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History
THE Fantasy League was launched in 1995, coinciding with the birth of a new sister publication for Speedway Star.
Five-One was a new monthly speedway title and its Fantasy Speedway League proved an instant hit.
In those early days, entry to the competition was free and promoters had to conform to a 40-point limit, could only have one rider in their team on an average of more than eight, and did not have the option to make any transfers.
The scoring system was also totally different to that in operation today. Riders were credited with three points for a win and two points for second - the same as today - but lost one point for finishing third, and two points for a last place or an exclusion. And in the beginning, unlike today, guest appearances did count to the Fantasy League.
There were just over 4,000 entries for the inaugural season and prize money for first place was £200. How times change!
The competition came to an end in December, 1995, when the results were announced in that month's edition of Five-One.
The winner was a Coventry fan, Pete Lawrence, whose team amassed a total of 2,022 points.
TOP THREE 1995
1 Pete Lawrence (Coventry)
Coventry Pixel's Picks: Billy Hamill, Tomas Topinka, Sam Tesar, Mick Poole, Charles Ermolenko, Alan Grahame and Chris Clarence.
2 Adrian Holford
3 Ian Braggins
SEASON 1996
FOR the second year of the Fantasy League in 1996, entries swelled to more than 5,000 and the prize money increased to £500.
There was a thrilling finish to the competition, as the November/December edition of Five-One (the magazine had gone bi-monthly for the winter) revealed that leader Mark Wright, and his Wednesfield Warriors team, held a massive 80-point lead with only a month to go.
"At the risk of a Murray Walker-ism as the field entered the final bend," said the write-up of the time, "it seems almost assured that Mark Wright will carry off the £500 first prize."
Fortunately, our writer then qualified the statement by adding: "But we haven't heard any fat ladies exercising their vocal chords just yet and await the chequered flag."
The words proved prophetic, because King's Lynn fan Claire Elston, who was only fourth with a month to go, some 105 points adrift of top spot, overturned that deficit in the final weeks to take the crown.
TOP THREE 1996
1 Claire Elston (King's Lynn)
Penelope Pit Stoppers: Brian Andersen, Leigh Adams, Lars Gunnestad, Steve Masters, Kaj Laukkanen, Jarno Kosonen and Mikael Karlsson.
2 Malcolm Wain
3 Mark Wright
SEASON 1997
INTO 1997, and the Fantasy League introduced several rule changes to take account of the fact that the all-in-one real-life Premier League had split into two divisions, the present-day Elite and Premier.
Fantasy League teams would consist of only six riders, and converted averages were introduced to take into consideration the fact that riders in the new Premier League would contest 10 matches less than their Elite League counterparts. There was also a 'golden max' - a bonus of three points for any riders scoring a full maximum - and a Mini-League.
The new system worked well, as the third year of the Fantasy League proved the closest yet. Only three points separated the top two of Alex Mackenzie and Paul Honeyman going into the final month of the season - but it was third-placed Derek Osborn from Folkestone in Kent who leapfrogged both of them to snatch the title. In fact, neither Mackenzie nor Honeyman finished in the top three.
TOP THREE 1997
1 Derek Osborn (Eastbourne)
Lyminge Lions 3: Mikael Karlsson, Carl Stonehewer, Joe Screen, Leigh Lanham, Jason Lyons and Nigel Sadler.
2 Robert Burton
3 John Surridge
SEASON 1998
PERHAPS one of the Fantasy League's major innovations occurred at the start of the 1998 season, when the competition was run in both Speedway Star and Five-One magazines.
That meant entrants had the opportunity to keep tabs on their teams on a weekly basis through Speedway Star, rather than only on a monthly basis in Five-One.
For the first time, there was also a tournament sponsor, as Exide Batteries - backers of then World numbers one and two, Greg Hancock and Billy Hamill - lent their name to the competition.
There were a whole host of Exide prizes on offer for managers of the month, overall first place prize money was £500 and the points limit that year was 43.00. The number of entries almost reached 7,000.
There were also some significant rule changes: riders were no longer deducted two points for exclusions or if they were absent from a meeting and rider replacement was used instead. Points scored by guests no longer counted, although bonus points were credited to riders for the first time.
In another close contest, the winning margin at the end of October was a mere five points - effectively decided by Hull rider John Wilson.
The top two teams in the Fantasy League were identical - apart from one rider. Eventual winner Martin Weaver, a Cradley Heath supporter, had Wilson in his team while runner-up Barry Hughes had plumped for Paul Clews instead. The other six riders in each team were the same so the fact that Wilson outscored Clews over the course of the season by only five points was enough to give Heathens fan Weaver the title.
TOP THREE 1998
1 Martin Weaver (Cradley Heath)
Cradley Heat VI: Chris Louis, Martin Dugard, Tomasz Gollob, Ronnie Correy, George Stancl, David Howe and John Wilson.
2 Barry Hughes
3 Chris Sedgley
SEASON 1999
THE prize fund was increased in time for the 1999 season, with top prize going up from from £500 to £750. The runner-up received £300 and there was £150 for third place.
Exide maintained their sponsorship of the league into a second season and the points limit was set at 41.
Ipswich fan David Woods took the honours - taking over top spot in the table for the first time in the final week of the season. And there's no better time to do it than then!
David revealed to Speedway Star that he would be putting his winnings towards a trip to Australia to visit relatives.
For the first time, there was a tie for prize-winning positions - Eric Leason and Marianne Batten finishing joint second, splitting the cash and landing £225 each.
TOP THREE 1999
1 David Woods (Ipswich)
My Final Selection '99: Peter Karlsson, Mark Loram, Todd Wiltshire, Nicki Pedersen, Toni Svab, David Howe and Ross Brady.
2 Eric Leason
3 Marianne Batten
SEASON 2000
ARGUABLY the league's biggest improvement was introduced for the 2000 season - transfers!
For the first time in Fantasy League history, promoters had the option to change their team in mid-season, albeit during a one week transfer window in mid-June, when two changes were permitted.
With a new sponsorship deal in place - Hi-Q, the tyre and exhaust company, replacing Exide - the introduction of transfers had a positive effect as a record number of entries were received.
More than 8,400 teams took part - and the winner was certainly one of the youngest entrants. Mark Murray, an eight-year-old schoolboy from Wick in Caithness, in the very north of Scotland, saw his team take over pole position in mid-September and hang on to their spot throughout the run-in.
There was also another first for the league, as teams entered by the same promoter took the other two rostrum positions. Vince Hodgetts, a Wolverhampton fan, took the silver and bronze medals to earn prize money totalling £450, plus subscriptions to Speedway Star which, by this stage, had been included in the competition as additional prizes.
TOP THREE 2000
1 Mark Murray (Berwick)
Belford Borderers: Peter Carr, Alan Mogridge, Craig Boyce, Seemond Stephens, Paul Smith, Billy Hamill - replaced by Joe Screen, Craig Taylor - replaced by David Walsh.
2 Vince Hodgetts
3 Vince Hodgetts
SEASON 2001
IT was all change in 2001, with bigger prizes, more chances to win, an extension of the transfer system and new sponsors.
With Sky Sports stepping in to replace Hi-Q as tournament sponsors, the prize money was not only increased but extended to cover the top ten, not just the top three.
The winner now picked up a cheque for £1,000, with £400 going to the runner-up and £200 to the third-placed team. Fourth and fifth were rewarded with £50, while the teams placed sixth to tenth received consolation prizes of free subscriptions to Speedway Star.
The transfer system, too, was radically overhauled, giving promoters much more control over their teams. A three-month transfer window was introduced, which added a whole new dimension to the game.
Its popularity was such that a record entry was received, topping 9,000 for the first time, and there was another thrilling finish, Oxford fan Martin Hillier snatching the spoils in the final week of the season by jumping from third to first to win by a mere seven points from Newport supporter Chris Simpson.
TOP THREE 2001
1 Martin Hillier (Oxford)
Arctic Ice: Billy Hamill - replaced by Michael Coles, Hans Andersen, Scott Nicholls - replaced by Simon Stead, Mikael Karlsson, Neil Collins, Andre Compton, Krzysztof Cegielski.
2 Chris Simpson
3 Mark Hiles
SEASON 2002
IN 2002, for the second season running, the top award went to an Oxford fan.
Tristan Bazylkiewicz emerged triumphant to pick up the £1,000 first prize by the slender margin of just eight points from runner-up Michael Thomas. Yet again, the Fantasy League title race was decided in the final match, with Thomas needing a double figure score from Belle Vue's Jason Lyons at King's Lynn to overhaul Bazylkiewicz - but not getting one.
There were few amendments to the 2002 tournament in terms of rules, although there was a new sponsor for the third season running, Clubcall taking over from Sky Sports.
TOP THREE 2002
1 Tristan Bazylkiewicz (Oxford)
Petite League Allstars: Ryan Sullivan - replaced by Chris Harris, Mikael Karlsson, Mark Loram, Lee Richardson - replaced by Phil Morris, Billy Janniro, Andrew Appleton, Henning Bager.
2 Michael Thomas
3 Ian Pickard
SEASON 2003
TRISTAN Bazylkiewicz made a spirited defence of his Fantasy League crown in 2003, entering a total of 20 teams and seeing seven of them finish in the top 100 and three in the top 20.
Indeed, he led the way at one stage of the season and looked to be shaping up to become the tournament's first back-to-back winner. In the end, his highest placed team finished fifth as the title went to a Belle Vue fan, Mark McGeever.
Mark's Belle Vue Bad Boys 7 team hit form at exactly the right time and topped the table for the final 11 weeks of the season. His final margin of victory was a comfortable 76 points over runner-up Ian Pickard, who was proving to be something of a Fantasy League expert having finished third in the 2002 competition.
TOP THREE 2003
1 Mark McGeever (Belle Vue)
Belle Vue Bad Boys 7: Nicki Pedersen - replaced by Chris Harris, Lee Richardson - replaced by Danny Bird, Andrew Appleton, Lee Smethills, Jan Staechmann, Ricky Ashworth, Edward Kennett.
2 Ian Pickard
3 Paul Gray
SEASON 2004
OXFORD fans have developed something of a reputation for dominating the Fantasy League - our 2004 champion Robert Peasley was the third Silver Machine supporter in four years to lift the title!
Starting with Martin Hillier in 2001, followed by Tristan Bazylkiewicz in 2002, and then Robert in 2004, the destination of the Fantasy League trophy had almost become something of a foregone conclusion as Cowley fans have ruled the roost.
Rob's Randy Rabbits 9 team came on strongly in the second half of the season to edge out Workington fan Lee Blackwell and Ipswich supporter Chris Webb in the closing stages.
In fact, Robert enjoyed quite some season in the Fantasy League, as one of his other entries, the Randy Rabbits 052, finished in sixth place.
TOP THREE 2004
1 Robert Peasley (Oxford)
Rob's Randy Rabbits 9: Andreas Jonsson, Mark Loram, Jesper B. Jensen - replaced by Andrew Appleton, Kenneth Bjerre, Bjarne Pedersen - replaced by Jason Lyons, Sam Ermolenko, Antonio Lindback.
2 Lee Blackwell
3 Chris Webb
SEASON 2005
THE 2005 Fantasy League campaign brought one of the most dominant performances in the competition's history.
Eastbourne fan Neil Hollebon was never out of the top five all year and actually led the way for more than half of the season - 15 weeks out of 28 - before finishing 58 points clear of runner-up Claire Elston.
King's Lynn fan Claire deserved credit as she almost became the first promoter to win the Fantasy League twice - having previously been crowned champion in 1996.
Third place went to another King's Lynn supporter, David Gosling.
TOP THREE 2005
1 Neil Hollebon (Eastbourne)
Team Hollebon 9: Lee Richardson, Bjarne Pedersen, Hans Andersen, Kenneth Bjerre - replaced by Andrew Appleton, Freddie Lindgren - replaced by Niels-Kristian Iversen, Krzysztof Kasprzak, Davey Watt.
2 Claire Elston
3 David Gosling
SEASON 2006
IT didn't take Claire Elston long to stake her claim as the Tony Rickardsson of the Fantasy Speedway League - a year after finishing runner-up, and a decade after her first victory, she became the first promoter to win the FSL twice.
Claire, an accountant from Wisbech, registered eight teams into the 2006 competition - and, remarkably, five of them finished in the top 20 from a total of almost 7,700 entries!
Her Housewives Favourites 3 outfit snatched victory in the final week of the season when they overhauled Peterborough fan Andrew Parker, who saw his team slip down to fifth in the final standings.
The 2006 campaign, again supported by Clubcall - for the fifth year in a row - saw the transfer system expanded as promoters were permitted to make three changes over the course of the tear in a transfer window which ran from May 1 to September 30.
TOP THREE 2006
1 Claire Elston (King's Lynn)
Housewives Favourites 3: Chris Mills, Steve Boxall, Joel Parsons - replaced by Ben Barker, Kevin Doolan, Hans Andersen, Mark Loram - replaced by Shane Parker, Bjarne Pedersen - replaced by Kyle Legault.
2 Chris Simpson
3 Rachael Kerr
SEASON 2007
HATS off to Rye House supporter Darryl Gray, who dominated the 2007 tournament like no-one has ever dominated the Fantasy League before.
The tax inspector from Hertfordshire led from tapes up to chequered flag, swiftly adapting to the new online version of the game which brought a huge increase in the number of transfer options available.
In 2006, promoters had only been permitted to make a maximum of three changes to their team all season. In 2007, however, as the game switched to the internet, enabling promoters to make instant team changes, the two transfers per 28 days ruling was introduced.
Rockets fan Darryl made full use of the new regulations and saw his Paint a Vulgar Picture outfit finish a massive 198 points clear at the top. He also had two other teams finish in the top five.
Runners-up spot went to Exeter fan Steve Davey.
TOP THREE 2007
1 Darryl Gray (Rye House)
2 Steve Davey
3 Darryl Gray
SEASON 2008
The 2008 campaign brought a new FSL sponsor on board - and with it a fabulous additional prize.
Draper Tools of Hampshire gave the FSL promoter whose team was top of the table at midnight on September 1 the opportunity to select a Conference League rider of their choice to receive a brand new Jawa bike.
Ipswich fan David Woods earned that honour and duly chose Boston prospect Oliver Rayson as the lucky recipient of the new bike.
David, however, was unable to maintain his lead at the top of the table until the end of the season and was soon overhauled by Exeter fan Marianne Batten, who clinched the first prize of £1,500.
Marianne's victory helped to make up for the heartache she suffered in 1999!
Long-time Falcons fan Marianne, from Cullompton in Devon, was on course to win the FSL that year until she was pipped at the post by Ipswich fan David Woods, who ironically led the way for much of this season's competition.
This time, it was Marianne who got her revenge, as David's I Will Follow side faded during the run-in, slipping down to tenth in the final reckoning, while Marianne's Haldon or Bust septet survived a strong late challenge from Swindon fan John Garratt to secure the title.
TOP THREE 2008
1 Marianne Batten (Exeter)
2 John Garratt
3 Keith Milton
SEASON 2009
NEWPORT may have finished bottom of the Premier League - but one Wasps fan still had plenty to celebrate at the end of the season.
Kevin Pritchard, a supermarket manager from Gloucester, became the first Newport supporter to be crowned FSL champion when he overturned a huge lead built up by Poole fan Tony Baker in the closing weeks of the season.
Kevin's 'Howes' the Waps Doin' team eventually finished 55 points clear of runner-up Graeme Hunter, a Newcastle supporter, with Weymouth fan Andrew Day coming home in third.
TOP THREE 2009
1 Kevin Pritchard (Newport)
2 Graeme Hunter
3 Andrew Day
ROLL OF HONOUR
1995 Pete Lawrence (Coventry)
1996 Claire Elston (King?s Lynn)
1997 Derek Osborn (Eastbourne)
1998 Martin Weaver (Cradley Heath)
1999 David Woods (Ipswich)
2000 Mark Murray (Berwick)
2001 Martin Hillier (Oxford)
2002 Tristan Bazylkiewicz (Oxford)
2003 Mark McGeever (Belle Vue)
2004 Robert Peasley (Oxford)
2005 Neil Hollebon (Eastbourne)
2006 Claire Elston (King?s Lynn)
2007 Darryl Gray (Rye House)
2008 Marianne Batten (Exeter)
2009 Kevin Pritchard (Newport)
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