As the County Ground Stadium entered its final year following a stay of execution from the developers, the Exeter Falcons had already begun to take on a new look before the year had even started. Hopes were high that the Falcons would end their time at the County Ground in style, and were tipped as title contenders. But as the season unfurled, turmoil both on and off the track were to play their part in ensuring that Exeter's Farewell season would not rank amongst the Greats.

With the death of Promoter Colin Hill towards the end of the 2004 season, David Short took over the role having assisted Colin during his illness, whilst Mike Spearpoint was appointed Director. In the team itself, long serving Michael Coles and Mark Simmonds were no longer required, with Mike switching to Newport and Mark contemplated retirement. Roger Lobb also opted to hang up his leathers, whilst Graeme Gordon was forced to sit the season out with back injury problems, he was however to continue at Exeter in the role of Team manager.

Mark Lemon, Seemond Stephens (appointed Captain) and Nick Simmons were all that remained from the previous season, but they were to be joined by two former Falcons in the shape of Lee Smethills who had ridden in 2003, and Toni Svaab who rode at Exeter back in 1995.

Lee was always popular with the Exeter fans, whilst Toni, who was returning after a bad accident, had spent several seasons at Elite league level and whose experience was seen as invaluable, so much so that he was named as Poole's number 8. Joining the Falcons were new signings Pavel Ondrasik and Slovenian prospect Jernej Kolenko. Czech International Pavel (Pictured Right) had joined from Newport and whose 2004 season had been hampered by injury, whilst Jernej had ridden for Oxford where he had failed to make an impact, but was seen as a great prospect at Premier League level.

But just when it looked as if things had finally settled down at the County Ground, Exeter were hit with the news that Kolenko would be unable to ride and would miss at least two months of the 2005 season as a result of a hand injury problem. In an effort to find a suitable stand in, Exeter provisionally signed 28 year old Richard Wolff from the Czech Republic, however, the news was short lived when it was revealed he had changed his mind and had opted to join Reading instead, and so rider replacement was permitted until Kolenko returned.

More news was to follow when it was annonced that "Go Speed", a company headed by British Speedway Promoters Association president Terry Russell, has taken control of the promoting rights of Exeter Speedway. The move followed a decision by the current shareholders who feel that the take over was in the best interests of the Falcons and the most advantageous way of achieving the late Colin Hill’s dream of establishing his team in a new stadium.

Exeter's Premier Trophy opener against Rye House was rained off so the Falcons travelled to Somerset for their first match where they went down 52-41 in a promising opening display. They faced the Rebels the following Monday and won 51 - 43, not managing to secure the first bonus point thanks mainly to some untimely machinery problems, and lost again to Kings Lynn the following Wednesday, this time going down 56 - 37.

Jernej Kolenko made his debut for Exeter in the next meeting at home to the Isle of Wight which the Falcons won by 53 - 39, thanks to a much improved performance by Pavrel Ondrasik who scored 11 + 1 at reserve berth and Seemond Stephens who took a 15pt maximum, backed up by Mark Lemon's (Pictured Left)11 + 3. The success however was marred when it was announced by the media that the proposed new site at Westpoint had been scuppered owing to nearby residents and once again the cloud hung over the future of Exeter Speedway for 2006.

Yet more problems for Exeter when Kolenko announced he was quitting Exeter owing to family problems at home and a frantic search began for a replacement. The regular Bank Holiday morning start had also been changed for an evening slot, the first time this had happened since way back in the 1930's, and as it happened, it was rained off. The following Monday, Exeter looked to be getting back into the usual pattern at home when they thrashed K.Lynn 64 - 29 with Svaab and Smethills hitting the highest scores for the Falcons. But the joy was short lived when Newport were the visitors on May 16th and pulled off a shock win at the County Ground, although Exeter still retained the bonus point having won at Newport earlier in the season.

Ray Morton (Pictured Right)had signed for Exeter as a replacement for Kolenko, but had to miss the match through injury and Exeter were denied the rider replacement facility, whilst Lee Smetthills had to pull out of the meeting after three pointless rides with severe headaches.

Ray Morton made his debut the following night at the Isle of Wight and won his opening race, but had to retire after a fall in the next outing aggrevated his injured arm, but the Falcons put up a spirited display before finally losing 48 - 42, with Ondrasik again hitting double figures. The following Sunday saw Exeter lose at Newcastle in a League match going down by 54 - 40 and narrowly winning at home the next night beating Stoke 46 - 44

When Somerset were the visitors on May 30th, Exeter at last had a full team including new signing Ben Barker who had been brought into the side at the expense of Nick Simmons who had been finding the going tough. Sadly however, Ben was involved in a spill in his second ride and took no further part in the meeting. Also making his home debut was Ray Morton who promptly won his opening ride and finished the night on 10+1 as Exeter won by 54 - 40 with Pavrel Ondasik moving up into the full team and Lee Smethills dropping down to wear the No 7 vest.

The Falcons pairing of Mark Lemon and Seemond Stephens reached the Semi Finals of the Premier league Pairs Title , and Exeter came close to beating Hull's long unbeaten home record when they lost 49.5 - 46.5 after mark Lemon had a dead Heat against Hull's Emiliano Sancheh. Two days later at Reading in the final Premier Trophy qaulifying match, the Falcon's again came very close, before going down by 46 - 44. But the vital bonus point had been won and Exeter were through to the semi Finals of the Trophy where they would face Workington who they soundly beat in the League the following Monday 61 - 32. But despite winning at home 56-40, it was Workington who qaulified winning 87-100 on aggregate.

A few days later, the Falcons lost at home again in a league match, this time to Berwick who won 38-50 and any hopes of Silverware in the County Grounds Final year were diminishing rapidly as they were held at home by Kings Lynn in the K.O Cup qaurter Final before being trounced 27-63 in the return leg. It was at this point that Toni Svaab's poor run of form saw him axed from the side as Exeter bounced back to win at home to Glasgow by 57-37.

Seb Tresarrieu (Pictured Left)was signed to replace Toni Svaab and got himself off to a bad start when he failed to turn up for that match with Glasgow, but arrived the following Monday to score an impressive 11+1 as Exeter soundly beat Newport 65-28.

But Exeter's misery continued in August when Ben Barker was agin injured, but this time far more seriously and was to put an end to his season. Meanwhile, plans were already being put into place for an end of season Farewell meeting as Exeter's hopes of Young Shield placing looked more and more unlikely. However, there was some consolation when the Falcons quartet of Lemon, Tresarrieu, Smethills and Morton finished third in the P.L Fours Tournament, which so happens was there highest ever achievment in this competition. A week later they won their League match away to Newport, but sadly even this could not ultimately help the Falcons achieve a Play Off placing.

But Exeter's woes were not yet quite over as Seb Tressarieu was initially axed from the team for failing to appear for a meeting at Rye House, only to be reinstated the next day when it was learnt that no replacement facility was available for the Falcons.

(Pictured Right) The luckless Ben Barker whose season was cut short following injury after he had looked impressive for the Falcon's as well as being a hit with the fans.

The final two meetings ever to be staged at the County Ground began with the Colin Hill Westernapolis that was eventually won by Brent Werner in a meeting that saw the return of Exeter favourite Michael Coles who had taken time out of the Sport after finding things hard going at Newport. Shaun Tacey finished in second place with Mads Korneliussen in third. Best placed of the Falcons in that meeting was Lee Smethills who ended in eight place, ironically one point behind Mike Coles.

And so the stage was set for the Grand Finale as the End of an Era meeting drew ever closer. Whilst the Falcons last season at the County Ground was something of a dissapointment, the emotionally build up towards that final meeting was intense and interest was huge. The oldest track in Britain was not going to slip out of the spotlight quietly, and it is only fitting at this point that the "Farewell" meeting moves to a page of its. "Farewell" - The End of an Era.

All Exeter pictures on this page were kindly supplied by Ian Hitchcock. Click Here to view more of Ian's Photographs.

Elsewhere in 2005

The season got it's first action with the by now regular Newport Classic early in January, which was reatined by Chris Harris who had won it the previous seaon. He won the Final from runner up N.Iversen, S.Robson was third and D.Howe finishing fourth.

Russian Nikolai Krasmikov won the World Ice Championship during the last last round staged in Berlin. Despite failing to win either of the last two A-Finals, he had done enough to beat fellow countryman Vitali Khomitsevich with Ivan Ivanov finsihing third.

Edward Kennett was crowned British U-21 Champion at Rye House winning the Final from runner up Chris Schramm and third placed Richard Hall.

Shane Parker and George Stancl of Glasgow won the P.L Pairs title, the furst time the club had ever taken the title. They beat Magnus Zetterstrom and Glen Cunningham of Somerset in the Final held in Glasgow. It was Zetterstrom however who took the P.L Champions Chase when he beat Chris Neath and Tomas Topinka in the meeting staged at Kings Lynn.

Somerset however went on to win their first ever "Fours Championship" scoring 21 pts in the Final at Workington to beat Workington (20), Exeter (16) and Rye House (14).

Swindon retained the Elite League Pairs title they had won in 2004, on this occasion Leigh Adams partnering Lee Richardson beating jason Crump and Joe Screen of Belle Vue. In the Conference league Pairs it was Wimbledon who retained the Trophy they had won the previous season. They scored 16pts to beat Oxford (16 - after run off), Stoke (14) and Scunthorpe (8).

Weymouth won the Conference league Fours Championship by a single point from second placed oxford. In third place were Armadale and Boston finished fourth.

Poland stormed to an emphatic World Cup Title staged in wroclaw. They totally dominated the Final to score 62 points, almost doubling that of runners up Sweden (34) with denmark third (31) and Gt.Britain fourth (26).

Scott Nicholls won the Championship of Great Britain staged at Oxford, he won the Final ahead of Chris Harris, Joe Screen and Mark Loram. In the Elite League Riders Championship, Nicki Pedersen took the honours from Scott Nicholls Peter Karlsson and Bjarne Pedersen. In the Premier League Riders Championship staged at Sheffield, Sean Wilson took the honours ahead of runner up Alan Mogridge and third spot going to Tomas Topinka. It was Steve Boxall who secured the Conference league Riders Final scoring a faultless 15pt maximum to beat Barrie Evans and Blair Scott in the Final staged at Rye House.

Rye House won their first silverware for some 25 years when they beat Workington in the Premier Trophy Final with an aggregate score of 107 - 76 and then marched on to win the Premier league title.

Tony Rickardson swept all opposition aside to comfortably clinch the World Championship for the sixth time to eqaul Ivan Mauger's record. He ended the seasons Grand Prix series on 196 points, well clear of runner up Jason Crump (154), third placed Leigh Adams (107) and Nicki Pedersen who finished fourth (102). Not long after his success, Tony announced that whatever happens, 2006 would be his last season in the sport.

Edward Kennett won the British U21 Final at Rye House beating Chris Schramm and Richard Hall in the Final, whilst the World U-21 title turned into something of a farce when the Final staged in Austria was brought to a halt due to heavy rain making the event a wash out. And yet, Krzystoff Kasprzak was crowned Champion - by the toss of a coin.

Despite having topped the Elite League table, Belle Vue were denied the title by losing the Elite League Play off Final to Coventry in a system seen as many as purely television motivated and making a nonsense out of League Titles. Some consolation for the "Aces" however as they triumphed over Eastbourne 97-83 on aggregate to take the KO Cup Final

In the Peter Craven Memorial trophy staged at Belle Vue, Jason Crump scored a maximum 15pts to beat runner up Jason Lyons on 14pts and Joe Screen third with 11pts.

Other Individual titles included David Howe - Prince of Wales Trophy (Newport), Jason Crump - Peter Craven memorial Trophy (B.Vue), D.Norton - Scunthorpe Telegraph Trophy (Scunthorpe), Paul Thorp - CPD Classic (Hull), Charlie Gjedde - Midlands Open Championship (Wolverhampton), Sam Ermolenko - Shane Parker Testimonial (Glasgow), Matej Zagar - Young Guns Individual (Poole), David Howe - Scottish Open (Edinburgh), Artur Boginzak - Junior Westernapolis (Exeter), Wiliam Lawson - British U-18 Championship (Wolverhampton), George Stancl - Ashfield Classic (Glasgow), Mark Burrows - The Laurels (Wimbledon) and Damen Mallett - David Nix Memorial Trophy (Kings Lynn).

2005 Elite League.

Team	PL	W	D	L	B	Pts
Poole	36	23	2	11	13	61
Wolverhampton	36	21	0	15	16	58
Ipswich	36	21	0	15	11	53
Eastbourne	36	18	3	15	11	50
Oxford	36	19	0	17	10	48
Swindon	36	18	3	15	6	45
Belle Vue	35	17	0	18	9	43
Arena Essex	36	16	0	20	8	40
Peterborough	35	12	2	21	2	28
Coventry	36	9	0	27	3	21

2004 Premier League.

Team	PL	W	D	L	B	Pts
Hull	28	23	0	5	12	58
Workington	28	18	1	9	12	49
Reading	28	17	0	11	12	46
Stoke	28	15	0	13	9	39
I.O.W	28	13	2	13	10	38
Rye House	28	16	0	12	5	37
Kings Lynn	28	14	0	14	9	43
Arena Essex	36	16	0	20	7	35
Sheffield	28	14	0	14	6	34
Berwick	286	13	0	15	7	33
Exeter	28	13	0	15	6	32
Glasgow	28	12	0	16	8	32
Edingburgh	28	12	0	16	5	29
Somerset	28	12	1	15	4	29
Newport	28	7	2	19	1	17
Newcastle	28	8	0	20	1	17

2004 Conference League.

Team	PL	W	D	L	B	Pts
Mildenhall	24	21	0	3	10	52
Rye House	24	19	0	5	9	47
Oxford	24	17	0	7	10	44
Armadale	24	15	0	9	8	38
Boston	24	14	1	9	8	37
Buxton	24	13	1	10	7	34
Wimbledon	24	11	0	13	6	28
Weymouth	24	10	1	13	5	26
Stoke	24	9	1	14	4	23
Swindon	24	8	0	16	5	21
Newcastle	24	7	0	17	2	16
Carmarthen	24	5	1	18	4	15
Newport	24	4	1	19	0	9