The 2006 Elite League speedway season was the 72nd season of the top division of speedway in the United Kingdom and governed by the Speedway Control Board (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA).[1][2]
In 2006, the league consisted of eleven teams, after the newly named Reading Bulldogs, moved up from the Premier League. The Championship was won by the Peterborough Panthers by a single race point in the play-off final.[3]
Peterborough and Reading battled each other throughout the season finishing level on points in the regular season table before Peterborough edged Reading in the Play off final. Peterborough had a strong all round squad and included Danish trio of Hans Andersen, Jesper Jensen and Niels Kristian Iversen, in addition to Australian Ryan Sullivan.[4] Reading who had come up from the division below had recruited Greg Hancock as their main heat leader who finished 7th in the league averages which were headed once again by Australian stars Jason Crump and Leigh Adams.
Semi-final decided over one leg. Grand Final decided by aggregate scores over two legs.
Semi-finals
Final
First leg
Second leg
The Peterborough Panthers were declared League Champions, winning on aggregate 95-94.
The 2006 Elite League Knockout Cup was the 68th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Coventry Bees were the winners of the competition.[7]
First round
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
First leg
Second leg
The Coventry Bees were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 101-85.
Jason Crump won the Riders' Championship for the third time. The final was held at Wimborne Road on 1 October.[8]
The Elite League Pairs Championship was held at the Abbey Stadium on 4 June and was won by Belle Vue Aces.[9]
Final
Arena Essex
Joonas Kylmäkorpi 8.08
Andreas Jonsson 7.78 Mikael Max 6.87
Leigh Lanham 6.70.svg/1280px-Flag_of_Australia_(converted).svg.png){kind=small}
Steve Johnston 6.53 Paul Hurry 6.48
Henning Bager 6.41
Brent Werner 3.77
Mariusz Puszakowski 3.68 Andreas Messing 2.88 Łukasz Romanek 1.40Belle Vue
Jason Crump 11.21 Simon Stead 8.08 Joe Screen 7.75 Kenneth Bjerre 7.51 James Wright4.89 Phil Morris 4.26 Tom P. Madsen 3.61 Joel Parsons 1.90Coventry
Scott Nicholls 9.05 Rory Schlein 7.93 Chris Harris 7.84 Jacek Rempala 7.13 Billy Janniro 6.59
Martin Smolinski 6.16 Oliver Allen 5.83 Troy Batchelor 5.54 Morten Risager 4.54Eastbourne
Nicki Pedersen 9.92 Adam Shields 7.79 David Norris 7.66 Dean Barker 7.14 Edward Kennett 5.29 Kevin Doolan 5.04 Lewis Bridger 4.88 Andrew Moore 4.06 Andrew Appleton 4.00 Cameron Woodward 3.42Ipswich
Mark Loram 8.92 Piotr Protasiewicz 8.10 Chris Louis 8.02 Kim Jansson 6.50 Robert Miśkowiak 6.47 Danny King 5.58 Carl Wilkinson 4.09 Tobias Kroner 3.62
Jan Jaroš 2.99Oxford
Tony Rickardsson 9.76 (7 matches only) Todd Wiltshire 7.98 Davey Watt 6.97 Adam Skórnicki 6.61 David Howe 6.27 Eric Andersson 5.10 Stanisław Burza 4.15 Luboš Tomíček Jr. 4.12 Freddie Eriksson 3.84 Adam Pietraszko 2.29Peterborough
Hans N. Andersen 10.40 Jesper B. Jensen 8.76 Ryan Sullivan 8.23 Niels Kristian Iversen 7.82 Karol Ząbik 5.55 Piotr Świderski 5.28 Richard Hall 4.72 Ulrich Østergaard 4.67Poole
Bjarne Pedersen 9.39 Antonio Lindbäck 8.38 Krzysztof Kasprzak 7.65 Grzegorz Walasek 7.22 Craig Boyce 6.09 Jonas Davidsson 5.47 Daniel Davidsson 4.09 Matthew Wethers 3.63 Shaun Tacey 2.77Reading
Greg Hancock 9.28
Matej Žagar 8.13 Janusz Kołodziej 7.60 Charlie Gjedde 7.52 Travis McGowan 7.01 Mark Lemon 6.39 Andy Smith 5.52 Zdeněk Simota 5.43Swindon
Leigh Adams 10.47 Tomasz Chrzanowski 7.72 Sebastian Ułamek 7.65 Lee Richardson 7.16 Adrian Miedziński 5.98
Renat Gafurov 5.48 Mads Korneliussen 4.91 Sebastian Aldén 4.47 Ritchie Hawkins 3.40Wolverhampton
Peter Karlsson 9.94 Billy Hamill 8.37 Freddie Lindgren 8.12 Ronnie Correy 5.56 Christian Hefenbrock 5.19 Magnus Karlsson 4.71
William Lawson 4.37 Ben Wilson 1.76