First leg

Eastbourne Eagles
Cameron Woodward 14
Bjarne Pedersen 9
Simon Gustafsson 8
Joonas Kylmäkorpi 8
Lewis Bridger 5
Timo Lahti 5		49 - 41Poole Pirates
Chris Holder 12
Darcy Ward 10
Davey Watt 9
Kevin Wölbert 5
Dennis Andersson 3
Ricky Wells 2
Thomas H. Jonasson 0
[8]

Second leg

Poole Pirates
Darcy Ward 14
Chris Holder 11
Thomas H. Jonasson 11
Davey Watt 6
Kevin Wölbert 5
Dennis Andersson 5
Ricky Wells 5		57 - 36Eastbourne Eagles
Cameron Woodward 14
Simon Gustafsson 8
Joonas Kylmäkorpi 5
Lewis Bridger 4
Bjarne Pedersen 4
Timo Lahti 1
[9]

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 were the winners of the competition for the second successive year.[10]

First round
Date Team one Score Team two
08/08Peterborough47-45Coventry
06/07Coventry42-48Peterborough

Quarter-finals
Date Team one Score Team two
15/09Peterborough43-47Belle Vue
14/09Belle Vue50-40Peterborough
25/07Wolverhampton45-45Eastbourne
22/06Poole55-41Swindon
18/06Eastbourne50-40Wolverhampton
16/06Swindon28-62Poole
10/06Lakeside63- 29Birmingham
09/06Birmingham36-41Lakeside

Semi-finals
Date Team one Score Team two
12/10Belle Vue42-33Lakeside
30/09Lakeside48-45Belle Vue
17/09Eastbourne39-51Poole
14/09Poole46-44Eastbourne

Final

First leg

Belle Vue Aces
Rory Schlein 12
Chris Harris 9
Ricky Kling 8
Charlie Gjedde 7
Patrick Hougaard 4
Craig Cook 4
Linus Eklöf 3		47 - 45Poole Pirates
Kevin Wölbert 13
Darcy Ward 10
Chris Holder 9
Dennis Andersson 7
Davey Watt 4
Ricky Wells 2
[11]

Second leg

Poole Pirates
Chris Holder 13
Dennis Andersson 13
Darcy Ward 12
Kevin Wölbert 9
Davey Watt 7
Ricky Wells 3		57 - 39Belle Vue Aces
Rory Schlein 11
Chris Harris 8
Charlie Gjedde 6
Ricky Kling 6
Patrick Hougaard 4
Linus Eklöf 4
Craig Cook 0
[12]

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 on 15 October.[13][14]

Pos.RiderPtsTotalSFFinal
1Australia Rory Schlein3 3 2 3 213x3
2England Scott Nicholls1 1 3 3 31122
3Sweden Freddie Lindgren3 2 2 exc 2931
4Denmark Bjarne Pedersen3 2 3 0 311x0
5Australia Chris Holder2 0 3 3 191
6England Chris Harris2 3 1 2 311exc
7Denmark Kenneth Bjerre0 3 1 3 18
8Australia Darcy Ward2 3 f/exc 2 18
9England Ben Barker1 2 1 1 27
10Denmark Niels Kristian Iversen3 0 3 0 f6
11Denmark Hans Andersen0 1 0 1 35
12England Danny King0 2 1 2 05
13Denmark Nicolai Klindt0 1 2 1 fx4
14England Lee Richardson1 1 2 0 ret4
15England Stuart Robson1 0 0 1 24
16United States Ryan Fisher2 ret 0 2 ret2
  • f=fell, exc=excluded, ret=retired

Pairs

The Elite League Pairs Championship was held at the King's Lynn Stadium on 27 April and was won by Poole Pirates.[15]

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
Rider Team Average
Australia Darcy WardPoole10.05
Australia Chris HolderPoole9.99
Sweden Freddie LindgrenWolverhampton9.66
Denmark Kenneth BjerreKings Lynn9.22
Denmark Nicki PedersenPeterborough9.20
Australia Rory SchleinBelle Vue9.10
Australia Troy BatchelorPeterborough8.84
Sweden Peter KarlssonWolverhampton8.78
England Edward KennettCoventry8.77
Denmark Bjarne PedersenEastbourne8.61

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Birmingham

Coventry

Eastbourne

King's Lynn

Lakeside

Peterborough

Poole

Swindon

Wolverhampton

See also

References
  1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. "2011 league tables". Speedway GB.
  3. "British Speedway AGM - Key Points". BSPA. 2010-11-21. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
  4. "British Speedway Statement". BSPA. 2010-11-27. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
  5. "Kings Lynn Join The Elite". BSPA. 2010-11-29. Retrieved 2010-11-29.
  6. "Peterborough and Coventry allowed back in Elite League". BBC Sport. BBC. 15 March 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
  7. "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  8. "POOLE: EASTBOURNE 49 PIRATES 41 (EL GRAND FINAL, 1ST LEG)". Speedway GB. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  9. "EASTBOURNE: POOLE 57 EAGLES 36 (EL GRAND FINAL, 2ND LEG)". Speedway GB. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  10. "2011 Elite League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  11. "POOLE: BELLE VUE 47 PIRATES 45 (KOC FINAL, 1ST LEG)". Speedway GB. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  12. "POOLE: PIRATES 57 BELLE VUE 39 (KOC FINAL, 2ND LEG)". Speedway GB. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  13. "Elite League Riders' Championship". WWOS Backup. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  14. "SCHLEIN WINS ELRC". Birmingham Speedway. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  15. "2011 Elite League Pairs". Speedway Updates. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
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