# 1999 Elite League speedway season

The 1999 Elite League speedway season was the 65th season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom. It was the third known as the Elite League and was governed by the Speedway Control Board (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA).

## Season summary

In 2000, the league increased to ten teams with the Hull Vikings and the Peterborough Panthers moving up from the Premier League, and the Swindon Robins dropping down. The league operated on a standard format without play-offs.
Despite coming up a division Peterbrough completely rebuilt their team for the season. They brought in three Australians Jason Crump from Oxford Cheetahs, Ryan Sullivan from Poole Pirates and Craig Watson from Newport Wasps, in addition to recalling Zdeněk Tesař. Poole ran Peterborough close, only losing the league by one point and losing in the cup final to them.

## Final table

| Pos | | M | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Bon | Tot |
| 1 | Peterborough Panthers | 18 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 889 | 734 | 26 | 8 | 34 |
| 2 | Poole Pirates | 18 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 899 | 724 | 24 | 9 | 33 |
| 3 | King's Lynn Knights | 18 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 823 | 804 | 23 | 6 | 29 |
| 4 | Coventry Bees | 18 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 821 | 804 | 23 | 5 | 28 |
| 5 | Ipswich Witches | 18 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 815 | 710 | 22 | 4 | 26 |
| 6 | Belle Vue Aces | 18 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 848 | 773 | 19 | 5 | 24 |
| 7 | Hull Vikings | 18 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 785 | 834 | 13 | 3 | 16 |
| 8 | Oxford Cheetahs | 18 | 5 | 0 | 13 | 754 | 869 | 10 | 3 | 13 |
| 9 | Eastbourne Eagles | 18 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 745 | 879 | 12 | 1 | 13 |
| 10 | Wolverhampton Wolves | 18 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 736 | 884 | 8 | 1 | 9 |

### Fixtures & results

| Home \ Away | BV | COV | EAS | HV | IPS | KL | OX | PET | PP | WOL |
| Belle Vue Aces | | 44–45 | 58–32 | 56–33 | 55–35 | 48–42 | 57–35 | 53–37 | 46–44 | 60–30 |
| Coventry Bees | 45–45 | | 49–41 | 49–41 | 42–48 | 44–46 | 51–39 | 47–44 | 49–41 | 48–42 |
| Eastbourne Eagles | 37–53 | 47–44 | | 48–42 | 44–46 | 47–43 | 55–35 | 43–47 | 44–46 | 50–40 |
| Hull Vikings | 47–43 | 39–50 | 53–37 | | 52–38 | 45–47 | 49–40 | 45–45 | 53–36 | 61–29 |
| Ipswich Witches | 46–44 | 46–47 | 58–32 | 51–39 | | 46–44 | 48–41 | 48–42 | 50–43 | 51–39 |
| King's Lynn Knights | 54–36 | 57–33 | 55–35 | 47–43 | 48–45 | | 47–43 | 45–45 | 48–44 | 43–47 |
| Oxford Cheetahs | 46–44 | 39–51 | 46–47 | 56–34 | 47–43 | 48–42 | | 42–48 | 39–51 | 57–34 |
| Peterborough Panthers | 60–30 | 48–44 | 52–38 | 59–32 | 55–34 | 56–34 | 60–30 | | 48–42 | 59–31 |
| Poole Pirates | 58–33 | 53–37 | 54–36 | 57–33 | 53–36 | 61–28 | 61–29 | 54–36 | | 51–39 |
| Wolverhampton Wolves | 47–43 | 44–46 | 58–32 | 46–44 | 43–46 | 44–45 | 47–42 | 42–48 | 40–50 | |

## Elite League Knockout Cup

The 1999 Speedway Star Knockout Cup was the 61st edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Peterborough Panthers were the winners of the competition.
First round
| Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
| 26/06 | Eastbourne | 47-43 | Ipswich |
| 17/06 | Ipswich | 51-39 | Eastbourne |
| 28/05 | Belle Vue | 53-37 | Kings Lynn |
| 26/05 | Kings Lynn | 55-35 | Belle Vue |
Second round
| Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
| 08/10 | Peterborough | 56-34 | Ipswich |
| 03/09 | Poole | 59-31 | Kings Lynn |
| 02/09 | Ipswich | 44-46 | Peterborough |
| 13/08 | Kings Lynn | 46-44 | Poole |
| 12/07 | Reading | 46-44 | Sheffield |
| 30/06 | Hull | 49-41 | Wolverhampton |
| 28/06 | Wolverhampton | 48-42 | Hull |
| 19/06 | Coventry | 51-39 | Oxford |
Semi-finals
| Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
| 15/10 | Peterborough | 50-40 | Hull |
| 13/10 | Hull | 47-42 | Peterborough |
| 13/10 | Poole | 49-41 | Coventry |
| 09/10 | Coventry | 40-49 | Poole |

### Final

The second leg of the final was due to be completed on 22 October but was abandoned after just two heats due to heavy rain.
First leg
Second leg
Peterborough Panthers were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 92-88.

## Riders' Championship

Jason Crump won the Elite League Riders' Championship, held at the Brandon Stadium on 23 October.
| Pos. | Rider | Pts | Total | SF | Final |
| 1 | Jason Crump | 3 2 1 3 3 | 12 | x | 3 |
| 2 | Todd Wiltshire | 3 1 3 1 3 | 11 | 3 | 2 |
| 3 | Jason Lyons | 3 3 1 2 1 | 10 | 2 | 1 |
| 4 | Mark Loram | 3 2 3 1 3 | 12 | x | 0 |
| 5 | Peter Karlsson | 1 1 3 2 2 | 9 | 1 | |
| 6 | Mikael Karlsson | 2 3 2 0 2 | 9 | 0 | |
| 7 | Billy Hamill | 0 3 1 1 3 | 8 | | |
| 8 | Ryan Sullivan | 1 0 3 3 1 | 8 | | |
| 9 | Joe Screen | 1 1 2 2 2 | 8 | | |
| 10 | Leigh Adams | 1 3 0 3 0 | 7 | | |
| 11 | Chris Louis | 2 0 2 3 0 | 7 | | |
| 12 | Brian Andersen | 2 0 1 1 2 | 6 | | |
| 13 | Ronnie Correy | 0 2 0 2 1 | 5 | | |
| 14 | Craig Boyce | 2 0 2 0 0 | 4 | | |
| 15 | Gary Havelock | 0 2 0 0 1 | 3 | | |
| 16 | Dean Barker | 0 1 0 0 0 | 1 | | |

## Leading averages

| Rider | Team | Average |
| Jason Crump | Peterborough | 10.67 |
| Mark Loram | Poole | 9.80 |
| Tony Rickardsson | Kings Lynn | 9.64 |
| Leigh Adams | Kings Lynn | 9.47 |
| Greg Hancock | Coventry | 9.31 |
| Tomasz Gollob | Ipswich | 9.24 |
| Ryan Sullivan | Peterborough | 9.05 |
| Chris Louis | Ipswich | 8.96 |
| Billy Hamill | Coventry | 8.91 |
| Joe Screen | Hull | 8.76 |

## Riders & final averages

Belle Vue
* Jason Lyons 8.66
* Jimmy Nilsen 8.27
* Andy Smith 8.27
* Ronnie Correy 8.00
* Kai Laukkanen 7.28
* Jason Hawkes 3.25
* Chris Manchester 2.80
* Rene Madsen 2.67
* Jarno Kosonen 2.33
* Jon Armstrong 2.00
* Kevin Doolan 1.60
* Barry Campbell 1.00
Coventry
* Greg Hancock 9.31
* Billy Hamill 8.91
* Brian Andersen 7.67
* Andreas Jonsson 6.47
* Stuart Robson 5.91
* Shaun Tacey 5.62
* Rene Madsen 5.43
* Charlie Gjedde 5.33
* Scott Robson 3.01
Eastbourne
* Martin Dugard 7.81
* Peter Nahlin 7.56
* David Norris 7.09
* Dean Barker 7.03
* Josh Larsen 6.41
* Mark Lemon 6.07
* Roman Povazhny 5.60
* Brent Collyer 2.45
* Seemond Stephens 1.40
Hull
* Joe Screen 8.76
* Sam Ermolenko 8.60
* Shane Parker 6.36
* Ray Morton 5.86
* Ben Howe 5.60
* Brent Werner 5.52
* Garry Stead 5.35
* Lee Dicken 4.67
* Paul Thorp 3.80
* Paul Smith 1.66
Ipswich
* Tomasz Gollob 9.24
* Chris Louis 8.96
* Antonín Šváb Jr. 7.30
* Tomáš Topinka 6.33
* Ben Howe 6.33
* Savalas Clouting 4.99
* Brett Woodifield 4.82
* Jason Bunyan 3.35
King's Lynn
* Tony Rickardsson 9.64
* Leigh Adams 9.47
* Stefan Andersson 7.56
* Bohumil Brhel 7.22
* Tomáš Topinka 6.78
* Robbie Kessler 4.85
* Paul Lee 4.45
* Travis McGowan 3.79
* Martin Dixon 3.21
* David Meldrum2.18
Oxford
* Todd Wiltshire 8.18
* Paul Hurry 7.23
* Craig Boyce 6.99
* Steve Johnston 6.74
* Jan Stæchmann 6.51
* Lawrence Hare 5.40
* Alun Rossiter 5.08
Peterborough
* Jason Crump 10.67
* Ryan Sullivan 9.05
* Zdeněk Tesař 7.12
* Nigel Sadler 5.97
* Marián Jirout 5.83
* David Howe 5.53
* Jan Andersen 5.47
Poole
* Mark Loram 9.80
* Scott Nicholls 8.64
* Gary Havelock 8.42
* Lee Richardson 7.41
* Magnus Zetterström 6.59
* Matej Ferjan 6.20
* Oliver Allen 2.29
* Martin Willis 1.81
Wolverhampton
* Peter Karlsson 8.27
* Mikael Karlsson 8.08
* Nicki Pedersen 7.64
* Jesper B. Jensen 6.98
* John Jørgensen 6.65
* George Štancl 5.96
* Charlie Gjedde 5.12
* Richard Juul 4.73
* Craig Taylor 2.10