2008 Premier League speedway season

2008 Premier League speedway season
LeaguePremier League
ChampionsEdinburgh Monarchs
Knockout CupSomerset Rebels
Premier TrophyEdinburgh Monarchs
Young ShieldWorkington Comets
IndividualTai Woffinden
PairsWorkington Comets
FoursWorkington Comets
Highest averageDaniel Nermark
Division/s above2008 Elite League
Division/s below2008 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

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

Home \ Away BER BIR ED GLA IOW KL MT NEW RR RED RYE SCU SHE SOM STO WOR
Berwick Bandits 58–34 45–45 54–39 46–44 45–45 72–18 62–31 61–32 46–44 60–33 48–42 52–41 58–35 52–41 48–41
Birmingham Brummies 42–48 40–51 52–40 52–38 38–54 61–32 46–44 40–49 46–45 42–48 53–37 46–44 48–44 46–47 47.5–42.5
Edinburgh Monarchs 59–33 52–29 54–39 67–23 54–39 69–21 64–29 49–43 55–37 47–46 68–22 56–33 66–24 54–39 59–30
Glasgow Tigers 50–43 40–53 45–47 51–42 46–47 55–37 44–46 60–32 42–48 52–41 46–44 44–46 51–39 56–36 41–49
Isle of Wight Islanders 53–40 51–41 60–32 51–42 49–41 65–28 68–22 58–34 53–40 51–42 60–32 54–39 41–49 56–37 49–44
King's Lynn Stars 61–29 66–24 45–45 61–32 68–23 72–18 65–27 59–31 66–27 62–31 63–28 59–35 68–25 67–25 61–32
Mildenhall Fen Tigers 29–61 36–55 30–60 35–56 41–52 23–67 39–53 42–51 35–58 27–65 40–53 27–65 37–55 34–56 31–53
Newcastle Diamonds 47–42 44–46 40–49 53–42 48–42 50–42 68–22 45–44 42–48 33–41 46–47 48–41 47–48 48–42 42–48
Reading Racers 47–46 48–42 41–48 51–43 46–44 45–45 60–33 60–32 57–35 47–46 49–44 60–33 39–53 54–41 54–39
Redcar Bears 51–41 46–44 49–41 55–38 52–41 43–47 53–40 59–33 42–48 50–43 50–40 54–39 39–54 51–40 47–43
Rye House Rockets 57–33 53–40 48–42 65–27 66–24 49–41 66–23 59–34 54–39 65–26 54–38 61–32 65–25 55–37 52–40
Scunthorpe Scorpions 52–41 49–44 39–53 54–39 53–40 46–43 48–42 56–36 53–40 52–41 40–53 43–47 51–39 46–44 47–43
Sheffield Tigers 48–42 40–44 55–36 63–29 59–33 48–40 65–27 55–38 51–42 45–45 54–36 52–38 50–40 52–38 40–50
Somerset Rebels 58–34 48–45 48–44 63–29 67–22 53–40 72–18 65–25 62–31 48–42 66–27 63–29 60–30 68–22 57–36
Stoke Potters 55–37 56–36 36–57 49–43 53–40 45–45 54–39 54–38 51–40 41–48 54–35 43–47 58–34 43–45 36–59
Workington Comets 42–51 51–41 53–39 59–36 58–32 45–45 64–28 61–31 54–36 49–44 46–44 54–39 45–45 46–44 59–34
Source: [5]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Final league table

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

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

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 – 46Somerset 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 – 41Workington 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

Tai Woffinden won the Riders' Championship. The final was held on 21 September at Owlerton Stadium.[10]

Pos. Rider Pts Total SF Final
1 England Tai Woffinden 2 1 3 3 3 12 - 3
2 Australia Jason Doyle 1 3 2 2 3 11 2 2
3 Czech Republic Adrian Rymel 2 2 3 3 2 12 - 1
4 Finland Kauko Nieminen 3 3 3 2 fex 11 3 0
5 England Ben Barker 3 3 2 0 3 11 1
6 England Jason Bunyan 3 3 2 2 2 12 0
7 Australia Shane Parker 1 2 3 3 1 10
8 Denmark Ulrich Østergaard 2 0 2 1 2 7
9 England Jason King 1 1 1 2 1 6
10 Australia Kevin Doolan 0 2 1 3 0 6
11 Sweden Magnus Karlsson 2 1 0 1 1 5
12 England Andre Compton 3 1 fex 1 ef 5
13 Australia Jason Lyons tex 2 0 1 2 5
14 England Gary Havelock 1 ef 1 0 1 3
15 Scotland William Lawson 0 0 0 ef 3 3
16 England Scott Richardson (res) 1 1 0 2
17 England Ben Taylor (res) 0 0 0
18 Germany Henning Loof ef ns ns ns ns 0
  • f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure t=touched tapes

Pairs

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

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

Rider Team Average
Sweden Daniel Nermark Workington 10.53
Australia Kevin Doolan Kings Lynn 10.47
Denmark Ulrich Østergaard Reading 10.29
Australia Jason Doyle Somerset 10.28
England Tai Woffinden Rye House 10.15
Czech Republic Adrian Rymel Berwick 10.07
Czech Republic Tomáš Topinka Kings Lynn 9.98
Australia Jason Lyons Birmingham 9.97
Finland Kauko Nieminen Workington 9.50
Australia Shane Parker Glasgow 9.38

Riders & final averages

Berwick

Birmingham

Edinburgh

Glasgow

Isle of Wight

King's Lynn

Mildenhall

Newcastle

Newport (withdrew from league)

Reading

Redcar

Rye House

Scunthorpe

Sheffield

Somerset

Stoke

Workington

See also

References

  1. ^ "British Speedway 2008". British Speedway Promoters' Association. 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2008.
  2. ^ "The rise se and fall of Newport's speedway team which used to draw crowds of thousands". Wales Online. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
  3. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - MODERN ERA (1991-PRESENT)". Official British Speedway website. Archived from the original on 1 September 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  4. ^ "Wolves seal EL place". Sky Sports. 2008. Retrieved 23 November 2008.
  5. ^ "2008 fixtures & results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  6. ^ "2008 Premier League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  7. ^ a b "2008 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  8. ^ "2008 KO cup final 1st leg". Speedway Updates. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  9. ^ "2008 KO cup final 2nd leg". Speedway Updates. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  10. ^ "Tai Woffinden: Wolves hope to re-sign World speedway champion". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  11. ^ "2008 fixtures" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  12. ^ "PREMIER LEAGUE PAIRS RESULT". Birmingham Speedway. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  13. ^ "2008 season fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 8 July 2023.