1984 British League season

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1984 British League season
LeagueBritish League
ChampionsIpswich Witches
Knockout CupIpswich Witches
League CupCradley Heathens
IndividualChris Morton
PairsBelle Vue Aces
Midland CupCradley Heathens
Highest averageHans Nielsen
Division/s below1984 National League

The 1984 British League season was the 50th season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom and the 20th known as the British League.[1]

Team changes[edit]

Three teams dropped out and four teams replaced them. Midland's clubs Birmingham Brummies and Leicester Lions both dropped out and Hackney Hawks dropped to the National League, becoming the Hackney Kestrels after taking over from the Crayford Kestrels. The new teams to the league were Oxford Cheetahs, Newcastle Diamonds, Exeter Falcons (all from the National League) and the returning Wolverhampton Wolves who did not ride in 1982 and 1983.

Summary[edit]

Oxford Cheetahs were financed by David Hawkins of Northern Sports. They bought Hans Nielsen from Birmingham for a record £30,000, Simon Wigg for £25,000 from Cradley Heath, Marvyn Cox for £15,000 from Rye House, Melvyn Taylor for £12,000 from King's Lynn and Jens Rasmussen.[2] Defending champions Cradley Heath couldn't hold onto their title after losing Simon Wigg to Oxford and loaning Jan O. Pedersen to Sheffield Tigers because of their huge combined c.m.a. being over the limit.

The 50th season of British speedway saw a close fight between Ipswich Witches, Belle Vue Aces and Cradley Heathens. A resounding home win over Ipswich and a string of away wins meant Belle Vue looked favourites to win the league, but in October Ipswich took 3 points from Cradley home and away to end the midlanders hopes and clinched the title with a win at previously unbeaten at home Reading. They made it a cup double by beating Belle Vue home and away in the final with Belle Vue also missing out in the League Cup final to Cradley Heath. The Suffolk team had a great season despite losing their leading rider Dennis Sigalos who rode for Wolverhampton Wolves until breaking his leg early in the league season. Australian Billy Sanders remained one of the team's main scorers and he was supported by strong season scoring from American showman John Cook, Finn Kai Niemi and the English international pair of Jeremy Doncaster and Richard Knight.[3][4]

The league season saw some notable absentees. Kenny Carter made no league appearances after breaking his leg and aggravating the injury in attempting to qualify for the World Final. Remarkably he won the British Final despite being barely able to walk. Michael Lee was judged to have endangered the safety of other riders when storming off the track in the wrong direction and received a season long ban (reduced from 3 years after appeal) and made no league appearances for Poole

Draconian measures were brought in to exclude any rider pushing the tapes, as opposed to breaking them. The aforementioned Lee walked out of an England / USA test match after falling foul of the rule strictly applied by the referee. Erik Gundersen scored heavily in the league but his high average was hampered by a string of exclusions for tape infringements so much that he finished outside the top 10 rider averages. In the World Championship, the FIM didn't apply the same strictness and he was able to get several flying starts on his way to winning the World Title.

A scandal broke in September when the Sunday People newspaper published a story about race fixing and riders being paid to forfeit their place in the British Final. Riders named were Simon Wigg, Malcolm Simmons, John Louis, Mark Courtney, Kelly Moran and Alan Grahame. Specifically Simmons dropping out for Wigg in the British Final and rides by Wigg's opponents in that final came under scrutiny. Wigg was disqualified from the 1985 World Championship.

Final table[edit]

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Ipswich Witches 30 25 2 3 52
2 Belle Vue Aces 29 23 3 3 49
3 Cradley Heath Heathens 30 21 2 7 44
4 Reading Racers 30 17 1 12 35
5 Sheffield Tigers 30 15 0 15 30
6 King's Lynn Stars 30 15 0 15 30
7 Wimbledon Dons 30 15 0 15 30
8 Oxford Cheetahs 30 14 1 15 29
9 Swindon Robins 29 12 2 15 26
10 Wolverhampton Wolves 30 13 0 17 26
11 Eastbourne Eagles 30 12 1 17 25
12 Coventry Bees 30 11 2 17 24
13 Poole Pirates 30 10 1 19 21
14 Halifax Dukes 30 9 3 18 21
15 Exeter Falcons 30 8 2 20 18
16 Newcastle Diamonds 30 9 0 21 18

M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)[edit]

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Hans Nielsen Denmark Oxford Cheetahs 10.78
2 Chris Morton England Belle Vue Aces 10.72
3 Jan Andersson Sweden Reading Racers 10.36
4 Simon Wigg England Oxford Cheetahs 9.98
5 Phil Crump Australia Swindon Robins 9.96
6 Bobby Schwartz United States Eastbourne Eagles 9.82
7 Billy Sanders Australia Ipswich Witches 9.73
8 Peter Collins England Belle Vue Aces 9.68
9 Shawn Moran United States Sheffield Tigers 9.66
10 John Cook United States Ipswich Witches 9.36

British League Knockout Cup[edit]

The 1984 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 46th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Ipswich Witches were the winners.[5]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
15/07 Eastbourne 41-36 Poole
30/06 Swindon 36-42 Ipswich
29/06 Exeter 32-46 Wolverhampton
28/06 Wimbledon 46-32 Coventry
25/06 Reading 41-36 Cradley Heath
18/06 Wolverhampton 45-33 Exeter
16/06 Coventry 52-26 Wimbledon
09/06 Cradley Heath 46-32 Reading
09/06 Kings Lynn 49-29 Newcastle
07/06 Ipswich 45-33 Swindon
06/06 Poole 37-41 Eastbourne
12/05 Halifax 37-41 Sheffield
05/05 Belle Vue 53-25 Oxford
26/04 Sheffield 49-29 Halifax

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
16/09 Eastbourne 42-34 Kings Lynn
06/09 Sheffield 40-38 Wolverhampton
01/09 Belle Vue 50-28 Coventry
27/08 Coventry 42-36 Belle Vue
25/08 Kings Lynn 57-21 Eastbourne
10/08 Wolverhampton 42-36 Sheffield
26/07 Ipswich 46-32 Cradley Heath
25/07 Cradley Heath 40-38 Ipswich

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
14/10 Belle Vue 56-22 Wolverhampton
05/10 Wolverhampton 40-38 Belle Vue
27/09 Ipswich 57-21 Kings Lynn
26/09 Kings Lynn 44-34 Ipswich

Final[edit]

First leg

Belle Vue Aces
McKinna 9
Collins 8
Morton 6
Smith 6
Ross 2
Carr 2
Courtney 0		33 - 45Ipswich Witches
Sanders 12
Cook 10
Knight 8
Doncaster 7
Niemi 6
Flatman 2
Blackbird 0
[6]

Second leg

Ipswich Witches
Sanders 9
Doncaster 8
Cook 8
Blackbird 8
Niemi 6
Knight 5
Flatman 3		47 - 31Belle Vue Aces
Smith 9
Ross 9
Morton 6
McKinna 4
Carr 2
Collins 1
Courtney 0
[7]

Ipswich Witches were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 92-64.

League Cup[edit]

The League Cup was split into North and South sections. The two-legged final was won by Cradley Heath Heathens beating Belle Vue Aces in the final 80-76 on aggregate.

South Group

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Reading Racers 16 11 0 5 22
2 Wimbledon Dons 16 11 0 5 22
3 Ipswich Witches 16 10 1 5 21
4 Eastbourne Eagles 16 9 1 6 19
5 Oxford Cheetahs 16 9 0 7 18
6 Poole Pirates 16 8 0 8 16
7 King's Lynn Stars 16 7 0 9 14
8 Swindon Robins 16 5 1 10 11
9 Exeter Falcons 16 0 1 15 1

North Group

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Belle Vue Aces 12 10 0 2 20
2 Cradley Heathens 12 6 0 6 12
3 Newcastle Diamonds 12 6 0 6 12
4 Coventry Bees 12 5 0 7 10
5 Sheffield Tigers 12 5 0 7 10
6 Wolverhampton Wolves 12 5 0 7 10
7 Halifax Dukes 12 5 0 7 10

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
21/07 Belle Vue 55–23 Wimbledon
04/08 Cradley Heath 52–26 Reading
09/08 Wimbledon 38–40 Belle Vue
13/08 Reading 42–36 Cradley Heath

Final

Date Team one Score Team two
07/10 Cradley Heath 44–34 Belle Vue
14/10 Belle Vue 42–36 Cradley Heath

Riders' Championship[edit]

Chris Morton won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 20 October.[8]

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total
1 England Chris Morton 3 1 3 3 3 13+3
2 Denmark Hans Nielsen 3 2 2 3 3 13+2
3 Denmark Erik Gundersen 3 3 2 3 2 13+1
4 Denmark Peter Ravn 2 3 3 2 2 12
5 United States Shawn Moran 2 2 2 2 3 11
6 Denmark Tommy Knudsen 0 3 3 3 1 10
7 Australia Billy Sanders 3 3 1 X 1 8
8 England Malcolm Simmons 2 2 1 1 1 7
9 United States Sam Ermolenko 0 1 3 0 2 6
10 Sweden Jan Andersson 2 2 0 0 2 6
11 United States Bobby Schwartz 0 0 0 2 3 5
12 Australia Phil Crump 1 1 1 2 X 5
13 England Neil Evitts 0 1 2 1 0 4
14 England Martin Scarisbrick 1 0 1 1 1 4
15 England John Louis 1 0 0 - - 1
16 England Andy Campbell 1 0 0 1 0 2
17 England Lee Edwards (res) 0 0 - - - 0
18 England Glenn Hornby (res) 0 0 - - - 0
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired

Pairs[edit]

The British League Pairs Championship was held at Monmore Green Stadium on 11 September and was won by Belle Vue.[9]

Semi finals

  • Belle Vue beat Coventry 7–2
  • Reading beat Wimbledon 7–2

Final

  • Belle Vue beat Reading 5–4

Midland Cup[edit]

Cradley Heath won the Midland Cup for the second consecutive year. The competition consisted of five teams and was sponsored by Marlboro.[10]

First round

Team one Team two Score
Wolverhampton Oxford 43–35, 45–33

Semi final round

Team one Team two Score
Coventry Swindon 45–33, 33–45
Coventry Swindon 46–32, 32–46
Coventry Swindon 40–38, 34–43
Cradley Wolverhampton 40–38, 39–39

Final[edit]

First leg

Swindon
Phil Crump 12
Bo Petersen 10
Ari Koponen 6
Alf Busk 4
Shawn McConnell 3
Per Sorensen 2
Kevin Smith 0		37–40Cradley Heath
Lance King 8
Erik Gundersen 7
Phil Collins 7
Finn Jensen 7
Alan Grahame 6
Simon Cross 5
Steve Collins 0

Second leg

Cradley Heath
Erik Gundersen 10
Phil Collins 9
Lance King 8
Alan Grahame 6
Finn Jensen 6
Simon Cross 4
Steve Collins 0		43–35Swindon
Phil Crump 12
Bo Petersen 8
Per Sorensen 7
Ari Koponen 5
Alf Busk 1
Shawn McConnell 1
Kevin Smith 1

Cradley Heath won on aggregate 83–72

Riders & final averages[edit]

Belle Vue

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Eastbourne

Exeter

Halifax

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Newcastle

Oxford

Poole

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

Wimbledon

Wolverhampton

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ Bamford/Shailes, Robert/Glynn (2007). The Story of Oxford Speedway. Tempus Publishing Ltd. pp. 128–135. ISBN 978-0-7524-4161-0.
  3. ^ "1984 league tables". Speedway GB. Archived from the original on 1 October 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  4. ^ "Favourite-ever Ipswich Witches teams... FANS HAVE THEIR SAY". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  5. ^ "1984 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  6. ^ "Speedway". Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 28 October 1984. Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ "Speedway". Daily Mirror. 29 October 1984. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ^ "Morton takes title". Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 21 October 1984. Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ^ "Morton Collins, perfect partners". Birmingham Mail. 12 September 1984. Retrieved 17 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ^ "Cradley finish on high note". Birmingham Weekly Mercury. 28 October 1984. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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