With the previous season’s late restructure the clubs came to tapes in a 4 divisions of 10 set up with no less than 8 clubs closing and 7 clubs being renamed. However, this belied the stability beginning to show in the league as 33 clubs remained from the previous season.

The 8 clubs closing were SL Champions Waltham Abbey and 7 of the new clubs the previous season, Meir, Glasgow Marauders, Bristol, Ottawa, Poole, Shelley Close and Tennyson. Glasgow lost its original club, the Sharks, as they became Atherstone Adders while Cumbernauld Tigers relocated to Irlam although the Tigers nickname remained. Ipswich Tornadoes became Bradford Dukes, Whitley Racers became Croxley Green Cougars, Boston Outlaws became Oakley Commandos, Harringay Racers became Dudley Heathens and Wolverhampton Outlaws became Birmingham Bullets.

With a very short close season in place teams were pressured to complete their line ups quickly and this led to some frantic spending in the transfer window. Big names Markus Elts, Michal Molnar and Lars Stendahl opted to come to the UK and were snapped up by Peterborough (£187,060), Huntingdon (£350,000) and Seaton (£130,001). Walsall parted with £465,000 to secure Jamie Jackson and Piotr Polneczyck from Houston who used that money to finance a £427,000 deal for Cane Richardson who had no club following Waltham Abbey’s closure.

No less than 9 clubs spent more than £200,000 with Wilmington and Cradley of Division 2 splashing out £200, 00 for Darren Edwards from Huntingdon and £204,000 for Jamie Simmons from Peterborough, respectively. Other notable deals included SL new boys Coalville spending £255,000 on young American Mark Olsen, London paying £210,000 for Austrian wunderkind Matthias Korsten and Division 3 Bournemouth handing Seaton £175,000 for Roy De Veer.

This left some notables on the transfer list as the season began with Rory McMillan, Eoin Williamson, Walter Norris and Kenny Rodman without clubs.

May

The season kicked off with an individual at Wilmington which Jan Kirsten of London won from SL newcomers Michal Molnar (Huntingdon) and Jason Cross (Yeovil). Oslo then made the worst possible start to the defence of their WWLS crown by going down 46-44 at home to Auckland led by Carson Black, formerly of Waltham.

McMillan showed his class with a runners up spot in the NZ/S. Africa Final behind Leigh Langley who took his first crown, with Steve Hunter of Auckland completing the podium. In the Australian Final Black took the title, for the second time, ahead of Sydney duo Peter Christopher and Glenn Davies.

As usual the cut throat Australasian Final has some big name casualties with all 3 Aussie podium finishers crashing out alongside Cane Richardson. The 5 qualifiers were Mark Parmar (Houston) and Langley with the podium dwellers Luke Marriott (Huntingdon), Lee Peron (Tipton) and McMillan (unattached) who took his first Australasian title having finished in a podium position twice previously.

The British Quarter Finals also took place with no real shocks although the unattached riders Rodman, Williamson and Gary Smith all finished in podium positions. The 4 winners were Scott Harrington (Yeovil), Chris Moran (Evesham), Williamson and Lee Jarman (Houston).

The semi finals follow the same pattern as all of the big names go through with the round winners being Tony Thompson of Long Eaton and Cradley’s Jamie Simmons.

The American semis are also held and Jamie Dennis of Costa Mesa and Ben Preistley of London take the honours as again there are no early shocks.

In the leagues there have only been 2 matches per side but there are already alarm bells ringing for Coventry who are thrashed 61-29 at Midlands rivals Birmingham City Slickers and Irlam who go down 65-25 at Glenrothes. But the loudest alarm is at Long Eaton who crash 38-52 at home to Sheffield in Division 2.

Marcus Gustafsson (Swanage), Ian Harding (Titirangi), Keith Stripe (Birmingham City Slickers), Andrzej Karasinski (Sheffield), Darren Edwards (Wilmington), Tomasz Kornicki (Witham) and Toby Jeffers (Glenrothes) are all sporting 10.00 plus averages in the early stages.

June

The league picture began to take shape as clubs reached the first average change. Swanage sat atop the SL with 6 wins from 6 with Houston 3 points behind. Coalville were rooted to the foot of the table with no points with Bexwell also in the drop zone. Division 1 saw Titirangi, Birmingham and Wisbech tied on 8 but only 2 points separated the top 7. Tayside were the basement dwellers with only 2 points.

Sheffield were on maximum points in Division 2 with Wilmington 4 points back. The bottom 3 of Essex, Canvey and Dover were starting to fall away but with the transfer window re-opening time was on their side. Division 3 had Bradford and Dudley at the top on 9 with a pack of clubs chasing.

YDL also started to shape up as defending champions Houston won their first two matches. Wilmington and Peterborough had also achieved this with Southend and Weymouth on 5 out of a possible 6 points.

England’s preparation to defend their World Team title began with a disappointing 47-43 loss to a Scandinavian Select side at Wisbech in the first of 3 tests.

The World Championship chase moved to the continent as the quarter finals were staged. Rickard Reiner (Houston) won the Kiev round which presented no real shocks. Bournemouth’s Filipo Rossi took the top spot from Witham’s impressive Pole Tomasz Kornicki while Walsall’s Piotr Polneczyck crashed out. Michal Molnar of Huntingdon took the honours in Barcelona as his twin Jan (Coventry), Jiri Jedek (Seaton) and Matthias Korsten (London) were shock exits.

But the real talking point came in the Moscow round as a very poorly prepared track wrecked the chances of Peterborough’s Markus Elts who was twice excluded for falling. Southend’s Dino Mazzerati rode the ruts well to claim a maximum on a night when riders were just glad not to end up on the injured list.

The Swedish Final saw a Swanage 1-2-3 as Patrik Lindberg took the title for the first time to end Magnus Karlsson’s 3 year spell as champion. Karlsson was meeting reserve due to a bad 2004 season which saw his average drop so significantly that he wasn’t in the top 16 Swede’s. Marcus Gustafsson took second and Emil Tillstrom was third as Per Erlingmark was the biggest of the names, apart from Karlsson, not to qualify.

The Danish Final saw Bo Larsen take his second title as he defeated Jan Kirsten twice, once in the match and then in a title run off. Kim Sorensen took third for his third podium place in 4 years.

Meanwhile, Auckland’s Olli Nimi went one better than last season’s runner’s up spot to take the title from Rune Johnsen (Oslo). Bury’s Harri Lahti completed the podium as big names Per Nimni and Lars Stendahl saw their World Title ambitions come to an end.

July

It was transfer time as the limits increased by a point in all 4 divisions and riders’ new averages were released. Unsurprisingly the big money went on the unattached riders who had impressed in individual events in the early part of the campaign.

Walter Norris and Kenny Rodman were both snapped up for £125,000 by Bury and Huntingdon while Eoin Williamson (Canvey), Darren Orr (Tayside), Pete Winter (Evesham) and Rory McMillan (Coalville) all went for £100,000. Other notable deals were 20 year old Mark Featherstone being snapped up by Coventry for £80,000 and Billy Curtis moving from Oakley to Wilmington for £100,000.

The World Championship trail was fairly quiet with only the American and British Finals taking place. In the States Brad Majors of Cradley took the honours in a run off against home rider Brad Simpson at Costa Mesa with Southend’s Lincoln Blair taking the final podium place. Big names crashed out though as Josh Oxley and Ben Preistley failed and Mark Olsen suffered 2 falls and finished way down the field.

The British Final produced a tremendous finish as Houston’s Lee Jarman blew the chance of a second British title when missing the gate in his last ride having only needed second place to be champion. Swanage’s Luke Mills took full advantage to take his second British Crown while Jarman had to beat Yeovil’s Scott Harrington to secure second place after a run off. Jamie Jackson of Walsall was the biggest of the names not to progress.

The World under 21 title race got most of the way through with the quarters and the semi’s taking place. The quarter finals produced no shocks and the semi finals only 1 as Mark Fossitt of Seaton tumbled out. Big names Jamie Jackson, Brad Simpson and Scottish teen sensation Julian Steele of Croxley Green Cougars all comfortably made the final 16.

Preparations for the World Team Cup picked up as England completed their 3 match series against a powerful Scandinavian Select side but, unfortunately, were whitewashed 3-0 as Tony Cope experimented with his line up. Meanwhile, Iain Brine got his Scottish international career underway with a series against Italy. However, the Scots suffered two defeats to trail the three match series 2-0.

YDL moved along quite a bit but there was no stopping Wilmington (5 first places from 6), Houston and Southend powering away at the top of the table. Oslo’s defence of the WWLS title looked very shaky after their second home defeat, this time at the wheels of a very powerful looking Vojens outfit. Vojens then went on to hammer Sydney in Sydney and take apart Lonigo on Danish shale. They now sit proudly at the top of the table with maximum points from 4 matches. Bo Larsen and Jan Kusmussen had been outstanding for the Danes.

The KOC got underway with the bottom 8 sides in Division 3 missing out. However, some clubs don’t help their cause by failing to turn up for a match and lose the match 75-0. This accounts for no less than 4 clubs in the 16 ties as Long Eaton, Bexwell, Yeovil and Seaton fail to show. Elsewhere there are no real shocks although 4 of the 10 Super League clubs fall by the wayside as do both Division 3 representatives Bradford and Dudley.

Only one league match takes place for each side but Swanage and Sheffield continue their 100% records while Coalville are still the only pointless team in all 4 divisions.

August

A month that was dominated by league action and saw both 100% records go and Coalville eventually get their first win. Swanage continued to set the pace in SL from Houston 3 points back. 4 points then cover Aisha’s Motor, London, Yeovil and Huntingdon with Peterborough, Walsall, Bexwell and Coalville becoming detached.

Division 1 has Birmingham City Slickers a point clear of Wisbech and Seaton. There’s not much separating the rest but Evesham, Rivendell and Tayside occupy the danger zones. Division 2 sees Long Eaton Invaders atop the pile after some impressive results including a 51-39 victory at Dover. Weymouth, Wilmington and Sheffield are all a point back and the middle is fairly condensed too but Witham, Essex and Dover are in danger of being cut adrift.

Division 3 is very unpredictable with a glut of away wins. Bradford epitomise the unpredictability with a 60-30 thrashing at London Spartans followed by a big 51-39 win at Dudley. Bournemouth are clear at the top by 4 from Bradford with the rest fairly close with only Oakley trailing off at the bottom.

WWLS saw only 1 match as Oslo’s pitiful defence of their title continued with a 59-31 hammering in Sydney. YDL saw each team complete a match with Wilmington and Houston continuing their winning run. Southend slipped up allowing Peterborough and Bury to close in on third.

No real transfers of note and no World Championship action this month but Scotland completed their series against Italy by being whitewashed 3-0. Better news followed for the Scots with a 20 point victory over USA in the first test between the sides although USA levelled the series with a last gasp 46-44 win late in the month.

On a sad note Phil Drennan of London suffered a career ending injury racing at Yeovil mid month in a very controversial incident. It appeared that Yeovil’s Craig Kimble almost lived up to his Killer nickname with a move to take Drennan which ended up with the 29 year old Englishman in a heap on the track. It was later confirmed that he had badly broken his pelvis and would not ride again.

September

A very busy month with new averages coming into force and the inevitable transfer scramble that follows.  The major deals saw young British talent plucked from the second division by SL sides with Huntingdon spending £125,000 on 17 year old Scot Mark Parkinson and Houston sending Adam Hokonowski and £165,000 to Essex for 20 year old English starlet Alex Bones.

Wilmington wasted no time in spending the cash as they captured young Dane Rasmus Asmussen from Essex for £150,000. The Gunners are now awash with cash but they resist the spending urge and only bring in Corey Anderson on loan from Sheffield.

The YDL goes beyond the halfway stage and reigning champions Houston are at the top by a point from Wilmington who have a match in hand. Southend, Peterborough and Dover are all pushing for third but trail Wilmington by 7 or 8 points.

WWLS also reaches halfway and Vojens have all but sewn up the title already remaining unbeaten in all 5 of their matches so far. With only 3 remaining they have a 6 point lead from Auckland, Gothenburg and Lonigo who have matches in hand. Oslo eventually pick up some points when they beat Gothenburg.

Test matches for both the home nations with a national side as Scotland complete the series against the USA with a defeat to lose the series 1-2 while England face New Zealand on three occasions. The first test sees the Lions triumph 47-43 but match 2 sees the Kiwi’s win 48-42. The final match is a 49-41 victory, at Witham, for the Lions in which Houston’s Lee Jarman notches the highest ever score by an English rider in an international with 17+1 from 7 after Keith Stripe of Birmingham City Slickers is ruled out of the meeting with a knock to the head.

It was also KOC 2^nd round time with Cradley winning both legs against Canvey being the most impressive performance. 4 SL sides (Houston, Huntingdon, London and Walsall) joined a pair of representatives from Division 1 (Coventry and Southend) and Division 2 (Cradley and Sheffield) in round 3.

The World Championship Continental Semi Finals are won by Aisha’s Motor star Danny Capirossi and Witham’s Tomasz Kornicki as there are no real shocks. The Scandinavian title goes to Swanage’s Marcus Gustafsson with previous season’s winner and team mate Patrik Lindberg in third. Splitting them on the podium is London’s multiple World Champion Jan Kirsten.

The Overseas Final sees British Champion Luke Mills crash out alongside American Champ Brandon Majors. The title is taken by Huntingdon’s Leigh Langley who beats fellow Kiwi Rory McMillan (Coalville) with Lincoln Blair of Southend in third. Only Lee Jarman (Houston), Ian Harding (Titirangi) and Craig Kimble (Yeovil) are left carrying British hopes.

SL starts to get very tight with 15 of the 36 matches raced. Aisha’s Motor top the table on points difference from Swanage with Houston and London a point back. There’s a 3 point gap to the rest but Coalville have started to get their act together although they still are 5 points from safety. Meanwhile Bexwell have only 6 points and it’s beginning to look like a long hard season ahead for the cash strapped Braves.

Tipton, Titirangi, Wisbech and Birmingham are starting to pull away from the pack in Division 1 with not a lot to choose between 5^th and 9^th. Rivendell are rooted to the foot of the table. It’s a similar story in Division 2 with Sheffield, Long Eaton, Wilmington and Weymouth shaping up to stretch away with Dover and Essex still some way from safety.

Division 3 is becoming clearer too as Bradford, Bournemouth and London Spartans start to establish a gap as only 7 points separates the rest of the table.

October

October’s main event is the World Team Cup and this means there isn’t much movement in the league standings as HQ allocates a week for the riders to recover from the event as the YDL Cup takes place. This is followed by a week for Pairs and 4TT events which only leaves the last week for league competition.

The inaugural YDL Cup, which will turn out to also be the last YDL Cup due to a close season restructure of the junior set up, sees Houston and Wilmington storm into the second round as well as tie for the top of the league some 9 points ahead of third placed Peterborough. It’s Houston who have the performance of the round winning 29-13 at Dover before winning the second leg by 31-11 for a quite incredible 60-24 aggregate win.

WWLS is all but over as Vojens record their 6^th win although Lonigo and Gothenburg could catch them if they win all 5 of their remaining matches.

Division 1 side Tipton Redwings take the pairs from Evesham, Yeovil and Aisha’s Motor while Huntingdon Hawks take their first trophy of the campaign with victory in the pairs. Leigh Langley and Michal Molnar finish top after Molnar defeats London’s Ben Preistley in a run off. Cane Richardson beats Sheffield’s Andrzej Karasinski in a run off to secure third place for Scottish side Houston Pirates.

However, the highlight of the month is the WTC. England go close to securing back to back wins but fall in the final to a Tomasz Kornicki inspired Poland. Lee Jarman has 7 rides from reserve in every match but runs out of steam in his last 2 in the final and this, undoubtedly, costs England the win. Scotland crash out in the first round following last season’s runners up position.

November

The month gets under way with the World Under 21 Final which is taken by Yeovil’s Englishman Jason Cross from London’s Matthias Korsten and Walsall’s Jamie Jackson. However, it turns out to be Cross’ last act as a Crusader as he is immediately transferred to Division 2 side Essex Gunners for £175,000.

It’s not the only big deal for the Gunners as Jamie Whittaker goes to Yeovil as part of the Cross deal and another 175k heads out the door to Birmingham Slickers, along with Chris Coles, with another young English starlet, Keith Stripe heading for Thurrock Stadium.

The World Final line up is decided this month as Continental and Inter Continental Finals are held followed by the Eliminator. Bournemouth’s Filipo Rossi takes the Continental crown from Houston’s Rickard Reiner after a run off while a second run off separates Huntingdon’s Michal Molnar and Dino Mazzerati of Southend for the final podium place. The big shock is Aisha’s Danny Capirossi failing to make the cut and having to go into the uber tough eliminator.

Meanwhile, Jan Kirsten shapes up to attempt a 5^th World Title in a row by winning the Inter Continental Final at Lonigo. It takes a run off to split him and Houston’s Lee Jarman but the London star wins comfortably. Swanage’s Patrik Lindberg completes the podium. Titirangi’s Ian Harding is a surprise qualifier while a host of big names head for the eliminator.

The eliminator is a cut throat meeting as usual but Tomasz Kornicki, Bo Larsen and Danny Capirossi all win their final races after some good work early on to secure their places at Paisley in January.

YDL is almost at the three quarter mark and Houston and Wilmington are racing away from the pack. The Bucks lead the Wilmington Footmen by 3 points but have raced 1 match more. The Footmen are 7 points clear of Peterborough and Southend.

The KOC reaches the quarter finals and there are a couple of shocks. Division 2 Sheffield defeat Division 1 Coventry and Southend upset higher league Houston to take places in the last 4. Perennial finalists London and Huntingdon both rack up big second leg wins at home to cruise through.

Division 3 sees Bournemouth and Bradford maintain their stranglehold on the top places with London Spartans, Croxley Green and Dudley all pushing for the play off place.

It’s a similar story in Division 2 as Sheffield extend their lead over Wilmington and Long Eaton with Weymouth and Cradley just hanging on to their coat tails. The next 4 are looking set for a relegation dog fight while Dover lounge at the bottom 9 points adrift of 9^th.

Division 1 also has a similar look to it as Tipton stretch away from Wisbech and Titirangi with Seaton and Birmingham taking close order. Again there is one team adrift, this time it’s Rivendell who look like their tenure in Division 1 is likely to last just 1 season.

SL has an unchanged look at the top as Aisha’s Motor continue the hunt for their second SL crown however 5 point separate the top 6. There is a little gap to the chasing pack but Bexwell are rooted at the foot of the table with only 6 points and, by far, the worst record of all 40 sides.

December

With Christmas fast approaching it’s a short month on the action front as the as the league ends just short of the two thirds mark.  Not much changes in the leagues although Huntingdon go top of SL on points difference from Swanage as Aisha’s lose both matches in the month.

The big news is an early Christmas present for the Walsall fans as the capture Tomasz Kornicki from Witham for £150,000 plus Rob Gamble. Walsall are near the foot of the table and this could be an important signing but only time will tell if Kornicki can translate his form into the top flight.

In YDL Wilmington ride their match in hand and finish third to leave Houston 2 points clear while Peterborough and Southend close the gap on second to 4 and 6 respectively.

WWLS sees Gothenburg win 2 matches and leave them as the only side that can, realistically, catch the unbeaten Vojens. The sides are due to meet in February in a league decider at Vojens.

The final action of 2005 happens in Wilmington as the British under 21 championships take place. Winner, in his final attempt, is last year’s runner up Englishman Jamie Jackson (Walsall).

Second is Scot Julian Steele justifying his position as hottest property in Superleague with Welshman Tom Morris completing the podium.

With only Steele and Walter Norris of the top 10 still eligible next year it’s fairly clear to see who the 06/07 favourites will be.

January

The Christmas break saw the transfer market fire into life. Cash strapped Peterborough offloaded Kim Pedersen to fellow SL side Yeovil for £80,000 while Bexwell had a mini rebuild with Clayton Johnson, Danny Dickenson and Carsten Recht being replaced by Scott Coltrane, Carl Rayburn and Huntingdon wunderkind Mark Parkinson (in loan) joining in an attempt to resurrect their dismal season.

But the big deal saw an exact reverse of the close season deal involving Ben Preistley and Peter Hotter as they returned to the clubs they had finished the previous season with. This time the £100,000 went from London to Cradley with Peter Hotter stepping back into SL with Preistley going back to Division 2.

On track action saw Gothenburg lose at Berlin to leave them 4 behind Vojens but to have any chance they’ll need to win by a huge margin when the sides meet in Denmark next month. The clubs below started the shuffling for a place in the end of season World Challenge Cup with Sydney and Lonigo popping out from the pack to look favourites.

YDL saw Houston move 5 points clear with 2 matches remaining leaving them just 2 points short of a second successive YDL title while Bury closed right up on the faltering Wilmington.

The Knock Out Cup saw Southend and Sheffield meet up with the high flying Division 2 side taking a final place with a huge second leg win while last years finalists Huntingdon and London couldn’t be separated after 30 races and went to a 15 heat replay at Coventry. Hawks gained revenge for last seasons defeat in the final with a brace of 5-1’s in the last 3 races to turn a 5 point deficit into a 3 point win.

On the league front there was now only 4 points separating the top 5 in SL as Yeovil had a bad return from the holidays and slipped away from the title race while Swanage went clear at the top. Bexwell eventually picked up another win as they downed Yeovil but it’s looking like too little too late with 11 matches left and an 18 point gap to safety.

Tipton stretch away from Seaton, Titirangi and Wisbech in Division 1 with Rivendell closing the gap between them and the rest of the table although they still have a lot of work to do. Division 2 sees Long Eaton take over from Sheffield at the top but only on points difference as Weymouth take close order to the pair. Dover are trying their best to cling onto safety but, like Rivendell, it’s going to be a tough task. SL, Div 1 and Div 2 all have a similar look at the bottom though as 1 team look favourites to drop while a clutch of clubs above them look set for a relegation dogfight that will go to the wire.

Division 3 only has promotion to worry about which is just as well for Atherstone Adders who are rooted to the foot of the table while Bradford, Bournemouth and London Spartans are breaking away at the top.

But the story of stories in January is the World Final in Paisley where a huge crowd witness the making of a new champion as not only does Jan Kirsten not win his fifth successive crown but he doesn’t even finish in the top 4 as an all or nothing move in his last ride sees him fall and his title has gone.

Vojens’ Bo Larsen takes advantage to take the lead in the final but is eclipsed by Houston’s Rickard Reiner in the next heat. He holds the number 1 place for 1 race before Walsall’s super Pole Tomasz Kornicki takes the chequered flag to become the 2005/06 World Champion.

February

No less than 3 titles are won this month as Houston take their second YDL title in a row before Club Vojens demolish Gothenburg in the WWLS title decider by a 55-35 score line. Huntingdon then add the KOC to their Pairs title by winning both legs against Sheffield Krusaders of Division 2.

It’s as you were in Division 3 as the top 3 continue to stay ahead of the pack while Dover have a tremendous run to close up to the other sides at the bottom of Division 2. Long Eaton and Sheffield are now looking very good for promotion with 6 matches left but Cradley, Weymouth and Wilmington look set for a battle royal for the play off spot.

Rivendell are just clinging on to survival but it only looks a matter of time but the 5 clubs above them are all potential relegation candidates while Tipton and Titirangi are going head to head for the title having broken clear at the top and are looking sure fire bets to take promotion.

SL sees Bexwell officially relegated with fellow promotees Coalville now 5 away from safety. Peterborough and Walsall can’t count themselves as safe just yet and still have some work to do. London, Swanage, Huntingdon and Aisha’s Motor have only 2 points covering them while Houston have slipped a further 3 points back.

March

Its concentration time in the league as 4 of the last 6 matches are raced and a lot of issues are sorted out but, in true Superleague style, there are more issued still unresolved.

SL sees Huntingdon and London go clear by 3 points from Aisha’s Motor and Houston 5 off the pace. Swanage blow up spectacularly and slump to 5^th while Yeovil and a Kornicki powered Walsall are now safe. The question had been asked, could Kornicki maintain his form after stepping up to SL, the answer is a resounding yes. Peterborough are only 1 clear of Coalville in the relegation battle and the sides are due to meet at Coalville in the second last match.

Division 1 has Tipton just clear of Titirangi with Seaton ensuring nothing is settled just yet as they are only 3 points off of a promotion place. The next 3 are safe with Tayside only needing a point or Southend to not take maximum points to confirm their Division 1 place for next season. Rivendell are down but it’s a straight fight between Birmingham City Slickers, in disarray after being left promoter less when they had a decent start to the campaign, and Southend in the fight to avoid the automatic drop. Former Ipswich promoter Tony Simmons has taken over Birmingham but the damage looks to already have been done.

Sheffield and Long Eaton are both confirmed as promoted but the destination of the title is still to be decided while Cradley are 2 clear of Weymouth for the play off spot as Wilmington fall out of the race. Bury, in 6^th, are technically still in the relegation fight but should be okay while Dover have completed a remarkable turnaround to struggle up to 8^th place and out of the automatic drop zone. However, they, Canvey, Essex and Witham are still battling to avoid the dreaded drop.

Bradford, Bournemouth and London are covered by 2 points with 2 to go in Division 3 while the rest of the sides are already turning their attention to next season. Atherstone are wooden spoonists as they will finish bottom of the lowest league.

The YDL Cup completes the final YDL season in the current structure as HQ announce that from next season it will be an under 16 league rather than an Under 21 league. Houston Bucks complete the double by trouncing Tipton Tedz 28-14 in the first leg before the Tedz get some revenge with a 21-20 second leg victory.

 April (Week 1)

Coalville defeat Peterborough in a crucial match up in SL to leap into the play off spot and leave the Flyers in the relegation zone with only 1 match to go while London remain top by a point from Huntingdon, 2 over Aisha’s and 3 over Houston who have an unlikely chance of the championship if 2^nd and third lose and they win in London.

Tipton and Titirangi confirm their elevation to the top flight when the Breakers defeat third placed Seaton who will contest a play off match with Coalville or Peterborough. Southend are 2 clear in the play off place with Birmingham City Slickers looking set for the drop as the Sorcerers are at home to the hapless Rivendell in the last match.

Division 2 still has the title to be decided as Cradley confirm third place and the crucial play off spot while the bottom still sees any 2 from 4 in the mix to go down.

Still all to play for in the top 3 of Division 3 although London Spartans defeat at Dudley leaves them 3 away from the leaders and 2 behind second.

Week 2

The SL title goes to the wire as Huntingdon take all 3 points from Coalville while London take a last heat decider to see off Houston but lose the bonus point. The sides tie on points but it’s the Huntingdon Hawks who take their third trophy of the season, on points difference, after some excellent mid season transfer moves to strengthen the side, most notably Kim Sorensen. Aisha’s Motor crash at Peterborough but keep third ahead of Scottish rivals Houston but the result means that the Flyers scrape into 8^th and relegate Coalville straight back to Division 1.

Titirangi Breakers get a draw at Coventry to add their second title in two seasons after winning Division 2 in 04/05 while Tipton have to settle for second place after trouncing Wisbech. Southend secure the play off place without turning a wheel as Birmingham drop to Division 2 following a defeat to Tayside.

Long Eaton win against Dover but Sheffield do the same at home to Bury and it’s the Yorkshire side who take the Division 2 title with the Invaders having to settle for second place. The real battle is at the bottom Essex secure 3 points against Cradley to ensure their safety while Dover needs the other two sides to lose to avoid the drop. Witham go down heavily at Weymouth to seal their fate while Canvey lose at home and Dover’s remarkable turnaround is complete although they now have the nerve racking play off to face.

London win by 2 against Birmingham Bullets but need Bradford to lose heavily to gain automatic promotion. However, the Dukes win and gain the coveted second place as Bournemouth had sealed the title the night before with a convincing win at home to Oakley.

Week 3

WWLS completes with Vojens, Gothenburg, Sydney and Lonigo, the only side to defeat the Danes all season, gaining entry to the World Club Championship. The top 4 WWLS clubs go up against Cup Winners Huntingdon, SL winners are also Huntingdon so second place London get the nod, Division 1 winners Titirangi and Division 2 winners Sheffield.

The play offs are dramatic affairs as Seaton edge Peterborough by 2 at home and everything is in the balance with only 1 race left at Peterborough who have turned the deficit into a 2 point lead. Markus Elts leads from tape to flag to ensure Flyers stay in SL while Seaton are destined to remain in Division 1 after coming very close.

It’s close in the Division1/Division 2 play off but Cradley win both legs to gain promotion to Division 1 and send Southend down a league. However, the wheels come off the Dover revival bus as they crash by 12 at London Spartans in the first leg and can’t make it up in the home tie. All their efforts over the last third of the season prove to be in vain and they drop to Division 3 with London elevated to Division 2.

Week 4

A new look to the Divisional Cups is unveiled in the final week of the month as 7^th to 10^th compete in the first round where the winners join the remaining 6 teams in round 2.

Irlam and Oakley dispose of Glenrothes and Atherstone in round 1 of the Division 3 competition but both crash in the next round. London and Bradford are the victors while Bournemouth are shocked at home by Croxley Green and Birmingham Bullets take a run off to edge past Dudley at home.

The Division 2 competition descends into farce in round 2 as first round winners, over Witham, Essex turn up at Wilmington only to find the stadium locked as the home side forgot they had a fixture. A 75-0 win puts the Gunners into the semi finals. Cradley fail to travel to Bury and the Braves make the last 4 without turning a wheel. Sheffield dump out round 1 victors Dover while Weymouth defeat Long Eaton.

Coventry and Southend edge past Rivendell and Birmingham City Slickers but are in turn dumped out by Evesham and Seaton. Tayside and Wisbech make the headlines as they ensure early exits for Tipton and Titirangi.

Bexwell and Coalville end their 1 year stints in SL by going out to Walsall and Peterborough. The Swifts then put out London to become only the second team out of 8 first round winners to make progress. Swanage dump Peterborough out while Yeovil ensure that Huntingdon won’t be adding the SL Divisional Cup to their already large haul. Houston win at Aisha’s Motor to complete the semi final line up.

May

Into the hectic end of season finale with no less than 13 titles to decide in a 2 week period plus the annual HQ challenge.

Semi Final time in the Divisional Cups sees London Spartans win in Birmingham to end the Bullets season while Croxley Green shock Bradford to make their first final. Essex take Sheffield to a run off but go down at home when Andrzej Karasinski defeats Adam Hokonowski. Meanwhile Bury take a last heat 5-1 to overturn Weymouth’s lead. Seaton hammer Wisbech and Evesham edge past Tayside to set up the Division 1 final while Houston and Yeovil record 47-43 home wins over Walsall and Swanage to confirm SL Divisional Cup Final places.

Between the semi’s and the final Scotland and England share a tie at Paisley in the first leg of the Anglo Scottish Cup. Paisley also hosts the Division 3 Final the next night with Croxley Green Cougars, with local lad Julian Steele who had rattled in 12 for Scotland the night before, defeating London Spartans to win their first ever trophy. Also on the bill is the Division 2 final and that sees Sheffield complete the Division 2 double with a 49-40 win over Bury Braves.

Coventry is the venue for the other two finals and Evesham Stars put on a late spurt to beat Seaton Comets by 50 to 38 while Yeovil Crusaders win the top flight cup by a 6 point margin from Houston.

Its Coventry again the next night and the Iain Brine managed Scotland shock England with a last heat 4-2 to win 46-44 on the night and take the Anglo Scottish Cup for the first time ever. Star of the show is that man Steele again with a 16+1 haul from 6 starts. Only 17 and riding in Division 3 with Croxley but he is already developing into a star rider.

The first round of the World Challenge Cup sees the WWLS sides in the ascendancy as Vojens edge past Sydney and Lonigo dump Titirangi out. Sheffield shock SL big boys London with a 50-40 win but the real talking point is in Gothenburg where the Giants beat Huntingdon 45-44 after a pair of 5-1’s in the last 2 heats. Although an injury to Hawks’ Danny Dickenson undoubtedly cost the Hawks a semi final place.

Titirangi squeak past Huntingdon in the first leg of the Steve Hogson Memorial Trophy but the mighty Hawks win the second leg comfortably to take their 4^th trophy of the season. Sheffield are no match for Vojens in the WCC semi final and the WWLS champs will face Gothenburg after they win in Lonigo.

Vojens, however, deny the Giants the chance to extract revenge for the big defeat earlier in the season when they win a tight tussle by 46 to 44 at Paisley to take the World Challenge Cup for the second season on the trot.

Super Saturday has moved to a Wednesday for this season and there are now 6 riders Championships to be competed for. The YDL lads line up at Paisley and Darren Southwell ensures Huntingdon’s season gets even better as he tops the podium from Thomas Anderson of Evesham and Tim Dempsey of Wisbech. The WWLS title sees a shock winner as Jan Berger of Berlin takes the crown in front of over 11,000 fans. Leigh Crawford (Sydney) defeats Oslo’s Rune Johnsen to settle the podium places

At Coventry the big favourite for the D3RC Julian Steele is robbed by the ref after he is excluded in heat 19 when London’s Mario Zovka hits the deck. Steele isn’t near Zovka but the ref won’t be moved and he has to settle for third behind winner Greg Goss of Glenrothes and Tom Morris of Birmingham Bullets.

The D2RC isn’t as close at Cradley’s Ben Preistley storms to a full house to take the title from Sheffield’s Karasinski and Cradley team mate Jamie Simmons. Ian Harding storms away with the D1RC with a 14 point haul from Tayside’s Tomas Gabovka with 13, they are well clear of third placed Marti Danielsson of Tipton who defeats Southend’s Dino Mazzerati to take third.

The Blue Riband event though is the SLRC and it’s won by World Champion Tomasz Kornicki. It’s so tight behind him that it takes a 4 man run off to sort the other places with London’s Peter Hotter claiming second overall from Walsall’s Jamie Jackson. Leigh Langley (Huntingdon) and Craig Kimble of Yeovil are the two who finish out of the main places.

The SL Select v Division 1 select is now enhanced to be SL v Div 1/Div 2/Div 3 select and it works this year as the lower league riders take a 49-41 victory over their more illustrious counterparts to round out another exciting season of Superleague Speedway.

Author: George Seymour (Houston Pirates)