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2008 Elite League Speedway Season
The 2008 Elite League speedway season (also known as the Sky Sports Elite League for sponsorship reasons) was the 74th season of the top division of UK speedway and the 12th since its establishment as the Elite League. The first fixtures of the season took place on 29 March and the season ended on 27 October. The Coventry Bees were the defending champions from 2007. Summary New rules introduced for 2008 included three points for an away win compared to two points in 2007, and the removal of the bonus point, in which a team was awarded an extra point for an aggregate win over home and away matches against another team. Also new in 2008 was a relegation and promotion playoff between an Elite League team and a Premier League team. The two teams that finish bottom of the Elite League will face in each other in a two legged playoff with the loser facing the Premier League playoff winner over two legs. The Poole Pirates finished top of the league table, with the Lakeside Hammers, S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elite League (speedway)
The Elite League was the top division of Motorcycle speedway, speedway league competition in the United Kingdom, governed by the The Speedway Control Bureau, Speedway Control Bureau (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA). It was founded in 1997 and was sponsored by Sky Sports until the end of the 2013 season. In 2016 Elite League speedway season, 2016, the Elite League featured 8 teams, unlike 10 in 2014 Elite League speedway season, 2014, during a season which ran between March and October. Each team had a designated race day on which they normally staged their home fixtures, and they regularly had home and away fixtures scheduled in the same week. The Elite League operated for 20 years until British speedway was restructured with the formation of the SGB Premiership and SGB Championship. Brief history The British League was formed in 1965 as the sole professional speedway league in Britain, expanding in 1968 to incorporate two divisions. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It has played a major role in the increased commercialisation of British sport since 1991, and has sometimes played a large role inducing organisational changes in the sports it broadcasts, most notably when it encouraged the Football League First Division, First Division to break away from the English Football League, Football League to form the Premier League in 1992. Sky Sports Main Event, Premier League, Football, Cricket, Golf, F1, Action and Tennis are available as a premium package on top of the basic Sky package. These services are also available as premium channels on nearly every satellite, cable television, cable and IPTV broadcasting system in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Sky ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chris Holder
Christopher Robert Holder (born 24 September 1987 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian speedway rider, who was the 2012 World Speedway Champion. He is also five times Australian champion (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014. Career Holder won the Australian Under-21 Championship in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, in addition to finishing runner-up in the Under-21 World Championship in 2007 and 2008. He started racing in the United Kingdom with the Isle of Wight Islanders in 2006. In 2007, he won the Premier League Pairs Championship partnering Jason Bunyan for the Isle of Wight, during the 2007 Premier League speedway season and was part of the Isle of Wight four who won the Premier League Four-Team Championship, held on 8 July 2007, at the East of England Arena Additionally in 2007, he rode for Atlas Wrocław in the Polish Speedway Ekstraliga. Holder won the Swedish Allsvenskan in 2007 and the Elitserien in 2008 and 2009 with Lejonen. In 2008, Holder signed for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daniel Davidsson
Daniel Jan Johan Davidsson (born 17 March 1983 in Motala, Sweden) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Sweden. Career Davidsson came to prominence after reaching the World Under 21 final in 2002 and 2004. In between the two finals he signed for his first British team Poole Pirates for the 2003 Elite League speedway season and 2004 Elite League speedway season. The team completed two league and cup doubles during those years, although Davidsson was only really active for them in 2004. He spent 2005 at Coventry Bees and Peterborough Panthers respectively, and sealed a third league title with Coventry during the 2005 Elite League speedway season. He returned to Poole in 2006 and 2008. After the 2009 season he was transferred from Poole to Lakeside Hammers. He reached three successive Swedish Individual Speedway Championships from 2008 to 2010. In 2019, he was the team manager of Piraterna in the Elitserien. Family His brother, Jonas Davidsson (born 1984), was also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bjarne Pedersen
Bjarne Aagaard Pedersen (born 12 July 1978 in Holstebro, Denmark) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider who represented Denmark in the Speedway World Cup, winning it on two occasions: in 2006 and 2008. Career summary Pedersen began his speedway career in 1990. He won his first title in 1994 winning a Danish junior pairs championship with Charlie Gjedde. However, he did not ride as a full-time professional until 2000. Pedersen began his United Kingdom racing career in with the Newcastle Diamonds in the Premier League. He took part in his first two Speedway Grand Prix events in 2002, both as a wild card. His first full Speedway Grand Prix season came in 2003, but it was not until 2004 when Pedersen won his only Grand Prix to date at the European GP in Wrocław. Also in 2004, he won the Elite League Riders' Championship, held at Wimborne Road on 17 October. Pedersen admitted at the end of the 2007 season that he had lost enthusiasm for riding in Speedway Gran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magnus Zetterström
Hans Magnus Zetterström (born 9 December 1971 in Eskilstuna, Sweden) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from Sweden. He earned 3 caps for the Sweden national speedway team. Career Zetterström's first season in the British leagues was in 1996, when he joined the Poole Pirates for the 1996 Premier League speedway season. He returned to Poole in 1998, where he would spend seven seasons in total, split by spells at Peterborough Panthers. He would also make his Polish league debut in 1999 for Lublin. Zetterström became European Champion in 2002. In 2005, he joined the Somerset Rebels and went on to win the Premier League Riders' Championship, held on 24 September 2006 at Owlerton Stadium. He was also part of the Somerset four who won the Premier League Four-Team Championship, held on 20 August 2005, at Derwent Park. In 2008, he became the Swedish Champion. In September 2009, during the Speedway Grand Prix Qualification he won the GP Challenge, which ensu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edinburgh Monarchs
The Edinburgh Monarchs are a Scottish speedway team based in Armadale. They compete in the SGB Championship, racing on Friday nights during the speedway season. The club is run by a board of directors, chaired by Alex Harkess and also runs a National Development League team called the Monarchs Academy. History Origins Speedway in Edinburgh began on 19 May 1928, with an open meeting organised by the Scottish Dirt Track Motor Racing Club at Marine Gardens in Portobello. Several team challenge matches were staged during 1929, including visits to London and Newcastle. 1930s The team joined Northern League for the 1930 season. Several open meetings were held in 1931 but speedway ceased. The Greyhound Racing Association secured a lease on New Year's Day 1931, which resulted in the disappearance of speedway for seven years until March 1938, when J. W. Fraser brought it back. In 1939, the team raced in multiple challenge matches and the Union Cup before the season ended ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wolverhampton Wolves
Wolverhampton Wolves were a British motorcycle speedway team based in Wolverhampton, England. They were champions of the United Kingdom five times and raced at Monmore Green Stadium from 1928 to 2023. History 1928–1930 Speedway (known as Dirt Track racing at the time) was first held at Monmore Green Stadium on 30 May 1928. It was arranged by the Birmingham Motor Cycle Club, and the meeting consisted of several feature races. The first meeting to feature the Wolverhampton team name was an Inter–Town race against Manchester on 25 August. After a series of challenge matches during 1929 and 1930, speedway would not return to Wolverhampton for twenty years. 1950s During 1948 and the post-war optimism, record crowds were attending speedway events up and down the country. With towns keen to cash in on the boom, Wolverhampton's stadium owners applied to the local council for a track to be re-built at the original site. Australian Arthur Simcock set the ball rolling and w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Sport
BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flagship analysis programmes such as ''Match of the Day'', ''Test Match Special'', ''Ski Sunday'' and ''Today at Wimbledon''. Results, analysis and coverage is also added to the #BBC Sport Online, BBC Sport website and through the BBC Red Button interactive television service. History The BBC has broadcast sport for several decades under individual programme names and coverage titles. ''Grandstand (TV programme), Grandstand'' was one of the more notable sport programmes, broadcasting sport for almost 50 years. The BBC first began to brand sport coverage as 'BBC Sport' in 1988 for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, by introducing the programme with a short animation of a globe circumnavigated by four c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ipswich Witches
The Ipswich Witches are a British motorcycle speedway club based at Foxhall Stadium near Ipswich, Suffolk. They compete in the British SGB Premiership. Meetings are staged on most Thursdays from March until October, normally commencing at 7.30pm (first race 7.45pm). The Witches are currently promoted by former Ipswich riders Chris Louis (speedway rider), Chris Louis and Ritchie Hawkins. Chris Louis is the son of former rider and promoter John Louis (speedway rider), John Louis History 1950s Foxhall Stadium was purpose-built for speedway in 1950 and following the cancellation of a meeting on 24 March 1951, the venue first hosted speedway on 14 May 1951, when Ipswich competed against Yarmouth in a challenge match. The inaugural league season was the 1952 Speedway Southern League, where the team finished 8th. The team adopted the nickname the 'Witches' because of the town's history, for their inaugural season. The early stars of Ipswich speedway were Junior Bainbridge and Be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lakeside Hammers
The Lakeside Hammers (formerly the Arena-Essex Hammers) were a speedway team who raced in the British league system from 1984 to 2018, most recently racing in the SGB Championship in 2018. The team were nicknamed the Hammers after the West Ham Hammers, a speedway team that closed twelve years earlier. The team's home track, the Arena Essex Raceway, closed shortly before the end of the 2018 season. History Origins and 1980s The Arena Essex Raceway was built in 1978 to stage banger racing. Speedway returned to Essex in 1983 following the founding of the Arena-Essex Hammers by promoter Wally Mawdsley and stock car promoter Chick Woodroffe. Former West Ham promoter Mawdsley touted the new club as the successors to or the reincarnation of the old West Ham Speedway, which had closed in the early 1970s – the team took the Hammers nickname, the race colours of white crossed hammers on red and blue halves, and the racenight programmes also carried photos of past West Ham riders fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Speedway Promoters' Association
The British Speedway Promoters Limited (BSPL) organises the domestic motorcycle speedway competitions in the United Kingdom. They are also responsible for the promotion and running of the FIM meetings staged in Britain. Wimbledon controller Ronnie Green was the first chairman of the organization. Each club has a promoter in the association, although promotions under three years of membership do not have a vote. A ''Management Committee'' is elected at the Annual General Meeting, and this committee is responsible for the day-to-day running of British speedway. All the promoters meet periodically to discuss matters of importance, usually rule changes. See also *Motorcycle speedway * The Speedway Control Bureau * Elite League *Premier League * Conference League *British Speedway Championship * Speedway in the United Kingdom References External links * {{Speedway in the United Kingdom Speedway in the United Kingdom Speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Dayto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
