2002 Elite League speedway season
League | Sky Sports Elite League |
---|---|
Champions | Wolverhampton Wolves |
Knockout Cup | Eastbourne Eagles |
Craven Shield | Poole Pirates |
Riders Championship | Tony Rickardsson |
Highest average | Tony Rickardsson |
Division/s below | Premier League Conference League |
The 2002 Elite League speedway season was the 68th season of the top division of speedway in the United Kingdom and in 2002 was governed by the Speedway Control Board (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA).[1] It was the first time that playoffs were introduced to determine the champions.[2]
Season summary
In 2002, the league consisted of nine teams. The title was decided by a play-off between the top five teams. The team that finished top of the table were seeded directly to the final. The next four met in quarter and semi final rounds. The winner of these rounds qualified for the final.[3]
Eastbourne Eagles topped the regular season table but were defeated by Wolverhampton Wolves for the league title when losing the play off final. It was Wolves third title success in 11 years and the Swedish Karlsson brothers, Peter Karlsson and Mikael Karlsson were once again integral to the Wolves team throughout the season.[4] Eastbourne's season was not a total loss because they beat Peterborough in the final of the Knockout Cup thanks to efforts from their English rider contingent of Mark Loram, Joe Screen and Dean Barker.
Tony Rickardsson became World Champion for the fifth time during the season, topped the league averages, won the Elite League Riders' Championship and helped his club Poole win the Craven Shield.[5]
Final table
Pos | M | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Bon | Tot | |
1 | Eastbourne Eagles | 32 | 20 | 3 | 9 | 1562 | 1316 | 43 | 15 | 58 |
2 | Wolverhampton Wolves | 32 | 20 | 2 | 10 | 1549 | 1311 | 42 | 12 | 54 |
3 | Coventry Bees | 32 | 19 | 3 | 10 | 1492 | 1383 | 41 | 9 | 50 |
4 | Poole Pirates | 32 | 17 | 1 | 14 | 1455 | 1406 | 35 | 11 | 46 |
5 | Peterborough Panthers | 31 | 15 | 0 | 16 | 1394 | 1395 | 30 | 6 | 36 |
6 | Oxford Cheetahs | 31 | 14 | 2 | 15 | 1369 | 1407 | 30 | 5 | 35 |
7 | Ipswich Witches | 32 | 11 | 3 | 18 | 1375 | 1494 | 25 | 6 | 31 |
8 | Belle Vue Aces | 32 | 11 | 3 | 18 | 1379 | 1484 | 25 | 4 | 29 |
9 | King's Lynn Silver Machine | 32 | 7 | 1 | 24 | 1247 | 1626 | 15 | 3 | 18 |
Peterborough v Oxford not held.
= Qualified for Play Off final | |
= Qualified for Play Offs |
Play-offs
Quarter-Final and Semi-Final decided over one leg. Grand Final decided by aggregate scores over two legs.
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
First leg
Wolverhampton Wolves Mikael Karlsson 13 Peter Karlsson 12 Paul Hurry 9 Jesper B. Jensen 5 David Howe 5 Chris Neath 3 Adam Skórnicki 2 | 49 - 41 | Eastbourne Eagles Mark Loram 10 Stefan Andersson 10 |
---|---|---|
Second leg
The Wolverhampton Wolves were declared League Champions, winning on aggregate 93-87.
Leading averages
Rider | Team | Average |
---|---|---|
Tony Rickardsson | Poole | 10.88 |
Jason Crump | Belle Vue | 10.44 |
Ryan Sullivan | Peterborough | 10.34 |
Leigh Adams | Oxford | 10.10 |
Mikael Max | Wolverhampton | 9.93 |
Scott Nicholls | Ipswich | 9.76 |
Mark Loram | Eastbourne | 9.56 |
Andreas Jonsson | Coventry | 9.39 |
Peter Karlsson | Wolverhampton | 9.23 |
Lee Richardson | Coventry | 8.97 |
Elite League Knockout Cup
The 2002 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 64th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Eastbourne Eagles were the winners of the competition.[6]
First Round
Date | Team One | Score | Team Two |
---|---|---|---|
08/04 | Wolverhampton | 57-33 | Poole |
03/04 | Poole | 45-45 | Wolverhampton |
Quarter Finals
Date | Team One | Score | Team Two |
---|---|---|---|
27/05 | Reading | 47-43 | Arena Essex |
29/04 | Wolverhampton | 61-29 | Oxford |
27/04 | Coventry | 36-35 | Kings Lynn |
26/04 | Oxford | 45-45 | Wolverhampton |
24/04 | Kings Lynn | 42-48 | Coventry |
22/04 | Belle Vue | 51-39 | Peterborough |
20/04 | Eastbourne | 54-36 | Ipswich |
19/04 | Peterborough | 59-31 | Belle Vue |
18/04 | Ipswich | 39-51 | Eastbourne |
Semi Finals
Date | Team One | Score | Team Two |
---|---|---|---|
01/07 | Wolverhampton | 40-49 | Eastbourne |
29/06 | Coventry | 49-41 | Peterborough |
29/06 | Eastbourne | 52-38 | Wolverhampton |
28/06 | Peterborough | 50-40 | Coventry |
Final
First leg
Second leg
The Eastbourne Eagles were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 94-86.
Teams
Belle Vue Aces
- Jon Armstrong
- Jason Bunyan
- Mark Burrows
- Neil Collins
- Lee Complin
- Andre Compton
- Jason Crump
- Sam Ermolenko
- Matej Ferjan
- Andy Galvin
- Russell Harrison
- Tomasz Jędrzejak
- Brian Karger
- Robbie Kessler
- Kai Laukkanen
- Jason Lyons
- Jesper Olsen
- Carl Stonehewer
- Scott Robson
- Garry Stead
- Blair Scott
- Paul Sharples
- Lee Smethills
- Shaun Tacey
Coventry Bees
- Oliver Allen
- Andrew Appleton
- Matt Cambridge
- Wayne Carter
- Andre Compton
- Ryan Fisher
- Billy Hamill
- Billy Janniro
- Andreas Jonsson
- Paul Lee
- Ray Morton
- Lee Richardson
- Scott Robson
- Stuart Robson
- Adam Shields
- Garry Stead
- Simon Stead
- Tomáš Topinka
- Sean Wilson
Eastbourne Eagles
- Stefan Andersson
- Dean Barker
- Savalas Clouting
- Daniel Giffard
- Edward Kennett
- Paul Lee
- Mark Loram
- Joe Screen
- David Norris
- Adam Shields
- Jamie Smith
- Carl Stonehewer
- Antonín Šváb Jr.
- Kelvin Tatum
- Brent Werner
Ipswich Witches
- Carl Baldwin
- Danny Bird
- Craig Boyce
- Jason Bunyan
- Jeremy Doncaster
- Jarosław Hampel
- Lee Herne
- Kim Jansson
- Joonas Kylmäkorpi
- Leigh Lanham
- Chris Louis
- Scott Nicholls
- Adam Shields
- Krzysztof Słaboń
- Phil Morris
- Davey Watt
- Nigel Sadler
- Jamie Smith
King's Lynn Silver Machine
- Freddie Eriksson
- Bjorn Hansen
- Łukasz Jankowski
- Marián Jirout
- Jernej Kolenko
- Emil Kramer
- Nicki Pedersen
- Ronni Pedersen
- Tom P. Madsen
- Travis McGowan
- Artur Pietrzyk
- Roman Povazhny
- Adam Shields
- Sebastian Ułamek
- Sean Wilson
Oxford Cheetahs
- Leigh Adams
- Brian Andersen
- Andrew Appleton
- Aleš Dryml Jr.
- Lukáš Dryml
- Steve Johnston
- Joachim Kugelmann
- Mark Lemon
- Alun Rossiter
- Jamie Smith
- Davey Watt
Peterborough Panthers
- Oliver Allen
- Henning Bager
- Bohumil Brhel
- Hans Clausen
- Chris Harris
- Jason King
- Shane Parker
- Piotr Protasiewicz
- Nigel Sadler
- Chris Schramm
- Adam Shields
- Simon Stead
- Ryan Sullivan
- Zdeněk Tesař
- Craig Watson
- Davey Watt
- Magnus Zetterström
Poole Pirates
- Hans N. Andersen
- Tomasz Chrzanowski
- Paul Clews
- Andre Compton
- Lars Gunnestad
- Henka Gustaffson
- Gary Havelock
- Tony Rickardsson
- Krister Marsh
- Bjarne Pedersen
- Adam Shields
- Mariusz Staszewski
- Grzegorz Walasek
- Craig Watson
- Davey Watt
- Magnus Zetterström
Wolverhampton Wolves
- Mark Burrows
- Jason Bunyan
- Lee Dicken
- David Howe
- Paul Hurry
- Jesper B. Jensen
- Mikael Karlsson
- Peter Karlsson
- Chris Neath
- Daniel Nermark
- Adam Skórnicki
- Jamie Smith
- Garry Stead
- Craig Watson
- Colin White
See also
- Speedway in the United Kingdom
- List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
- Knockout Cup (speedway)
References
- ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
- ^ "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
- ^ "2002 league tables". Speedway GB.
- ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ "Tony Rickardsson". wwosbackup. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ "2002 Elite League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
External links
- british-speedway.co.uk - Official league tables