Sadly SQL Server 2008 does not have LAG or LEAD which would make the operation simpler.
You could use a common table expression for finding the non consecutive (non null) values, and delete them;
WITH cte AS (
SELECT *, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY id) rn FROM table1 WHERE data IS NOT NULL
)
DELETE c1 FROM cte c1
LEFT JOIN cte c2 ON (c1.rn = c2.rn+1 OR c1.rn = c2.rn-1) AND c1.data = c2.data
WHERE c2.id IS NULL
If you just want to see which rows would be deleted, replace DELETE c1
with SELECT c1.*
.
...and as always, remember to back up before running potentially destructive SQL for random people on the Internet.