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).
Season summary 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.
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. 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 HomeAwayBonusPosTeamMWDLWDLFAPtsWLTot1Peterborough Panthers40180260141942173148164642Reading Bulldogs40160491101934175651137643Swindon Robins40190141151893178647146614Coventry Bees40181150151856183547119585Belle Vue Aces40190120181880176142155576Wolverhampton Wolves401613411518271840421010527Poole Pirates40180210191880180638136518Ipswich Witches 40170320181847183738812469Eastbourne Eagles401712301717911860415154610Oxford Cheetahs401109101916961989242182611Arena Essex Hammers4011090020165820032231725
= Qualified for Play Off finals
'A' Fixtures
'B' Fixtures
Play-offs Semi-final decided over one leg. Grand Final decided by aggregate scores over two legs.
Semi-finals Peterborough Panthers 52-40 Coventry Bees Reading Bulldogs 51-43 Swindon Robins
Final
First leg
Second leg
The Peterborough Panthers were declared League Champions, winning on aggregate 95-94.
Elite League 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.
First round Date Team one Score Team two13/04 Swindon 40-50 Reading10/04 Reading 47-43 Swindon06/04 Peterborough 57-37 Arena Essex03/04 Wolverhampton 54-40 Oxford31/03 Arena Essex 59-35 Peterborough29/03 Oxford 43-47 Wolverhampton
Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two10/07 Belle Vue 56-38 Arena Essex07/07 Arena Essex 44-46 Belle Vue07/07 Coventry 56-40 Ipswich07/07 Reading 51-42 Poole05/07 Poole 58-34 Reading03/07 Wolverhampton 41-51 Eastbourne01/07 Eastbourne 55-38 Wolverhampton01/06 Ipswich 48-42 Coventry
Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two29/09 Coventry 61-31 Eastbourne28/09 Poole 43-34 Belle Vue16/09 Eastbourne 46-44 Coventry11/09 Belle Vue 53-41 Poole
Final
First leg
Second leg
The Coventry Bees were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 101-85.
Craven Shield End of season competition for the highest nine league teams
First Round Team one Team two Team three ScoreWolverhampton Eastbourne Ipswich 33–38–37Ipswich EastbourneWolverhampton 46–38–23 Eastbourne Ipswich Wolverhampton 42–33–33
Team one Team two Team three ScoreSwindon Poole Reading 36–35–37Poole Reading Swindon 41–29–37Reading Poole Swindon 37–40–31
Team one Team two Team three ScoreCoventry Belle Vue Peterborough 42–40–26PeterboroughBelle VueCoventry 45–26–37Belle Vue Coventry Peterborough 41–34–33
Final Team one Team two Team three ScoreCoventry Eastbourne Poole 38–29–41Eastbourne Coventry Poole 35–38–35Poole Eastbourne Coventry 38–29–41
Riders' Championship Jason Crump won the Riders' Championship for the third time. The final was held at Wimborne Road on 1 October.
Pos. Rider Pts Total SF Final1 Jason Crump 3 3 3 3 3 15x32 Nicki Pedersen 3 2 3 3 2 13x 23 Greg Hancock 2 2 3 2 3 12314 Scott Nicholls 2 3 1 2 2 10 2 05 Hans Andersen 1 1 3 1 3 9 1 6 Todd Wiltshire 3 0 2 2 2 9 07 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 The Elite League Pairs Championship was held in Swindon on 4 June and was won by Belle Vue Aces.
Group APosTeamPtsRiders1 Swindon 31 Adams 20, Ulamek 112Peterborough 26Andersen 15, Iversen 113 Eastbourne 25 Pedersen N 15, Norris 104 Coventry 22 Nicholls 11, Schlein 116 Ipswich 17 Protasiewicz 10, Jansson 7 5Wolves13Lindgren 11, Correy 2
Group BPosTeamPtsRiders1 Belle Vue 21 Crump 16, Stead 52 Poole 21Lindback 12, Pedersen B 93 Reading 19 Hancock 10, Zagar 94 Oxford 15 Wiltshire 13, Skornicki 25Arena Essex 14 Kylmakorpi 12, Lanham 2
Final Swindon 5 Belle Vue 4 - Adams, Crump, Stead, Ulamek
Leading averages Rider Team Average Jason CrumpBelle Vue11.21 Leigh AdamsSwindon10.47 Hans AndersenPeterborough10.40 Peter Karlsson Wolverhampton9.94 Nicki PedersenEastbourne9.92 Bjarne PedersenPoole9.39 Greg HancockReading9.28 Scott NichollsCoventry9.05 Mark LoramIpswich8.92 Jesper B JensenPeterborough8.76
Riders & final averages Arena Essex
8.08 7.78 6.87 6.70 6.53 6.48 6.41 3.77 3.68 2.88 1.40
Belle Vue
11.21 8.08 7.75 7.51 4.89 4.26 3.61 1.90
Coventry
9.05 7.93 7.84 7.13 6.59 6.16 5.83 5.54 4.54 4.00
Eastbourne
9.92 7.79 7.66 7.14 5.29 5.04 4.88 4.06 4.00 3.42
Ipswich
8.92 8.10 8.02 6.50 6.47 5.58 4.09 3.62 2.99
Oxford
9.76 (7 matches only) 7.98 6.97 6.61 6.27 5.10 4.15 4.12 3.84 2.29
Peterborough
10.40 8.76 8.23 7.82 5.55 5.28 4.72 4.67
Poole
9.39 8.38 7.65 7.22 6.09 5.47 4.09 3.63 2.77
Reading
9.28 8.13 7.60 7.52 7.01 6.39 5.52 5.43
Swindon
10.47 7.72 7.65 7.16 5.98 5.48 4.91 4.47 3.40
Wolverhampton
9.94 8.37 8.12 5.56 5.19 4.71 4.37 1.76
See also Speedway in the United Kingdom List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References