1995 Premier League speedway season

British motorcycle speedway season

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
← 1994 1996 →

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.

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. 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.

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.

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

Fixtures & results

Home \ Away	AE	BV	BD	COV	CH	EAS	ED	EX	GLA	HV	IPS	KL	LON	MID	OX	PET	PP	RR	SHE	SWI	WOL
Arena Essex Hammers		60–36	53–42	49–47	49–47	45–51	61–35	66–30	55–41	63–33	49–47	53–43	55–41	55–41	54–42	57–39	51–45	61–35	56–40	54–42	45–51
Belle Vue Aces	57–39		57–38	56–40	46–50	48–48	62–34	59–37	55–41	64–32	58–38	57–39	54–42	57–39	53–43	59–37	58–37	55–41	55–40	59–36	54–42
Bradford Dukes	58–38	64–32		49–47	47–49	53–43	61–35	58–38	54–42	58–38	56–40	66–30	59–36	69–26	59–37	54–41	58–38	59–37	63–33	55–41	57–39
Coventry Bees	54–42	50–46	45–51		52–44	50–46	48–48	59–37	50–45	49–47	49–47	53–43	51–44	59–37	47–49	52–44	46–50	62–33	54–41	43–53	55–41
Cradley Heath Heathens	50–46	55–41	53–43	51–45		56–39	53–43	60–36	59–37	61–34	47–49	58–37	55–41	63–33	62–34	56–40	55–41	55–41	62–34	47–49	55–41
Eastbourne Eagles	59–36	49–46	55–41	53–43	50–43		54–42	59–37	64–32	60–36	50–46	51–45	54–40	55–40	53–43	59–36	52–44	58–38	63–33	60–36	51–45
Edinburgh Monarchs	50–46	53–43	48–48	49–46	50–46	46–49		63–33	62–34	56–40	51–45	50–46	48–48	52–44	49–47	51–45	56–40	51–45	67–29	54–42	50–46
Exeter Falcons	53–43	57–39	41–55	45–51	39–56	51–45	37–59		55–41	52–44	43–53	48–48	48–48	56–40	52–44	40–55	45–51	48–48	46–50	46–50	50–46
Glasgow Tigers	57–39	51–45	53.5–42.5	51–45	50–46	54–41	49–47	68–28		49–47	60–36	63–33	62–34	60–36	56–40	55–41	64–32	59–37	55–40	56–40	52–44
Hull Vikings	46–50	46–50	54–42	51–45	48–48	49–47	49–47	51–45	48–48		51–45	53–43	55–41	51–43	50–46	54–42	53–43	56–40	57–39	55–41	51–45
Ipswich Witches	54–42	44–52	54–42	49–47	48–47	60–36	52–44	60–36	49–47	68–28		53–43	57–39	57–38	63–33	51–45	50–45	62–33	59–37	46–50	52–44
King's Lynn Stars	46–50	51–45	52–44	46–50	47–49	48–48	61–35	54–42	62–33	54–42	49–47		54–42	57–39	49–45	45–51	46–49	46–50	58–38	48–48	57–38
Long Eaton Invaders	50–46	58–38	46–49	55–40	47–49	55–41	53–43	56–40	55–41	37–59	52–44	42–54		63–33	48–48	44–52	52–44	56–40	59–37	40–56	45–51
Middlesbrough Bears	46–0	52–44	42–54	53–43	49–47	45–51	42–44	55–41	45–50	58–38	42–54	54–42	48–48		57–39	52–43	47–48	53–43	55–41	48–48	44–52
Oxford Cheetahs	53–43	50–46	54–42	51–45	50–45	42–53	47–49	61–35	52–43	54–42	45–51	53–43	56–40	57–39		45–51	45–50	54–42	62–34	56–40	51–45
Peterborough Panthers	51–45	52–43	57–39	50–46	52–44	53–43	65.5–30.5	63–33	50–46	58–37	52–43	55–41	62–34	58–38	59–37		56–39	52–44	54–42	54–42	53–43
Poole Pirates	57–39	58–38	42–54	49–47	44–51	48–48	55–41	51–45	56–40	61–35	55–41	56–39	47–49	64–32	57–39	43–53		47–49	59–36	47–49	51–45
Reading Racers	53–43	51–45	48–48	52–44	50–45	46–50	49–47	53–42	55–41	59–37	39–57	48–48	52–44	55–41	54–42	66–30	48–48		61–35	56–40	47–49
Sheffield Tigers	67–29	59–37	49–47	56–40	49–47	44–52	63–33	53–43	55–41	49–47	59–37	61–35	64–32	73–23	62–34	50–46	49–47	51–44		47–49	55–41
Swindon Robins	56–40	49–46	45–51	53–43	53–43	47–48	48–48	53–43	50–46	53–43	51–45	46–50	43–51	63–33	53–43	53–43	51–45	45–51	58–38		44–51
Wolverhampton Wolves	58–38	39–33	53–43	49–47	47–49	43–53	52–44	64–32	52–44	61–35	49–47	61–35	55–41	50–46	61–35	53–42	59–37	53–43	70–26	53–42

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

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.

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

16 September 1995

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 - 39	Belle 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

Odsal Stadium

Second leg

22 September 1995

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

Belle Vue Stadium

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.

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

Group A
Pos	Team	Pts	Riders
1	Cradley	16	Cross 6, Hancock 5, Hamill 3, Smith 1, Forsgren 1
2	Arena Essex	13	Hurry 5, Larsen 5, Mogridge 2, Adams 1
3	Edinburgh	11	Andersen 3, McKinna 3, Lamb 3, Faria 2
4	King's Lynn	7	Ott 4, Brhel 2, Topinla 1, Grayling 0

Group B
Pos	Team	Pts	Riders
1	Peterborough	18	Sullivan 6, Pedersen 5, Tesar 5, Poole 2, Clausen 0
2	Bradford	14	Screen 6, Havelock 5, Wilson 2, Stead 1
3	Wolverhampton	9	Ermolenko 4, Carter 2, Karlsson 1, White 1, Juul 1
4	Hull	7	Steachmann 5, Thorp 1, Smith 1, Crabtree 0, Grahame 0

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

Riders & final averages

Arena Essex

Belle Vue

Bradford

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Eastbourne

Martin Dugard 10.22
Dean Barker 9.35
Stefan Dannö 8.71
Stefan Andersson 7.80
Darren Shand 4.68
Stefan Ekberg 4.42
Scott Swain 3.75

Edinburgh

Exeter

Glasgow

Hull

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Bobby Ott 8.98
Tomáš Topinka 8.75
Morten Andersen 8.18
Bohumil Brhel 6.92
Troy Pratt 5.43
Darren Grayling 3.82
Jason Gage 3.50
David Clarke 3.16
Chris Readshaw 2.15

Long Eaton

Jan Stæchmann 10.10
Ronnie Correy 8.84
Steve Johnston 7.61
Carl Stonehewer 7.22
Martin Dixon 6.81
Richard Hellsen 5.45
Brent Werner 5.13
Eric Monaghan 4.58
Andre Pollehn 4.00
Mark Burrows 3.06

Middlesbrough

Oxford

Peterborough

Poole

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

Wolverhampton

References

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

v t e Speedway in the United Kingdom
Current leagues	SGB Premiership SGB Championship National Development League List of champions
Former leagues	Elite League Premier League National League (1932–1964) Provincial League (1960–1964) British League British League Division Two/National League Conference League National League Division Two National League Division Three English Dirt Track League/Northern League Southern League (1929–1931) Southern League (1952–1953) Provincial League (1936–1937) Southern Area League
Current team competitions	Knockout Cup League Pairs champions League Fours champions
Former team competitions	London Cup Midland Cup Craven and Young Shields Premiership Shield
Current individual competitions	British Speedway Championship League Riders' champions British U-21 British U-19 Scottish Open
Former individual competitions	London Riders' Midland Riders' Northern Riders' Southern Riders' Olympique Internationale
See also	Speedway British Speedway Promoters' Association Speedway Control Bureau

v t e United Kingdom Speedway Seasons
Tier One League Top division	1929 1929 1930 1930 1931 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Tier Two League Second division	1934 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Tier Three League Third division	1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1994 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Champions	League champions Cup winners

v t e Premier League
2016 Teams	Berwick Bandits Edinburgh Monarchs Glasgow Tigers Ipswich Witches Newcastle Diamonds Peterborough Panthers Plymouth Devils Redcar Bears Rye House Rockets Scunthorpe Scorpions Sheffield Tigers Somerset Rebels Workington Comets
Former Teams	Arena Essex Hammers Birmingham Brummies Cradley Heathens Exeter Falcons Hull Vikings Isle of Wight Islanders Kings Lynn Stars Leicester Lions Long Eaton Invaders Mildenhall Fen Tigers Newport Wasps Oxford Cheetahs Reading Racers Stoke Potters Swindon Robins Trelawny Tigers
Seasons	1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Domestic Cups	Premier League Knockout Cup Premier League Riders' Championship Premier League Pairs Championship Premier League Four-Team Championship Young Shield Premier League Cup

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