2010 Elite League speedway season
| League | Sky Sports Elite League | 
|---|---|
| Champions | Coventry Bees | 
| Knockout Cup | Poole Pirates | 
| Elite Shield | Wolverhampton Wolves | 
| Individual | Freddie Lindgren | 
| Pairs | Coventry Bees | 
| Highest average | Freddie Lindgren | 
| Division/s below | 2010 Premier League 2010 National League | 
The 2010 Elite League speedway season (also known as the Sky Sports Elite League for sponsorship reasons) was the 76th season of the top division of UK speedway and the 14th since its establishment in 1997.[1]
Summary
The first fixtures of the season took place on 29 March and the season ended on 27 October. The Wolverhampton Wolves were the defending champions from 2009.[2]
The negative side of playoffs was experienced during the 2010 season when Coventry Bees claimed the title. Coventry had finished in the fourth and final play off spot, 26 points behind regular season table winners Poole Pirates, who in turn had finished 20 points ahead of their nearest rivals racking up 78 points in total. Coventry went on to win their semi final and then defeat Poole in the final. Although Poole won the Knockout Cup there was a distinct feeling of an injustice. Poole's Australian contingent of Chris Holder, Darcy Ward, Davey Watt and Jason Doyle had been consistent all season except during the play off final and Coventry's Polish duo of Krzysztof Kasprzak and Przemysław Pawlicki both hit great form on the night.[3]
League table
| Pos | Club | M | Home | Away | F | A | +/- | Pts | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3W | 2W | D | L | 4W | 3W | D | 1L | L | |||||||
| 1 | Poole Pirates | 32 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 1667 | 1278 | 78 | |
| 2 | Wolverhampton Wolves | 32 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 1527 | 1432 | 61 | |
| 3 | Peterborough Panthers | 32 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 1495 | 1464 | 53 | |
| 4 | Coventry Bees | 32 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1469 | 1475 | 52 | |
| 5 | Lakeside Hammers | 32 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 1447 | 1503 | 48 | |
| 6 | Swindon Robins | 32 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 1476 | 1493 | 44 | |
| 7 | Eastbourne Eagles | 32 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 1406 | 1533 | 41 | |
| 8 | Belle Vue Aces | 32 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 1413 | 1539 | 40 | |
| 9 | Ipswich Witches | 32 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 1386 | 1569 | 26 | |
| Key: | |
|---|---|
| Championship play-offs | |
| Relegation 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
'A' Fixtures
'B' Fixtures
Championship play-offs
Semi-finals
Leg 1
| Wolverhampton Wolves | 44.5 – 44.5 | Poole Pirates | 
|---|---|---|
| Freddie Lindgren 14.5 | report | Bjarne Pedersen 10 | 
| Coventry Bees | 52 – 38 | Peterborough Panthers | 
|---|---|---|
| Krzysztof Kasprzak 10+1 | report | Rory Schlein 10 | 
Leg 2
| Poole Pirates | 53 – 41 | Wolverhampton Wolves | 
|---|---|---|
| Bjarne Pedersen 13 | Freddie Lindgren 14+1 | 
| Peterborough Panthers | 44 - 49 | Coventry Bees | 
|---|---|---|
| Krzysztof Buczkowski 14+1 | Chris Harris 13 | 
Grand final
First leg
| Coventry Bees | 51 - 39 | Poole Pirates | 
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Krzysztof Kasprzak | 3, 2, 3, X, 3 | 11 | |
| 2 | Richard Sweetman | 1, 1', 1 | 3+1 | |
| 3 | Ben Barker | 0, 3, 0, X | 3 | |
| 4 | Edward Kennett | 2, 2', 2, 1' | 7+2 | |
| 5 | Chris Harris | 2', 1', 1', 3, X | 7+3 | |
| 6 | Lewis Bridger | 3, 2, 1, 2, 2 | 10 | |
| 7 | Przemysław Pawlicki | 2', 3, 3, 2 | 10+1 | |
| Manager: Alun Rossiter | ||||
|   | ||||
| 1 | Chris Holder | 2, 0, 3, 2, X | 7 | |
| 2 | Darcy Ward | X, 1, F, 0 | 1 | |
| 3 | Artur Mroczka | 1, 0, 0 | 1 | |
| 4 | Bjarne Pedersen | 3, 3, 4^, 3, 2 | 15 | |
| 5 | Davey Watt | 0, 3, 3, X | 6 | |
| 6 | Leon Madsen | 0, 0, 1, 3 | 4 | |
| 7 | Jason Doyle | 1, 1, 2, 1, F | 5 | |
| Manager: Neil Middleditch | ||||
|   | ||||
Second leg
| Poole Pirates | 40 (79) - 50 (101) | Coventry Bees | 
|---|---|---|
| 
 
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coventry were declared Elite League Champions, on Aggregate 101-79.
Elite League Knockout Cup
The 2010 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 72nd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Poole Pirates were the winners of the competition.[6]
First round
| Date | Team one | Score | Team two | 
|---|---|---|---|
| 12/04 | Wolverhampton | 56-39 | Ipswich | 
| 08/04 | Ipswich | 43-46 | Wolverhampton | 
Quarter-finals
| Date | Team one | Score | Team two | 
|---|---|---|---|
| 10/06 | Swindon | 49-41 | Peterborough | 
| 17/09 | Peterborough | 58-37 | Swindon | 
| 05/07 | Belle Vue | 50-40 | Poole | 
| 21/07 | Poole | 57-35 | Belle Vue | 
| 19/07 | Coventry | 48-42 | Wolverhampton | 
| 30/09 | Wolverhampton | 51-43 | Coventry | 
| 23/09 | Eastbourne | 53-41 | Lakeside | 
| 24/09 | Lakeside | 45-45 | Eastbourne | 
Semi-finals
| Date | Team one | Score | Team two | 
|---|---|---|---|
| 13/10 | Poole | 58-36 | Peterborough | 
| 11/10 | Peterborough | 43-50 | Poole | 
| 11/10 | Wolverhampton | 44-46 | Eastbourne | 
| 10/10 | Eastbourne | 63-29 | Wolverhampton | 
Final
First leg
| Eastbourne Matej Žagar 11 Joonas Kylmakorpi 10 Cameron Woodward 9 Lewis Bridger 9 Simon Gustafsson 7 Ricky Kling 3 | 49 - 41 | Poole Chris Holder 10 Davey Watt 9 Darcy Ward 6 Leon Madsen 6 Jason Doyle 5 Bjarne Pedersen 4 Artur Mroczka 1 | 
|---|---|---|
| [7] | 
Second leg
| Poole Bjarne Pedersen 12 Chris Holder 11 Leon Madsen 11 Darcy Ward 9 Davey Watt 7 Jason Doyle 4 | 54 - 41 | Eastbourne Joonas Kylmakorpi 14 Lewis Bridger 9 Cameron Woodward 7 Matej Žagar 6 Simon Gustafsson 5 Ricky Kling 0 | 
|---|---|---|
| [8] | 
The Poole Pirates were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 95-90.
Riders' Championship
Freddie Lindgren won the Riders' Championship. The final was held at East of England Arena on 16 October.[9]
| Pos. | Rider | Pts | Total | SF | Final | 
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Freddie Lindgren | 3 2 0 3 3 | 11 | x | 3 | 
| 2 |  Chris Harris | 2 3 3 2 3 | 13 | x | 2 | 
| 3 |  Kenneth Bjerre | 3 2 0 3 2 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 
| 4 |  Bjarne Pedersen | 3 0 1 3 3 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 
| 5 | .svg.png) Chris Holder | 3 0 3 1 1 | 8 | 1 | |
| 6 |  Scott Nicholls | 2 3 2 1 2 | 10 | 0 | |
| 7 |  Simon Stead | 1 2 1 2 2 | 8 | ||
| 8 |  Kauko Nieminen | 1 2 2 0 3 | 8 | ||
| 9 |  Niels Kristian Iversen | 2 1 3 2 | 8 | ||
| 10 |  Hans Andersen | 0 0 2 3 2 | 7 | ||
| 11 |  Joonas Kylmäkorpi | 0 1 3 2 0 | 6 | ||
| 12 |  Danny King | 1 3 2 0 0 | 6 | ||
| 13 |  Peter Karlsson | 0 3 1 - 1 | 5 | ||
| 14 |  Tai Woffinden | 2 1 0 0 1 | 4 | ||
| 15 | .svg.png) Cameron Woodward | 0 1 0 1 1 | 3 | ||
| 16 |  Krzysztof Kasprzak | 1 0 1 1 - | 3 | ||
| 17 |  Lewis Kerr (res) | 0 | 0 | 
Pairs
The Elite League Pairs Championship was held at the Foxhall Stadium on 4 September and was won by Coventry Bees.[10]
| Pos | Team | Pts | Riders | 
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coventry | 26 | Kasprzak 14, Harris 12 | 
| 2 | Poole | 23 | Pedersen 12, Holder 11 | 
| 3 | Lakeside | 22 | Shields 12, Davidsson 10 | 
| 4 | Peterborough | 20 | Bjerre 10, Iversen 10 | 
| 5 | Swindon | 18 | Zengota 11, Korneliussen 7 | 
| 6 | Ipswich | 17 | King 9, Nicholls 8 | 
| 7 | Wolves | 15 | Klindt 12, Haines 3 | 
| 8 | Eastbourne | 13 | Kling 9, Woodward 4 | 
| 9 | Belle Vue | 8 | Wright J 6, Sitera 2 | 
Semi finals
- Eastbourne 7 Peterborough 2 - Harris, Kasprzak, Iversen, Bjerre
- Poole 7 Lakeside 2 - Holder, Pedersen, Shields, Jacobs
Final
- Coventry 5 Poole 4 - Kasprzak, Harris, Holder, Pedersen
Final leading averages
| Rider | Team | Average | 
|---|---|---|
|  Freddie Lindgren | Wolverhampton | 10.23 | 
| .svg.png) Leigh Adams | Swindon | 9.90 | 
|  Kenneth Bjerre | Peterborough | 9.62 | 
|  Lee Richardson | Lakeside | 9.35 | 
|  Scott Nicholls | Ipswich | 9.34 | 
|  Krzysztof Kasprzak | Coventry | 9.02 | 
|  Bjarne Pedersen | Poole | 8.83 | 
|  Chris Harris | Coventry | 8.80 | 
|  Hans Andersen | Belle Vue | 8.70 | 
| .svg.png) Chris Holder | Poole | 8.58 | 
Riders & final averages
Belle Vue
-   Hans Andersen 8.70 Hans Andersen 8.70
-   Peter Karlsson 7.44 Peter Karlsson 7.44
-   Patrick Hougaard 6.77 Patrick Hougaard 6.77
-   Leigh Lanham 6.11 Leigh Lanham 6.11
-   Ulrich Østergaard 6.08 Ulrich Østergaard 6.08
-   James Wright	5.73 James Wright	5.73
-  .svg.png) Josh Grajczonek 4.66 Josh Grajczonek 4.66
-   William Lawson	4.47 William Lawson	4.47
-   Tobias Kroner3.87 Tobias Kroner3.87
-   Ricky Ashworth 3.73 Ricky Ashworth 3.73
-   Filip Šitera 2.80 Filip Šitera 2.80
Coventry
-   Krzysztof Kasprzak 9.02 Krzysztof Kasprzak 9.02
-   Chris Harris 8.80 Chris Harris 8.80
-   Edward Kennett 7.25 Edward Kennett 7.25
-   Przemysław Pawlicki 7.08 Przemysław Pawlicki 7.08
-  .svg.png) Rory Schlein 7.00 Rory Schlein 7.00
-   Ben Barker 6.56 Ben Barker 6.56
-   Lewis Bridger 6.29 Lewis Bridger 6.29
-  .svg.png) Richard Sweetman 6.11 Richard Sweetman 6.11
-  .svg.png) Aaron Summers 4.39 Aaron Summers 4.39
-   Josh Auty 3.65 Josh Auty 3.65
-   Filip Šitera 3.38 Filip Šitera 3.38
Eastbourne
-   Matej Žagar 8.29 Matej Žagar 8.29
-   Joonas Kylmakorpi 7.56 Joonas Kylmakorpi 7.56
-  .svg.png) Cameron Woodward 7.26 Cameron Woodward 7.26
-   Simon Gustafsson 6.27 Simon Gustafsson 6.27
-   Tomasz Jędrzejak 6.04 Tomasz Jędrzejak 6.04
-   Lukáš Dryml 5.93 Lukáš Dryml 5.93
-   Ricky Kling 5.44 Ricky Kling 5.44
-   Chris Schramm 4.61 Chris Schramm 4.61
-   Dawid Lampart 4.34 Dawid Lampart 4.34
Ipswich
-   Scott Nicholls 9.34 Scott Nicholls 9.34
-   Danny King 7.39 Danny King 7.39
-   Linus Sundstrom 6.79 Linus Sundstrom 6.79
-   Robert Miśkowiak 6.56 Robert Miśkowiak 6.56
-   Aleš Dryml Jr. 6.07 Aleš Dryml Jr. 6.07
-   Dawid Stachyra 5.83 Dawid Stachyra 5.83
-   Oliver Allen 5.67 Oliver Allen 5.67
-   Krzysztof Słaboń 5.03 Krzysztof Słaboń 5.03
-   Claus Vissing 3.71 Claus Vissing 3.71
-  .svg.png) Kozza Smith 3.69 Kozza Smith 3.69
-   Ritchie Hawkins 3.61 Ritchie Hawkins 3.61
-   Carl Wilkinson 2.11 Carl Wilkinson 2.11
Lakeside
-   Lee Richardson 9.35 Lee Richardson 9.35
-   Krzysztof Kasprzak 8.17 Krzysztof Kasprzak 8.17
-  .svg.png) Adam Shields 7.64 Adam Shields 7.64
-   Jonas Davidsson 6.87 Jonas Davidsson 6.87
-   Peter Ljung 6.10 Peter Ljung 6.10
-   Kauko Nieminen 5.96 Kauko Nieminen 5.96
-   Daniel Davidsson 5.49 Daniel Davidsson 5.49
-   Chris Neath 5.29 Chris Neath 5.29
-   Paul Hurry 4.73 Paul Hurry 4.73
-   Stuart Robson 4.64 Stuart Robson 4.64
Peterborough
-   Kenneth Bjerre 9.62 Kenneth Bjerre 9.62
-   Niels Kristian Iversen 7.93 Niels Kristian Iversen 7.93
-  .svg.png) Troy Batchelor 7.48 Troy Batchelor 7.48
-  .svg.png) Rory Schlein 7.25 Rory Schlein 7.25
-   Krzysztof Buczkowski 6.39 Krzysztof Buczkowski 6.39
-   Norbert Kosciuch 5.04 Norbert Kosciuch 5.04
-   Lewis Bridger 4.90 Lewis Bridger 4.90
-   Ulrich Østergaard 4.46 Ulrich Østergaard 4.46
-   Mathieu Trésarrieu 3.95 Mathieu Trésarrieu 3.95
-   Craig Cook 2.38 Craig Cook 2.38
Poole
-   Bjarne Pedersen 8.83 Bjarne Pedersen 8.83
-  .svg.png) Chris Holder 8.58 Chris Holder 8.58
-  .svg.png) Davey Watt 8.01 Davey Watt 8.01
-  .svg.png) Darcy Ward 7.93 Darcy Ward 7.93
-   Artur Mroczka 6.89 Artur Mroczka 6.89
-   Leon Madsen 6.74 Leon Madsen 6.74
-  .svg.png) Jason Doyle 6.25 Jason Doyle 6.25
Swindon
-  .svg.png) Leigh Adams 9.90 Leigh Adams 9.90
-   Simon Stead 8.21 Simon Stead 8.21
-   Mads Korneliussen 6.81 Mads Korneliussen 6.81
-   Maciej Janowski 6.62 Maciej Janowski 6.62
-   Grzegorz Zengota 6.52 Grzegorz Zengota 6.52
-   Thomas H. Jonasson 5.91 Thomas H. Jonasson 5.91
-   Morten Risager 4.39 Morten Risager 4.39
-  .svg.png) Cory Gathercole 3.86 Cory Gathercole 3.86
-  .svg.png) Justin Sedgmen 3.55 Justin Sedgmen 3.55
Wolverhampton
-   Freddie Lindgren 10.23 Freddie Lindgren 10.23
-   Tai Woffinden 7.54 Tai Woffinden 7.54
-   Nicolai Klindt 6.91 Nicolai Klindt 6.91
-   Adam Skórnicki 6.89 Adam Skórnicki 6.89
-  .svg.png) Ty Proctor 6.72 Ty Proctor 6.72
-   Joe Screen 6.52 Joe Screen 6.52
-  .svg.png) Matthew Wethers 5.30 Matthew Wethers 5.30
-   Ludvig Lindgren 5.26 Ludvig Lindgren 5.26
-   Joe Haines 3.55 Joe Haines 3.55
See also
- Speedway in the United Kingdom
- List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
- Knockout Cup (speedway)
References
- ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
- ^ "2010 league tables". Speedway GB.
- ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ "2010 fixtures & results". British Speedway. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
- ^ "2010 fixtures & results". British Speedway. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
- ^ "2010 Elite League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
- ^ "EASTBOURNE: EAGLES 49 POOLE 41 (KOC FINAL.1)". Speedway GB. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ "EASTBOURNE: POOLE 54 EAGLES 41 (KOC FINAL.2)". Speedway GB. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ "Elite League Riders' Championship". Speedway History. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
- ^ "2010 Elite League Pairs". Speedway Updates. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
