The Falcon's must have been glad to see the back of the 2002 season, which had been totally overshadowed by the terrible injury suffered by Lawrence Hare. Then there was the injuries to Bobby Eldridge which would rule him out for the 2003 season, and for the first time since it began in 1997, the Falcons had failed to make the play offs for the Young Shield. Little did they know at the start of 2003 that this was to be another season that would become best forgotten.

In what was to be his 19th season in charge at Exeter, Promoter Colin Hill had managed to avoid the clubs eviction from the County Ground whilst a new venue could be sought, but by the start of the year, Colin had become increasingly ill with cancer and for much of the season, Tony Lethbridge and Brian James would be at the helm.

The line up for 2003 was much the same as the previous year. Michael Coles, Mark Simmonds, Seemond Stephens, Roger Lobb and Krister Marsh were all signed up before the year began. Lee Smethills was eventually signed from B.Vue and was seen as a potent reserve. Having previously been on loan to Workington and the Hull, Lee had indicated that a move to the County Ground might be the right move having made little progress as a Viking.

The final spot was between Matt Cambridge and Corey Blackman who had both had ridden the previous year, but it was to be Blackman who was seen as the brighter prospect, and so the team was complete, with Matt Cambridge moving to Newport.

The Falcons opened their campaign in the new British League cup with a 54-39 victory over Trelawny in a match where new boy Lee Smethills notched up a paid eleven. However, in the return leg the following night, Exeter crashed 27-63 with only Coles and Smethills offering much resistance.

They lost at Arena Essex by the same margin at the start of April before stringing together some good results that included the disposing of Newport in the KO Cup. They then lost at home to Berwick going down 44-46 before their problems really started. They had beaten the I.O.W at home by 53-42 in the KO Cup, but in the return leg, Michael Coles was to suffer injuries that ended his season. Upon having X-rays, it was revealed that Michael had been riding for three season with a broken neck.

Having been knocked out of the KO Cup was bad enough, but Michael had been the mainstay of the Exeter side for several season, and losing him was a huge blow, although he was soon back in the pits helping out.

To plug the gap, Exeter were fortunate to be able to sign Scott Smith (Pictured Right) who had left his former club Sheffield on unhappy terms and was known to like the big Exeter track. Corey Blackman was then involved in a spill at Swindon which ended his season, and the Falcons began to struggle. Finding a replacement for Corey was difficult, and having tried several Conference League riders, only Nick Simmons proved any worth.

The Falcons then lost 5 meetings in a row, including two home defeats against Glasgow and Sheffield, both by the margin of 44-46 before they won a home meeting in early August against Poole in the B.L Cup. But if Exeter thought they had turned the corner, Mark Simmonds was ruled out in late August, before Seemond Stephens crashed badly whilst for the I.O.W at Berwick and Exeter had lost three Heat Leaders.

Exeter finished 13th in the Premier league and lost four times at home, all by the same 44-46 margin, and no doubt would have been reversed had it not been for the loss of Coles, Stephens, Simmonds and Blackman.

Elsewhere in 2003

Poole make it a treble winning the BL Cup Final by beating Eastbourne 98-82 over 2 legs, winning the KO Cup Final beating Coventry 90-88 on aggregate and also won the E.L Play off beating Coventry 100-79 on aggregate.

The Elite League Riders Championship Final was won by Lee Richardson who beat Billy Janiro into second place with Scott Nicholls third and Jason Crump fourth having retired. Scott Nicholls however won the Championship of Gt Britain final from Dean Barker, Dave Norris and Joe Screen after Norris had gone through the qaulifying heats unbeaten.

Pictured Left, the Triple winning Poole Team.

Simon Stead won the British U21 Final staged at Sheffield. In the Final, he beat Olly Allen, Jamie Smith and Andrew Appleton. Jarek Hampel (Poland) was crowned World U21 Champion scoring 14pts to beat second placed Chris Harris (Britain) who scored 13pts and third placed Rafal Szombierski (Poland) on 11 pts.

Sweden became the World Cup Champions in the Final staged in Vojens. They scored 62 points to beat runners up Australia (57pts), Denmark (53pts), Poland (49pts) and Gt.Britain (44pts).

In the Premier league Riders Championship, it was Sean Wilson who clinched the Final from runner up Adam Shields, third placed Carl Stonehewer and Craig Watson was fourth. The Conference League Riders Championship staged at Rye House was won by Barrie Evans who scored 14pts. Runner up was Jamie Robertson on 11 points and Trevor Harding thirdwith 10 points.

The P.L title went to Edinburgh, their first ever championship win. They totalled 66points to beat runners up Sheffield on 54pts and third placed I.O.W with 56pts.

In the P.L Knockout Cup, the IOW beat Sheffield 95 91 on aggregate, and in the Conference league KO Cup, Mildenhall won beating Rye house 91-87 on aggregate.

Nicki Pedersen (Pictured Right) becomes World Champion, pipping second placed Jason Crump who had been excluded in the Final of the last round of the Grand Prix series.Final points were Nicki Pedersen 152, Jason Crump 144, Tony Rickardsson 127 and Leigh Adams 126.

Jarek Hampel dropped just a single point in his last Heat to score 14pts andtake the World U21 Championship Final held in Kumla, Sweden. Runner up was Britain's Chris Harris and third was Polands Rafal Szombierski who beat Swede Fredrick Lindgren in a run off after both riders had scored 11pts each.

Swindon win the P.L Four's title staged at Swindon. They scored 25pts in the Final to beat Trelawny (22pts), Newport (21pts) and Glasgow(4pts). Workington's Carl Stonehewer and Simon Stead win the P.L pairs for the fourth time beating Newport's Frank Smart and Neils Kristian in the Fianal staged at Workington.

In other Individual events, David Howe won the New Year Classic (Newport), Leigh Adams the Dean Barker Testimonial (Eastbourne), Chris Collins the Steel City Championship (Sheffield), David Ruud the Somerset Open (Somerset), David Howe the Welsh Open (Newport), carl Stonehewer the Cumberland Open (Workington), Paul Thorp the MidSummer Showdon (Hull), Jason Crump the Leigh Adams Testimonial (Swindon) and the Craig Boyce Testimonial (Poole), Seemond Stephens the Westernapolis (Exeter), Scott Nicholls the 16 LAp Classic (Ipswich), Simon Stead the Pride Of The east (Kings Lynn), Danny Bird the Euphony Classic (Reading), Mark Lemon the Frank Smart Farewell (Newport) and the Graeme Gordon Testimonial (Somerset), Leigh Adams the Mike Coles testimonial (Exeter), Wayne Barrett the Laurels (Wimbledon) and Mikael Max the Ladbroke Olympique (Wolverhampton)