Not since the days of Ivan Mauger and Scott Autrey had Exeter won a leauge title, and given the Falcon's line up, no one expected the Year 2000 to be any different - no one that is except the Exeter camp themselves.

Peter Jeffery had retired following back injuries the previous season, and his temporary stand in Lee Dicken had returned to Hull, whilst there were no places for either Gary Lobb or Wayne Barrett. Michael Coles, Mark Simmonds, Graeme Gordon and Chris Harris were retained from the 1999 side with the captaincy being handed from Coles to Simmonds.

Into the side came Seemond Stephens who had been on loan to Swindon the previous year and Bobby Eldridge who made the switch from Newport having impressed when he rode at the County Ground for the Wasps in 1999.

Exeter's opener was against a Czech touring side with the Falcon's topping the 60pt mark. There were more big scores at the County Ground before on May 18th (yes it was a Thursday), Exeter went into the record books when they totally whitewashed Arena Essex by 75-15, and almost repeated it the following week when they beat Glasgow 74-16.

The league campaign continued mostly in the same fashion for the Falcon's with comforatable home results tying up the vital bonus point, whilst away from home they managed two wins and a draw. In fact, such was the scoring that all seven Exeter riders featured in the top 16 P.L averages in July, five in the top ten.

It was a totally different story in the Cup competitions however, with Exeter losing both legs in the Final of the Young Shield Trophy against Swindon as well as losing both legs against Hull in the Final of the Premier Trophy. They also lost in the Semi Final of the KO cup against Swindon going out 92-69 on aggreagte.

There was a bleak period for Exeter when in June, Roger Lobb was suspended for 18 months, and in July, Seemond Stephens broke a leg with Wayne Barrett stepping into the side. Bobby Elderidge suffered shoulder injuries in the final month of the season just when Exeter needed a full strength side to clinch the league Title.

Graeme Gordon struggled somewhat after starting out as a Heat Leader before finishing seventh in the averages and for some time hinted that a move away was needed to recapture his form, which at the end of the season he did. (Move away that is).

On the 30th September, the Falcons travelled to Workington needing to score 32 points to claim the bonus point that would give them the Premier League Title, and they duly ran the Comets close going down by 46-43. It did however give the Falcons their first League title trophy for 26 years.

Exeter were not meant to win the title according to most and an outcry developed about the bonus point system which handed the Falcons the Championship, but the sour grapes could not dent Exeter's jubilation in what was truly a remarkable season.

Michael Coles was again Exeter's mainstay and a consisent scorer both home and away whilst Mark Simmonds average dipped slightly, both Michael and Mark being ever present in the team. Seemond Stephens on the other hand upped his average by three points despite breaking his leg and was a major factor in Exeters success. Chris Harris had also added three to his average as did Bobby Eldridge. Roger Lobb was also improving fast before his imposed ban with only Graeme Gordon looking unsettled.

Wayne barrett appeared in 11 matches for Exeter averaging 3.0 whilst Jason Prynne appeared for 2 averaging 2.67. Guests used were Neil Collins (2), Brent Werner (4), Andrew Appleton, Paul Fry, Phil Morris, Scott Smith and Paul Thorp.

One other interesting point worth a mention. Michael Coles's ever present season actually marked his fifth consecutive season without missing a single match, and his racing career shows he had missed only 13 matches out of a total of 618 - remarkable.

Elsewhere in 2000

Eastboune win the Elite League Title beating Kings Lynn and Ipswich, whilst Exeter clinch the Premier league Title scoring 44pts to beat runners up Swindon also on 44pts and Hull who finished on 43pts. The Conference League ended in something of a farce when due to bad weather, Mildenhall's fixture against St.Austell was not able to be staged and thus handing the title to Sheffield.

Kings Lynn beat Coventry 100-80 on aggregate to lift the E.L KO Cup, but the Bees bounce back to lift the Craven Shield beating Kings Lynn and Poole in the Final.

Chris Louis took the British Championship trophy staged at Coventry. He scored a perfect 15 point maximum to beat Paul Hurry on 13pts and third placed Martin Dugard on 12pts. Ryan Sullivan wins the E.L Riders championship beating Hancock, Pedersen and Nicholls in the final.

Swindon beat Hull 101-79 to win the P.L KO Cup and ended a 33 year wait without a trophy, then promptly won another by beating Exeter with some ease in the Young Shield Final by 112-67.

Kelvin Tatum had totalled 102 points to claim the World Longtrack Champion. Runner up was Robert Barth (98pts) and third Matthias Kroeger (90pts).

Ryan Sullivan took the Elite League Championship. Having topped the qaulifying scores, he went on to beat Greg Hancock in the Final with Nicki Pedersen third and Scott Nicholls fourth.

Carl Stonehewer wins the P.L Riders Championship beating Peter Carr, Paul Pickering and Sean Wilson in the Final staged at Sheffield. Carl Stonehewer also teamed up with Mick Powell to win the P.L Pairs Title beating the IOW's Ray Morton and danny Bird in the Final staged at Workington. Scott Pegler carried off the C.L Riders Championship after beating Steve Bishop in a run off, both riders having scored 13pts. Third place went to Adam Allott who scored 11pts.

Mark Loram became Britain's first World Champion since Gary Havelock back in 1992. In the Final G.P standings, Mark Loram had totalled 102pts to beat runner up Billy Hamill on 95pts, Tony Rickardson on 94pts and Jason Crump with 88pts.

Sweden won the World Cup in dramatic fashion at Coventry. Having tied with England on 40pts apiece, it went down to a run off between Sweden's Tony Rickardsson and England's ark Loram with Loram falling. Third place went to the USA on 35pts with Australia fourth on 29pts.

Andreas Johnson was crowned U21 Champion in Gorzow, Poland. He dropped just one point in his opening Heat to score 14pts and beat runner up Krzysztof Ceigielski on 11pts and Jaroslaw Hampel also on 11pts in third.

Sheffield scored 30 points to win the P.L Fours Final staged at Peterborough. Runners up on the night were the IOW who scored 16pts, third Swindon on 14pts and with Berwick fourth on 12pts.

David Howe (14pts) clinched the British U-21 Final from Lee Richardson (14pts) Paul Lee (11pts) and Simon Stead (11pts). Other Individual winners include:
Sean Wilson the Hi-Peak Classic (Sheffield) and the Bordernapolis (Berwick), Billy Hamill the Billy Hamill Testimonial (Coventry), Scott Swain the Essex Championship (Arena Essex), Peter carr the Scottish Open (Edinburgh), Michael Coles the Westernapolis (Exeter), Troy Pratt the Supernational (Arena Essex), Chris Louis the 16 Lap Classic (Ipswich), Les Collins the Ashfield Classic (Glasgow), Scott Nicholls the Ben Howe Testimonial, Adam Allott the Somerset Open (Somerset) and Peter Karlsson the Olympique (Wolverhampton).

Towards the end of the Year, the speedway world was in mourning following the death of former Falcon Simon Wigg who passed away after a long illness in November. Amongst many other honours, He had been 5 times World Longtrack champion, six times british Grass Track Champion, twice British Speedway Champion and Worls Speedway Championship runner up and tributes poured in from around the World.