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2004 Elite League speedway season

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The 2004 Elite League speedway season was the 70th season of the top division of speedway in the United Kingdom and governed by the Speedway Control Bureau (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA).[1][2] Poole Pirates completed the double (league and cup winners) for the second year running. They were the first team to achieve this since Oxford Cheetahs in 1986.[3]

2004 Elite League speedway season
LeagueSky Sports Elite League
ChampionsPoole Pirates
Knockout CupPoole Pirates
IndividualBjarne Pedersen
PairsSwindon Robins
Highest averageTony Rickardsson
Division/s belowPremier League
Conference League

Season summary

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In 2004, the league increased to ten teams, with the Arena Essex Hammers and the Swindon Robins moving up from the Premier League. 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 and the next four met in quarter and semi final rounds. The winner of these rounds qualified for the final.[4]

Poole Pirates dominated the season again and completed the 'double double' meaning winning the league and cup for two consecutive seasons. This had not been achieved since Oxford Cheetahs during the 1985 and 1986 seasons. Poole retained the majority of their 2003 squad, five time World Champion Tony Rickardsson, Magnus Zetterström, Antonio Lindbäck and Bjarne Pedersen but Ryan Sullivan was brought in from Peterborough to replace Leigh Adams who moved to Swindon.[5]

Rickardsson topped the league averages but only raced part of the season returning to Sweden to spend more time with his family. Arguably Leigh Adams was the star rider of the season helping new Elite League side Swindon to a respectable mid-table position.[6]

Final table

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Pos M W D L F A Pts Bon Tot
1 Poole Pirates 36 23 2 11 1721 1603 48 13 61
2 Wolverhampton Wolves 36 21 0 15 1729 1586 42 16 58
3 Ipswich Witches 36 21 0 15 1701 1626 42 11 53
4 Eastbourne Eagles 36 18 3 15 1699 1632 39 11 50
5 Oxford Silver Machine 36 19 0 17 1679 1672 38 10 48
6 Swindon Robins 36 18 3 15 1657 1667 39 6 45
7 Belle Vue Aces 35 17 0 18 1630 1597 34 9 43
8 Arena Essex Hammers 36 16 0 20 1651 1679 32 8 40
9 Peterborough Panthers 35 12 2 21 1514 1722 23 3 26
10 Coventry Bees 36 9 0 27 1565 1762 18 3 21

* Belle Vue v Peterborough not held

= Qualified for Play Off final
= Qualified for Play Offs

'A' Fixtures

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Home \ Away AE BV COV EAS IPS OX PET PP SWI WOL
Arena Essex Hammers 51–42 62–34 47–46 48–42 53–41 47–46 43–47 45–48 51–44
Belle Vue Aces 49–41 48–45 48–45 41–49 44–46 63–32 68–25 60–30 47–46
Coventry Bees 44–51 44–46 45–50 45–49 42–48 61–31 40–55 52–38 44–45
Eastbourne Eagles 53–40 57–38 55–39 50–40 47–43 50–40 51–44 60–32 45–46
Ipswich Witches 57–38 52–41 54–41 47–46 44–46 54–40 50–43 56–40 51–39
Oxford Silver Machine 52–43 52–43 71–21 53–43 44–45 54–38 65–29 53–41 40–54
Peterborough Panthers 47–46 42–48 51–42 50–46 53–44 47–43 46–46 47–46 54–41
Poole Pirates 47–43 49–42 47–45 52–44 58–34 58–37 48–45 56–38 53–43
Swindon Robins 47–42 46–47 47–46 48–42 56–37 52–44 63–31 53–39 49–47
Wolverhampton Wolves 62–30 51–42 49–41 44–45 49–44 58–35 53–39 50–40 52–44
Source: [7]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

'B' Fixtures

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Home \ Away AE BV COV EAS IPS OX PET PP SWI WOL
Arena Essex Hammers 57–40 53–41 47–43 42–48 57–38 59–36 53–40 49–43 48–42
Belle Vue Aces 57–40 50–45 44–45 50–41 57–38 n/a 47–43 48–42 50–42
Coventry Bees 52–41 45–44 49–41 45–44 58–36 53–42 46–44 43–47 41–52
Eastbourne Eagles 50–43 51–39 62–29 52–45 47–46 47–43 40–50 45–45 43–49
Ipswich Witches 49–41 55–39 54–41 63–31 55–38 52–42 50–43 49–46 41–51
Oxford Silver Machine 53–42 48–45 53–41 51–43 450–45 49–41 46–47 49–44 52–43
Peterborough Panthers 48–45 49–41 47–43 48–48 55–40 44–46 42–51 30–46 48–45
Poole Pirates 52–40 54–40 55–39 46–49 48–33 54–37 53–40 57–38 54–40
Swindon Robins 51–43 47–42 50–44 45–45 52–40 54–42 52–44 45–45 48–45
Wolverhampton Wolves 43–33 55–36 50–39 54–42 42–48 53–40 57–36 41–49 51–44
Source: [7]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Play-offs

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

Quarter-finals

  • Wolverhampton Wolves 61-33 Oxford Silver Machine
  • Ipswich Witches 55-39 Eastbourne Eagles

Semi-finals

  • Wolverhampton Wolves 45-45 Ipswich Witches (Mikael Max beat Hans Andersen in run-off)

Final

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First leg

Wolverhampton Wolves
Mikael Max 13
Freddie Lindgren 9
David Howe 7
Sam Ermolenko 6
Adam Skórnicki 5
Chris Neath 1
Daniel Nermark R/R		41 - 49Poole Pirates
Antonio Lindbäck 12
Leigh Adams (guest) 11
Bjarne Pedersen 9
Matej Ferjan 6
Magnus Zetterström 6
Krzysztof Kasprzak 4
Daniel Davidsson 1

Second leg

Poole Pirates
Bjarne Pedersen 12
Antonio Lindbäck 11
Ryan Sullivan 11
Matej Ferjan 8
Daniel Davidsson 8
Magnus Zetterström 7
Krzysztof Kasprzak 6		63 - 30Wolverhampton Wolves
Freddie Lindgren 12
Mikael Max 7
Sam Ermolenko 7
Adam Skórnicki 2
David Howe 2
Magnus Karlsson 0
Daniel Nermark R/R

The Poole Pirates were declared League Champions, winning on aggregate 112-71.

Elite League Knockout Cup

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The 2004 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 66th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Poole Pirates were the winners of the competition. Poole had started the final second leg under protest because of the Ipswich team changes that included a late replacement rider Davey Watt, who Poole considered was ineligible.[8]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
01/04 Coventry 42-54 Belle Vue
06/05 Swindon 56-38 Wolverhampton
22/03 Wolverhampton 50-43 Swindon

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
23/09 Swindon 48-42 Belle Vue
11/09 Eastbourne 46-48 Ipswich
12/05 Kings Lynn 56-39 Isle of Wight
06/05 Swindon 56-38 Wolverhampton
07/04 Arena Essex 48-46 Oxford
02/04 Peterborough 44-46 Poole
01/04 Coventry 42-54 Belle Vue
26/03 Oxford 47-46 Arena Essex
25/03 Ipswich 51-42 Eastbourne
24/03 Poole 58-37 Peterborough

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
06/10 Arena Essex 43-46 Ipswich
06/10 Poole 61-30 Swindon
07/10 Ipswich 51-42 Arena Essex[9]
07/10 Swindon 53-40 Poole

Final

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First leg

Ipswich Witches
Hans Andersen 11
Scott Nicholls 9
Chris Louis 8
Jesper B. Jensen 7
Danny Bird 6
Kim Jansson 4
Danny King 3		48 - 42Poole Pirates
Antonio Lindbäck 8
Ryan Sullivan 8
Matej Ferjan 8
Krzysztof Kasprzak 8
Bjarne Pedersen 5
Magnus Zetterström 4
Daniel Davidsson 1
[10]

Second leg

Poole Pirates
Antonio Lindbäck 13
Ryan Sullivan 11
Matej Ferjan 10
Krzysztof Kasprzak 7
Magnus Zetterström 7
Bjarne Pedersen 6
Daniel Davidsson 3		57 - 39Ipswich Witches
Hans Andersen 14
Scott Nicholls 11
Kim Jansson 7
Chris Louis 6
Jesper B. Jensen 1
Davey Watt 0
Danny King 0

The Poole Pirates were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 99-87.

Riders' Championship

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Bjarne Pedersen won the Riders' Championship. The final was held at Wimborne Road on 17 October.[11]

Pos. Rider Pts Total SF Final
1   Bjarne Pedersen 3 2 2 2 2 11 2 3
2   Ryan Sullivan 3 3 3 3 2 14 x 2
3   Hans Andersen 1 3 2 3 3 12 3 1
4   Rory Schlein 3 3 2 1 3 12 x 0
5   Matej Ferjan 2 3 3 3 0 11 1
6   Mikael Max 2 2 2 3 3 12 0
7   Leigh Adams 2 2 3 1 1 9
8   Scott Nicholls 3 1 1 0 3 8
9   Adam Shields 2 1 1 2 1 7
10   David Howe 0 0 3 1 2 6
11   Davey Watt 1 1 1 2 0 5
12   Gary Havelock 0 2 0 0 2 4
13   Rafał Dobrucki 1 0 0 2 0 3
14   Chris Harris 1 1 0 0 1 3
15   Josh Larsen 0 0 1 1 1 3
16   Sebastien Trésarrieu 0 0 0 0 0 0

Pairs

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The Elite League Pairs Championship, sponsored by Suzuki, was held at the Abbey Stadium on 11 April and was won by Swindon Robins.[12]

Semi finals

  • Swindon beat Eastbourne
  • Belle Vue beat Peterborough 7–2

Final

  • Swindon beat Belle Vue 5–4

Leading final averages

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Rider Team Average
  Tony Rickardsson Poole 10.89
  Leigh Adams Swindon 10.83
  Jason Crump Belle Vue 10.67
  David Norris Eastbourne 9.95
  Mark Loram Arena Essex 9.87
  Greg Hancock Oxford 9.83
  Nicki Pedersen Eastbourne 9.48
  Mikael Max Wolverhampton 9.39
  Scott Nicholls Ipswich 9.33
  Andreas Jonsson Coventry 9.07

Rider & final averages

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Arena Essex

Belle Vue

Coventry

Eastbourne

Ipswich

Oxford

Peterborough

Poole

Swindon

Wolverhampton

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ "2004 league tables". Speedway GB.
  3. ^ "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  4. ^ Bamford, Robert (2005). Tempus Speedway Yearbook 2005. NPI Media Group. ISBN 0-7524-3396-2.
  5. ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  6. ^ "Rickardsson says farewell to Poole as he puts family first". Sunday Times. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  7. ^ a b "2004 fixtures & results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  8. ^ "2004 Elite League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  9. ^ "Andersen leads final push". Ipswich Star. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  10. ^ "Hans: Witches too good not to win". Ipswich Star. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  11. ^ "Elite League Riders' Championship". Speedway History. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  12. ^ "Speedway: It's home sweet home for Robins". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
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