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1995 Premier League speedway season
League Premier League
Champions Eastbourne Eagles
Knockout Cup Bradford Dukes
Individual Gary Havelock
Fours Cradley Heathens
Highest average Billy Hamill
Division/s below 1995 Academy League

The 1995 Premier League season was the 61st season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom. It was also the first for the new league, and the first of two seasons in which British speedway was competed as a single division. [1]

Summary

The gulf in quality of teams was highlighted because of the merging of the two leagues, with Eastbourne Eagles winning the title 56 points clear of bottom club Exeter Falcons. [2] Eastbourne had been an easy runner-up the previous year to runaway winners Poole Pirates and retained four of their riders Martin Dugard, Dean Barker, Stefan Dannö and Stefan Andersson, which provided enough firepower to seal the Championship. Poole finished mid-table but were missing Craig Boyce who had switched to Swindon Robins. [3]

Bradford Dukes won their fourth Knockout Cup in the last five years. Former World Champion Gary Havelock guided Bradford to the Cup success and also picked up the Premier League Riders Championship. [4]

Final table

Pos Team PL W D L BP Pts
1 Eastbourne Eagles 40 28 3 9 18 77
2 Bradford Dukes 40 25 2 13 17 69
3 Cradley Heath Heathens 40 25 1 14 17 68
4 Peterborough Panthers 40 25 0 15 12 62
5 Wolverhampton Wolves 40 23 0 17 14 60
6 Ipswich Witches 40 23 0 17 13 59
7 Glasgow Tigers 40 21 1 18 14 57
8 Belle Vue Aces 40 20 1 19 14 55
9 Edinburgh Monarchs 40 20 4 16 10 54
10 Arena Essex Hammers 40 21 0 19 10 52
11 Swindon Robins 40 20 3 17 9 52
12 Poole Pirates 40 18 2 20 9 47
13 Reading Racers 40 17 4 19 9 47
14 Sheffield Tigers 40 19 0 21 9 47
15 Coventry Bees 40 17 1 22 8 43
16 Hull Vikings 40 17 2 21 4 40
17 Oxford Cheetahs 40 16 1 23 6 39
18 Long Eaton Invaders 40 14 4 22 7 39
19 King's Lynn Stars 40 14 4 22 6 38
20 Middlesbrough Bears 40 10 2 28 2 24
21 Exeter Falcons 40 8 3 29 2 21

M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points

Premier League Knockout Cup

The 1995 Speedway Star Knockout Cup was the 57th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams but the first to be known as the Premier League Knockout Cup. Bradford Dukes were the winners of the competition. [5]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
21/04 Peterborough 64-42 Ipswich
20/04 Ipswich 65-44 Peterborough
22/04 Eastbourne 52-54 Arena Essex
21/04 Arena Essex 56-53 Eastbourne
23/04 Glasgow 63-43 Middlesbrough
27/04 Middlesbrough 43-64 Glasgow
18/05 Sheffield 63-43 Long Eaton
19/04 Long Eaton 54-52 Sheffield
21/04 Oxford 72-36 Poole
19/04 Poole 54-51 Oxford

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
20/07 Ipswich 52-56 Reading
17/07 Reading 46-59 Ipswich
15/07 Bradford 70-38 Wolverhampton
05/07 Kings Lynn 55-53 Coventry
17/06 Coventry 65-43 Kings Lynn
14/06 Cradley Heath 59-53 Glasgow
09/06 Edinburgh 46-61 Hull
05/06 Exeter 47-57 Swindon
05/06 Wolverhampton 58-46 Bradford
04/06 Glasgow 54-53 Cradley Heath
03/06 Swindon 55-50 Exeter
31/05 Hull 59-49 Edinburgh
02/06 Belle Vue 68-36 Sheffield
01/06 Sheffield 61-46 Belle Vue
02/06 Arena Essex 58-48 Oxford
29/05 Oxford 58.5-47.5 Arena Essex

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
10/08 Ipswich 57-50 Coventry
05/08 Bradford 72-35 Hull
26/07 Coventry 58-49 Ipswich
26/07 Hull 54-41 Bradford
22/07 Cradley Heath 61-47 Oxford
22/07 Swindon 57-50 Belle Vue
21/07 Belle Vue 68-38 Swindon
21/07 Oxford 54-52 Cradley Heath

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
13/09 Coventry 52-55 Bradford
02/09 Bradford 58-50 Coventry
19/08 Cradley Heath 49-57 Belle Vue
18/08 Belle Vue 59-48 Cradley Heath

Final

First leg

Bradford Dukes
Sean Wilson 17
Gary Havelock 14+1
Paul Pickering 11+2
Darren Pearson 10+3
Joe Screen 6
Tony Atkin 3+1
Garry Stead R/R		68 - 39Belle Vue Aces
Jason Lyons 9
Chris Manchester 8
Niklas Klingberg 6
Kevin Little 5+1
Frede Schött 3
Max Schofield 3+3
John Jørgensen 1

Second leg

Belle Vue Aces
Niklas Klingberg 14
Jason Lyons 13
Chris Manchester 12
Frede Schött
Kevin Little 5		58 - 43Bradford Dukes
Martin Dugard16
Gary Havelock 10
Sean Wilson
Paul Pickering
Darren Pearson
[6]

Bradford Dukes were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 111-97.

Riders' Championship

Gary Havelock won the Premier League Riders Championship. It was held at Abbey Stadium, Swindon on 14 October. [7]

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total SF Final
1 England Gary Havelock 3 2 3 2 10 x 3
2 United States Billy Hamill 0 3 3 3 9 3 2
3 Australia Jason Crump 3 3 3 2 11 x 1
4 Australia Leigh Adams 3 3 3 2 11 x 0
5 United States Greg Hancock 2 2 2 3 9 2 x
6 Sweden Peter Karlsson 1 3 2 3 9 1 x
7 United States Sam Ermolenko 3 2 2 0 7
8 Australia Craig Boyce 3 1 1 2 7
9 England Paul Fry 1 1 2 3 7
10 Australia Shane Parker 2 1 1 3 7
11 Denmark Brian Andersen 2 2 2 1 7
12 England Chris Louis 2 0 3 1 6
13 Norway Lars Gunnestad 1 3 1 1 6
14 Sweden Jimmy Nilsen 2 2 1 1 6
15 United States Mike Faria 3 2 0 0 5
16 Australia Steve Johnston 2 3 0 0 5
17 Australia Ryan Sullivan 1 0 3 1 5
18 England Paul Thorp 0 1 1 3 5
19 Sweden Stefan Andersson 1 0 2 2 5
20 United States Charles Ermolenko 0 0 1 2 3
21 Denmark Frede Schott 0 1 0 1 2
22 England Dave Mullett 1 0 0 0 1
23 United States Bobby Ott 0 1 0 0 1
24 Australia Greg Bartlett 0 0 0 0 0

Fours

Cradley Heathens won the Premier League Four-Team Championship, which was held on 6 August 1995, at the East of England Arena. [8]

Final
Pos Team Pts Riders
1 Cradley 21 Cross 8, Hamill 8, Hancock 3, Smith 2
2 Peterborough 20 Poole 7, Sullivan 7, Tesar 6, Pedersen 0, Clausen 0
3 Bradford 19 Screen 6, Havelock 5, Wilson 5, Pickering 3
4 Arena Essex 11 Hurry 5, Adams 4, Larsen 2, Mogridge 0

Leading final averages

Rider Team Average
United States Billy Hamill Cradley Heath 10.91
England Joe Screen Bradford 10.82
England Chris Louis Ipswich 10.52
Sweden Peter Karlsson Wolverhampton 10.50
Australia Jason Crump Poole 10.44
United States Greg Hancock Cradley Heath 10.42
United States Sam Ermolenko Wolverhampton 10.37
England Gary Havelock Bradford 10.25
England Martin Dugard Eastbourne 10.22
Australia Craig Boyce Swindon 9.99
Australia Leigh Adams Arena Essex 9.96
Norway Lars Gunnestad Poole 9.94
England Mark Loram Exeter 9.78
Denmark Brian Andersen Coventry 9.53
England Dean Barker Eastbourne 9.35
Australia Jason Lyons Belle Vue 9.06
United States Bobby Ott Kings Lynn 8.98
England Paul Thorp Hull 8.97
England David Norris Reading 8.90
Australia Ryan Sullivan Peterborough 8.85

Riders & final averages

Arena Essex

Belle Vue

Bradford

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Eastbourne

Edinburgh

Exeter

Glasgow

Hull

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Long Eaton

Middlesbrough

Oxford

Peterborough

Poole

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

Wolverhampton

See also

References

  1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  3. ^ "1995 league tables". Speedway GB.
  4. ^ "Bradford Dukes". Greyhound Derby .com. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  5. ^ "1995 Premier League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  6. ^ "Aces chief raps cup ref". Manchester Evening News. 23 September 1995. Retrieved 14 April 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ "Mullett misery". Reading Evening Post. 16 October 1995. Retrieved 6 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ^ "Speedway". Birmingham Daily Post. 7 August 1995. Retrieved 5 July 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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