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]

Final league table

Key:
Promotion Play-Offs
PosClubMHomeAwayFA+/-Pts
WDLWDL
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.[5]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
11/04Scunthorpe44-48Sheffield
10/04Sheffield55-36Scunthorpe

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
23/04Birmingham43-47Glasgow
20/04Glasgow40-52Birmingham
24/04Redcar53-40Mildenhall
27/04Mildenhall40-50Redcar
13/05Isle of Wight54-38Sheffield
24/04Sheffield52-38Isle of Wight
25/04Edinburgh54-38Berwick
26/04Berwick42-51Edinburgh
25/04Somerset64-28Newcastle
27/04Newcastle39-39Somerset
26/04Rye House60-30Newport
07/05Kings Lynn55-38Reading
28/04Reading59-34King's Lynn
27/04Stoke42-50Workington
26/05Workington54-36Stoke

ns match not staged Rye House into next round

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
25/06Birmingham42-51Rye House
31/05Rye House62-30Birmingham
17/06Isle of Wight51-43Workington
07/06Workington53-38Isle of Wight
30/05Edinburgh55-38Redcar
29/05Redcar39-53Edinburgh
30/05Somerset53-39Reading
29/06Reading51-44Somerset

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
27/09Workington53-39Edinburgh
26/09Edinburgh49-41Workington
25/08Rye House50-43Somerset
22/08Somerset53-38Rye 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
[6][7]

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
[6][8]

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.[9]

Pos.RiderPtsTotalSFFinal
1England Tai Woffinden2 1 3 3 312-3
2Australia Jason Doyle1 3 2 2 31122
3Czech Republic Adrian Rymel2 2 3 3 212-1
4Finland Kauko Nieminen3 3 3 2 fex1130
5England Ben Barker3 3 2 0 3111
6England Jason Bunyan3 3 2 2 2120
7Australia Shane Parker1 2 3 3 110
8Denmark Ulrich Østergaard2 0 2 1 27
9England Jason King1 1 1 2 16
10Australia Kevin Doolan0 2 1 3 06
11Sweden Magnus Karlsson2 1 0 1 15
12England Andre Compton3 1 fex 1 ef5
13Australia Jason Lyonstex 2 0 1 25
14England Gary Havelock1 ef 1 0 13
15Scotland William Lawson0 0 0 ef 33
16England Scott Richardson (res)1 1 02
17England Ben Taylor (res)0 00
18Germany Henning Loofef ns ns ns ns0
  • 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.[10][11]

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.[12]

Final
Pos Team Pts Riders
1Workington20+3Nieminen 6+3, Stonehewer 6, Wright C 5, Haines 3
2King's Lynn20+2Topinka 9+2, Dolan 7, Tacey 2, Lambert 2
3Somerset19Doyle 7, Katt 5, Frampton 4, Werner 3
4Scunthorpe13Wilkinson 5, Hall 5, Bergstrom 3, Karlsson 0

Final leading averages

Rider Team Average
Sweden Daniel NermarkWorkington10.53
Australia Kevin DoolanKings Lynn10.47
Denmark Ulrich ØstergaardReading10.29
Australia Jason DoyleSomerset10.28
England Tai WoffindenRye House10.15
Czech Republic Adrian RymelBerwick10.07
Czech Republic Tomáš TopinkaKings Lynn9.98
Australia Jason LyonsBirmingham9.97
Finland Kauko NieminenWorkington9.50
Australia Shane ParkerGlasgow9.38

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 2008-11-23.
  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 2008-11-23.
  5. ↑ "2008 Premier League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  6. 1 2 "2008 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  7. ↑ "2008 KO cup final 1st leg". Speedway Updates. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  8. ↑ "2008 KO cup final 2nd leg". Speedway Updates. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  9. ↑ "Tai Woffinden: Wolves hope to re-sign World speedway champion". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  10. ↑ "2008 fixtures" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  11. ↑ "PREMIER LEAGUE PAIRS RESULT". Birmingham Speedway. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  12. ↑ "2008 season fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
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