2008 Premier League speedway season
League | Premier League |
---|---|
Champions | Edinburgh Monarchs |
Knockout Cup | Somerset Rebels |
Premier Trophy | Edinburgh Monarchs |
Young Shield | Workington Comets |
Individual | Tai Woffinden |
Pairs | Workington Comets |
Fours | Workington Comets |
Highest average | Daniel Nermark |
Division/s above | 2008 Elite League |
Division/s below | 2008 Conference |
The 2008 Premier League speedway season was the second division of motorcycle speedway racing in the United Kingdom and the 14th season since its creation in 1995. The league was governed by the Speedway Control Bureau (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA).
Summary
[edit]The League consisted of 16 teams for the 2008 season with the addition of the 2007 Conference League champions the Scunthorpe Scorpions. New rules introduced for 2008 include three points for an away win compared to two points in 2007, and the removal of bonus points, in which a team was awarded an additional point for an aggregate win over a home and away match against another team. The team finishing at the top of the league table at the end of the season after accumulating the most points were declared the Premier League champions. The four highest placed teams were entered into promotion play-offs, whereby the Premier League play-off winner faced the Elite League relegation play-off final losers over two legs.[1] Teams finishing in fifth to twelfth at the time of the fixture cut-off date compete in the Young Shield. Newport Wasps withdrew from the league following the death of their promoter Tim Stone.[2]
The Edinburgh Monarchs were crowned the Premier League champions after ending the season as the highest placed team.[3] The Somerset Rebels finished second, King's Lynn Stars third and the Rye House Rockets fourth. All four teams took part in the promotion play-off with Edinburgh and King's Lynn reaching the final. Edinburgh won 93–90 on aggregate and faced Elite League team Wolverhampton Wolves, but lost the two-legged promotion/relegation final 106–76.[4]
Fixtures & results
[edit]Final league table
[edit]Key: | |
---|---|
Promotion Play-Offs | |
Pos | Club | M | Home | Away | F | A | Pts | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
W | D | L | W | D | L | ||||||
1 | Edinburgh Monarchs | 30 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 1562 | 1161 | 53 |
2 | Somerset Rebels | 30 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 9 | 1517 | 1223 | 48 |
3 | Kings Lynn Stars | 30 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 1624 | 1111 | 45 |
4 | Rye House Rockets | 30 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 1500 | 1232 | 42 |
5 | Workington Comets | 30 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 1435.5 | 1300.5 | 41 |
6 | Berwick Bandits | 30 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 1428 | 1316 | 37 |
7 | Redcar Bears | 30 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 1369 | 1374 | 37 |
8 | Sheffield Tigers | 30 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 1381 | 1345 | 35 |
9 | Reading Racers | 30 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 1350 | 1405 | 34 |
10 | Scunthorpe Scorpions | 30 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 1309 | 1434 | 33 |
11 | Isle of Wight Islanders | 30 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 1359 | 1390 | 31 |
12 | Birmingham Brummies | 30 | 9 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 1317.5 | 1401.5 | 30 |
13 | Stoke Potters | 30 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 1307 | 1441 | 25 |
14 | Newcastle Diamonds | 30 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 1220 | 1501 | 22 |
15 | Glasgow Tigers | 30 | 8 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 1297 | 1469 | 19 |
16 | Mildenhall Fen Tigers | 30 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 932 | 1804 | 0 |
Premier League Knockout Cup
[edit]The 2008 Premier League Knockout Cup was the 41st edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Somerset Rebels were the winners of the competition.[6]
First round
Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
---|---|---|---|
11/04 | Scunthorpe | 44-48 | Sheffield |
10/04 | Sheffield | 55-36 | Scunthorpe |
Second round
Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
---|---|---|---|
23/04 | Birmingham | 43-47 | Glasgow |
20/04 | Glasgow | 40-52 | Birmingham |
24/04 | Redcar | 53-40 | Mildenhall |
27/04 | Mildenhall | 40-50 | Redcar |
13/05 | Isle of Wight | 54-38 | Sheffield |
24/04 | Sheffield | 52-38 | Isle of Wight |
25/04 | Edinburgh | 54-38 | Berwick |
26/04 | Berwick | 42-51 | Edinburgh |
25/04 | Somerset | 64-28 | Newcastle |
27/04 | Newcastle | 39-39 | Somerset |
26/04 | Rye House | 60-30 | Newport |
07/05 | Kings Lynn | 55-38 | Reading |
28/04 | Reading | 59-34 | King's Lynn |
27/04 | Stoke | 42-50 | Workington |
26/05 | Workington | 54-36 | Stoke |
ns match not staged Rye House into next round Quarter-finals
Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
---|---|---|---|
25/06 | Birmingham | 42-51 | Rye House |
31/05 | Rye House | 62-30 | Birmingham |
17/06 | Isle of Wight | 51-43 | Workington |
07/06 | Workington | 53-38 | Isle of Wight |
30/05 | Edinburgh | 55-38 | Redcar |
29/05 | Redcar | 39-53 | Edinburgh |
30/05 | Somerset | 53-39 | Reading |
29/06 | Reading | 51-44 | Somerset |
Semi-finals
Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
---|---|---|---|
27/09 | Workington | 53-39 | Edinburgh |
26/09 | Edinburgh | 49-41 | Workington |
25/08 | Rye House | 50-43 | Somerset |
22/08 | Somerset | 53-38 | Rye House |
Final
[edit]First leg
Workington Comets Jason Lyons (guest) 17 Joe Haines 9 Carl Stonehewer 8 John Branney 5 Charles Wright 3 Tony Reima 1 Kauko Nieminen R/R | 43 – 46 | Somerset Rebels Emil Kramer 10 Jason Doyle 10 Stephan Katt 9 Jordan Frampton 9 Matthias Kröger 6 Brent Werner 2 Simon Walker R/R |
---|---|---|
[7][8] |
Second leg
Somerset Rebels Jason Doyle 14 Emil Kramer 11 Brent Werner 10 Matthias Kröger 9 Jordan Frampton 7 Stephan Katt 1 Simon Walker R/R | 52 – 41 | Workington Comets Jason Lyons (guest) 17 Joe Haines 8 Tony Reima 8 Charles Wright 4 Carl Stonehewer 3 John Branney 1 Kauko Nieminen R/R |
---|---|---|
[7][9] |
Somerset were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 98–84.
Riders' Championship
[edit]Tai Woffinden won the Riders' Championship. The final was held on 21 September at Owlerton Stadium.[10]
Pos. | Rider | Pts | Total | SF | Final |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
2 1 3 3 3 | 12 | - | 3 |
2 | ![]() |
1 3 2 2 3 | 11 | 2 | 2 |
3 | ![]() |
2 2 3 3 2 | 12 | - | 1 |
4 | ![]() |
3 3 3 2 fex | 11 | 3 | 0 |
5 | ![]() |
3 3 2 0 3 | 11 | 1 | |
6 | ![]() |
3 3 2 2 2 | 12 | 0 | |
7 | ![]() |
1 2 3 3 1 | 10 | ||
8 | ![]() |
2 0 2 1 2 | 7 | ||
9 | ![]() |
1 1 1 2 1 | 6 | ||
10 | ![]() |
0 2 1 3 0 | 6 | ||
11 | ![]() |
2 1 0 1 1 | 5 | ||
12 | ![]() |
3 1 fex 1 ef | 5 | ||
13 | ![]() |
tex 2 0 1 2 | 5 | ||
14 | ![]() |
1 ef 1 0 1 | 3 | ||
15 | ![]() |
0 0 0 ef 3 | 3 | ||
16 | ![]() |
1 1 0 | 2 | ||
17 | ![]() |
0 0 | 0 | ||
18 | ![]() |
ef ns ns ns ns | 0 |
- f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure t=touched tapes
Pairs
[edit]The Premier League Pairs Championship was held at Oaktree Arena on 27 June. The event was won by Workington Comets.[11][12]
|
|
Semi finals
- Workington bt Sheffield 7-2
- Somerset bt Reading 5-4
Final
- Workington bt Somerset 6-3
Fours
[edit]Workington Comets won the Premier League Four-Team Championship for the fourth time, it was held on 26 July 2006, at Derwent Park.[13]
|
|
Final | |||
---|---|---|---|
Pos | Team | Pts | Riders |
1 | Workington | 20+3 | Nieminen 6+3, Stonehewer 6, Wright C 5, Haines 3 |
2 | King's Lynn | 20+2 | Topinka 9+2, Dolan 7, Tacey 2, Lambert 2 |
3 | Somerset | 19 | Doyle 7, Katt 5, Frampton 4, Werner 3 |
4 | Scunthorpe | 13 | Wilkinson 5, Hall 5, Bergstrom 3, Karlsson 0 |
Final leading averages
[edit]Rider | Team | Average |
---|---|---|
![]() |
Workington | 10.53 |
![]() |
Kings Lynn | 10.47 |
![]() |
Reading | 10.29 |
![]() |
Somerset | 10.28 |
![]() |
Rye House | 10.15 |
![]() |
Berwick | 10.07 |
![]() |
Kings Lynn | 9.98 |
![]() |
Birmingham | 9.97 |
![]() |
Workington | 9.50 |
![]() |
Glasgow | 9.38 |
Riders & final averages
[edit]Berwick
- Adrian Rymel 10.07
- Michal Makovský 8.27
- Paul Clews 6.92
- Norbert Magosi 6.47
- Tero Aarnio 6.36
- Scott Smith 5.87
- Guglielmo Franchetti 4.91
- Tony Atkin 4.67
- Adam McKinna 3.03
Birmingham
- Jason Lyons 9.97
- Adam Roynon 8.65
- Tomasz Piszcz 7.88
- Craig Watson 7.68
- Kyle Legault 7.37
- James Birkinshaw 5.56
- Lee Smart 5.21
- Jack Roberts 4.38
- Ben Taylor 3.79
- James Cockle 3.67
- Jack Hargreaves 3.59
- Jay Herne 2.94
Edinburgh
- Ryan Fisher 8.80
- Matthew Wethers 8.28
- William Lawson 8.00
- Thomas H. Jonasson 7.78
- Andrew Tully 7.73
- Derek Sneddon 7.11
- Aaron Summers 6.15
Glasgow
- Shane Parker 9.38
- Robert Ksiezak 6.97
- Trent Leverington 6.80
- Josh Grajczonek 6.22
- Ross Brady 5.79
- Lee Dicken 5.55
- Anders Andersen 4.58
- Mitchell Davey 2.94
Isle of Wight
- Jason Bunyan 8.07
- Krzysztof Stojanowski 7.35
- Cory Gathercole 7.32
- Paul Fry 7.10
- Glen Phillips 7.00
- James Holder 6.10
- Richard Sweetman 5.82
- Andrew Bargh 3.96
King's Lynn
- Kevin Doolan 10.47
- Tomáš Topinka 9.98
- Shaun Tacey 7.28
- Russell Harrison 7.12
- Simon Lambert 6.61
- John Oliver 6.35
- Kozza Smith 6.23
Mildenhall
- Kaj Laukkanen 8.17
- Robbie Kessler 7.44
- Theo Pijper 4.98
- Michał Rajkowski 4.66
- Sebastian Truminski 4.57
- Jan Graversen 4.51
- Marek Mroz 4.35
- Mark Baseby 3.46
- Henning Loof 3.05
- Casper Wortmann 3.05
- Luke Priest 2.67
- Jari Makinen 2.31
- Matthew Wright 2.29
Newcastle
- Josef Franc 7.89
- Jason King 7.82
- Kenni Larsen 7.79
- Christian Henry 7.28
- George Štancl 7.20
- Ben Powell 5.43
- Richard Juul 4.31
- Sean Stoddart 4.18
- Jamie Robertson 3.79
- Jerran Hart 3.59
Newport (withdrew from league)
- Craig Watson 6.60
- Tony Atkin 6.44
- Sebastian Truminski 6.27
- Nick Simmons 5.91
- Paul Clews 5.49
- Marek Mroz 4.63
- Jerran Hart 2.40
Reading
- Ulrich Østergaard 10.29
- Mark Lemon 8.04
- Tom P. Madsen 6.66
- Chris Mills 5.76
- Tomáš Suchánek 5.34
- Jamie Smith 5.07
- Nicki Glanz 4.59
- Danny Warwick 4.56
Redcar
- Gary Havelock 9.27
- James Grieves 9.10
- Ty Proctor 8.24
- Chris Kerr 7.54
- Josh Auty 5.45
- Daniel Giffard 4.16
- Benji Compton 4.00
- Arlo Bugeja 3.63
- Joni Keskinen 1.28
Rye House
- Tai Woffinden 10.15
- Stefan Ekberg 8.11
- Chris Neath 8.10
- Tommy Allen 7.79
- Robert Mear 7.15
- Luke Bowen 6.20
- Danny Betson 5.03
- Daniel Halsey 3.78
Scunthorpe
- Magnus Karlsson 7.90
- Richard Hall 7.17
- Andrew Moore 7.16
- Carl Wilkinson 6.93
- Viktor Bergström 6.58
- Emiliano Sanchez 6.42
- Ben Powell 5.49
- Byron Bekker 4.62
- Benji Compton 3.52
Sheffield
- Andre Compton 9.09
- Ricky Ashworth 8.25
- Joel Parsons 7.29
- Ben Wilson 7.26
- Paul Cooper 6.38
- Lee Smethills 5.92
- Sam Martin 2.56
- Kyle Hughes 2.30
Somerset
- Jason Doyle 10.28
- Emil Kramer 8.14
- Simon Walker 8.05
- Jordan Frampton 7.31
- Stephan Katt 6.66
- Brent Werner 6.34
- Matthias Kröger 6.29
Stoke
- Ben Barker 8.23
- Lee Complin 7.95
- Andrew Moore 6.87
- Emiliano Sanchez 6.39
- Mark Burrows 5.64
- Jesper Kristiansen 5.63
- Klaus Jakobsen 5.48
- Barrie Evans 5.04
- Krister Jacobsen 4.64
Workington
- Daniel Nermark 10.53
- Kauko Nieminen .9.50
- Carl Stonehewer 7.93
- Joe Haines 6.22
- Charles Wright 5.12
- Tomi Reima 5.03
- John Branney 4.79
- Scott Smith 3.28
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "British Speedway 2008". British Speedway Promoters' Association. 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2008.
- ^ "The rise se and fall of Newport's speedway team which used to draw crowds of thousands". Wales Online. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
- ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - MODERN ERA (1991-PRESENT)". Official British Speedway website. Archived from the original on 1 September 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
- ^ "Wolves seal EL place". Sky Sports. 2008. Retrieved 23 November 2008.
- ^ "2008 fixtures & results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
- ^ "2008 Premier League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
- ^ a b "2008 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
- ^ "2008 KO cup final 1st leg". Speedway Updates. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
- ^ "2008 KO cup final 2nd leg". Speedway Updates. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
- ^ "Tai Woffinden: Wolves hope to re-sign World speedway champion". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
- ^ "2008 fixtures" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
- ^ "PREMIER LEAGUE PAIRS RESULT". Birmingham Speedway. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
- ^ "2008 season fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 8 July 2023.