2012 Elite League speedway season
League2012 Sky Sports Elite League
ChampionsSwindon Robins
Knockout CupPoole Pirates
Elite ShieldPoole Pirates
Riders ChampionshipChris Holder
Highest averageDarcy Ward
Division/s below2012 Premier League
2012 National League
Champions - Swindon Robins

The 2012 Elite League speedway season (also known as the Sky Sports Elite League for sponsorship reasons) was the 78th season of the top division of UK speedway and took place between March and October 2012.[1]

Summary

The Poole Pirates were the defending champions after winning in 2011.[2] Poole nearly repeated the success of the previous season but fell just short. They topped the regular season table for the third year running and won the Knockout Cup for the third year running but lost in the play off final to Swindon Robins. Darcy Ward and Chris Holder were exceptional for the Pirates again but Swindon's triumph (their first since 1967) was put down to a group of riders all maintaining consistent scores. They were Danes Hans Andersen and Peter Kildemand, Australians Troy Batchelor, Nick Morris and Jason Doyle (the latter recruited from Poole) and Sheffield born Simon Stead.[3]

Lakeside Hammers and British speedway was rocked by the news that one of their leading riders Lee Richardson had been killed in a race at the Olympic Stadium in Wrocław, Poland on 13 May. The Hammers did well to finish in a play off place without their main heat leader. Richardson was the 1999 World Under-21 champion and a leading British international. Richardson died of injuries he suffered after touching the wheels of the rider just in front and being thrown into the fence.[4] In recent years fatal accidents had become less frequent and this accident highlighted the dangers still involved in the sport. In part the accident was the catalyst for the decision to make air fences mandatory at tracks the following season.[5]

League table

PosClubMHomeAwayFA+/-Pts
3W2WDL4W3WD1LL
1 Poole Pirates 28 10 3 1 0 4 6 0 1 3 1355 1159 72
2 Swindon Robins 28 11 3 0 0 4 4 1 1 4 1382 1173 70
3 Birmingham Brummies 28 7 3 0 4 2 1 1 4 6 1276 1276 44
4 Lakeside Hammers 28 9 2 0 3 1 2 0 3 8 1279 1290 44
5 Eastbourne Eagles 28 9 3 0 2 1 1 0 2 10 1265 1277 42
6 Peterborough Panthers 28 9 3 1 1 0 1 0 5 8 1266 1287 42
7 Kings Lynn Stars 28 6 2 2 4 2 0 0 4 8 1278 1272 36
8 Coventry Bees 28 4 4 1 5 0 1 2 4 6 1217 1229 32
9 Wolverhampton Wolves 28 7 3 0 4 0 0 1 2 10 1178 1286 31
10 Belle Vue Aces 28 3 2 0 7 0 0 0 2 12 1072 1319 15
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

Lakeside43 – 47Poole Pirates
Birmingham35 – 55Swindon

Leg 2

Poole61 – 30Lakeside
Swindon55 - 37Birmingham

Grand final

First leg

Swindon
Andersen 11
Kildemand 10
Alden 8
Stead 8
Morris 6
Batchelor 5
Lampart 3		51 - 44Poole
Ward 15
Holder 13
Kasprzak 10
Masters 3
Kling 2
Howarth 1
[6]
Abbey Stadium

Second leg

Poole
Kasprzak 16
Holder 12
Harris 8
Eklof 5
Kling 3
Lindgren 1		45 (89) - 44 (95)Swindon
Kildemand 11
Andersen 8
Stead 8
Batchelor 7
Alden 5
Morris 5
Lampart 0
[7]
Wimborne Road

The Swindon Robins were declared Elite League Champions, winning on aggregate 95-89.

Elite League Knockout Cup

The 2012 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 74th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Poole Pirates were the winners of the competition for the third consecutive year.[8] The Knockout Cup was then suspended for four years until it was held again under the new name 2017 SGB Premiership Team KO Cup.

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
10/10Belle Vue35-42Birmingham
not stagedBirminghamBelle Vue
02/06Lakeside38-49Coventry
01/06Coventry52-41Lakeside
not stagedSwindonPeterborough
not stagedPeterboroughSwindon
30/05Poole50-43Wolverhampton
21/05Wolverhampton39-54Poole

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
25/10Peterborough50-43Poole
24/10Poole51-39Peterborough
18/10Birmingham45-45Coventry
12/10Coventry51-45Birmingham

Final

26 October [9] Coventry Bees
Nicholls 10
Szczepaniak 7
Summers 6
Kennett 5
Larsen 4
Hall 3
Harris 3		 38–52 Poole Pirates
Iversen 15
Schlein 11
Kasprzak 9
Masters 9
Lindgren 7
Eklof 1		 Brandon Stadium

29 October [10] Poole Pirates
Kasprzak 14
Iversen 13
Schlein 10
Howarth 7
Risager 4
Lindgren 2		 50–40 Coventry Bees
Szczepaniak 13
Nicholls 11
Harris 6
Kennett 5
Summers 2
Larsen 2
Johnson 1		 Wimborne Road

The Poole Pirates were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 102-78.

Riders' Championship

Chris Holder won the Riders' Championship. The final was held at Abbey Stadium on 20 October.[11][12]

Pos.RiderPtsTotalSFFinal
1Australia Chris Holder3 3 3 0 312x3
2Denmark Niels Kristian Iversen3 0 3 3 312x2
3England Chris Harris2 3 2 2 21131
4Australia Rory Schlein2 2 1 3 2102f/exc
5Denmark Michael Jepsen Jensen3 3 2 3 0111
6England Scott Nicholls2 3 1 1 3100
7Denmark Hans Andersen3 1 3 0 18
8Denmark Mads Korneliussen0 1 3 2 28
9United States Ryan Fisher1 2 2 2 07
10Denmark Peter Kildemand1 2 f/exc 1 26
11Australia Sam Masters1 2 0 2 16
12Sweden Peter Karlsson1 0 0 1 35
13Finland Joonas Kylmäkorpi0 1 0 3 15
14England Lewis Bridger2 0 1 1 04
15Sweden Freddie Lindgren0 0 2 0 13
16England Danny Kingret 1 1 0 02
  • f=fell, exc=excluded, ret=retired

Leading averages

Rider Team Average
Australia Darcy WardPoole10.90
Australia Chris HolderPoole10.31
Poland Krzysztof KasprzakPoole10.18
Denmark Niels Kristian IversenKings Lynn9.51
England Tai WoffindenWolverhampton9.09
Sweden Freddie LindgrenWolverhampton9.08
Denmark Hans AndersenPeterborough8.95
Sweden Peter KarlssonLakeside8.76
England Lee RichardsonLakeside8.74
England Chris HarrisCoventry8.59

Riders & averages

Belle Vue

Birmingham

Coventry

Eastbourne

King's Lynn

Lakeside

Peterborough

Poole

Swindon

Wolverhampton

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ↑ "2012 league tables". Speedway GB.
  3. ↑ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  4. ↑ "Speedway's Lee Richardson 'aware of the danger'". BBC. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  5. ↑ "Speedway clubs face air safety fence cash worry". BBC. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  6. ↑ "SWINDON: ROBINS 51 POOLE 44 (EL GRAND FINAL.1)". British Speedway. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  7. ↑ "SWINDON: POOLE 45 ROBINS 44 (EL GRAND FINAL.2) - SWINDON ARE CHAMPIONS!". British Speedway. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  8. ↑ "2012 Elite League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  9. ↑ "COVENTRY: BEES 38 POOLE 52 (KOC FINAL.1)". British Speedway. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  10. ↑ "COVENTRY: POOLE 50 BEES 40 (KOC FINAL.2)". British Speedway. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  11. ↑ "Elite League Riders' Championship". WWOS Backup. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  12. ↑ "ELITE LEAGUE RIDERS' CHAMPIONSHIP". Swindon Advertiser. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
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