1968 British League season

The 1968 British League season was the 34th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the fourth season known as the British League.

Summary
Edinburgh relocated to become the Coatbridge Monarchs. The Long Eaton team closed its doors, but a new team in Leicester returned to Speedway to join the League.

Coventry Bees secured their first title on points difference and after they scored points in the last heat of their last match away at King's Lynn. The title win came after two consecutive years as being runner-up. Coventry's Nigel Boocock was again one of the league's leading riders with his average going well above ten for the fifth consecutive year. He was well supported by Ron Mountford and Czechoslovakian star Antonín Kasper Sr. Wimbledon Dons who could only manage a mid table finish went on to win the British League Knockout Cup.

British League Knockout Cup
The 1968 British League Knockout Cup was the 30th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Wimbledon were the winners.

First round

Second round

Third round

Semi-finals

Final
First leg

Second leg

Wimbledon Dons were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 118-98.

Riders' Championship
Barry Briggs won the British League Riders' Championship for the fourth consecutive year, held at Hyde Road on 19 October. Briggs defeated Boocock in a run off for the title.


 * ef=engine failure, f=fell, exc=excluded

London Cup
Wimbledon won the London Cup.

Results

Midland Cup
Swindon won the Midland Cup for the second consecutive season. The competition consisted of six teams.

First round

Semi final round

Final
First leg

Second leg

Swindon won on aggregate 78–77

Riders & final averages
Belle Vue


 * 🇸🇪 Sören Sjösten 9.13
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tommy Roper 8.50
 * 🇭🇺 Sándor Lévai 7.40
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Cyril Maidment 7.34
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bill Powell 5.62
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Norman Nevitt 5.56
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Taffy Owen 4.48
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ken Eyre 4.29
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Chris Pusey 3.65
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Eric Broadbelt 2.78

Coatbridge


 * 🇸🇪 Bernt Persson 9.28
 * 🇳🇴 Reidar Eide 9.02
 * George Hunter 6.48
 * Bert Harkins 6.36
 * Doug Templeton 6.05
 * Brian Collins 4.39
 * Alec Hughson 3.62

Coventry


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nigel Boocock 10.74
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ron Mountford 9.62
 * 🇨🇿 Antonín Kasper Sr. 7.51
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Col Cottrell 7.09
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Les Owen 6.46
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rick France 6.13
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Roger Hill 5.46
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tom Ridley 4.73
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Chris Harrison 3.40
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dave Callington 1.88

Cradley Heath


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Roy Trigg 8.91
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bob Andrews 7.70
 * 🇳🇿 Graham Coombes 6.71
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Chris Julian 6.32
 * 🇸🇪 Lars Jansson 6.20
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ivor Brown 5.67
 * 🇸🇪 Tommy Bergqvist 5.02
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ken Wakefield 5.02
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Archie Wilkinson 4.19
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Peter Wrathall 3.62
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alan Totney 3.16

Exeter


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Martin Ashby 10.72
 * 🇳🇿 Wayne Briggs 7.70
 * 🇦🇺 Neil Street 7.51
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jimmy Squibb 7.46
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tommy Sweetman 7.31
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mike Cake 6.37
 * 🇨🇦 Chris Blewett 5.71
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Chris Bass 4.64

Glasgow


 * Jimmy McMillan 8.31
 * 🇳🇴 Oyvind Berg 7.91
 * 🇳🇿 Alf Wells 7.43
 * 🇸🇪 Bo Josefsson 6.79
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Russ Dent 5.78
 * 🇸🇪 Lars Jansson 5.68
 * Willie Templeton 4.92
 * Bill McMillan 4.79
 * 🇸🇪 Åke Andersson 4.17
 * 🇦🇺 Brian Whaley 2.37

Hackney


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Colin Pratt 9.58
 * 🇸🇪 Bengt Jansson 8.99
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Les McGillivray 6.74
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Des Lukehurst 6.24
 * 🇦🇺 Jack Biggs 6.08
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Malcolm Brown 5.31
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alan Jackson 4.40
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Gary Everett 4.08
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Laurie Etheridge 3.17

Halifax


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Eric Boocock 10.17
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dave Younghusband 8.83
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Eric Boothroyd 7.95
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alan Jay 6.27
 * 🇦🇺 Greg Kentwell 5.94
 * 🇦🇺 Dennis Gavros 5.43
 * 🇦🇺 Les Sharpe 3.88
 * 🇦🇺 Bob Jameson 3.75
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Maury Robinson 3.69

King's Lynn


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Terry Betts 9.45
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Malcolm Simmons 9.40
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Clive Featherby 6.11
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Howard Cole (Kid Bodie) 5.94
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Brian Davies 5.24
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 David Crane 5.10
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Geoff Penniket 4.34
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alan Bellham 4.29
 * 🇳🇿 Allan Brown 4.00

Leicester


 * 🇸🇪 Anders Michanek 10.19
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ray Wilson 9.37
 * 🇦🇺 John Boulger 6.62
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 George Major 5.51
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 John Hart 5.43
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Norman Storer 5.24
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Vic White 4.06
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Graham Plant 2.80
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Roger Mills 2.58

Newcastle'


 * 🇳🇿 Ivan Mauger 11.37
 * Ole Olsen 9.39
 * 🇳🇿 Dave Gifford 6.86
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alan Butterfield 6.08
 * 🇳🇿 Goog Allan 5.76
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mike Watkin 5.48
 * 🇳🇿 Alf Wells 5.09
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alan Jay 5.05
 * 🇦🇺 Alan Paynter 3.67
 * 🇳🇿 Gary Peterson 3.56
 * 🇳🇿 Murray Burt 2.24

Newport


 * 🇸🇪 Torbjörn Harrysson 9.73
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jimmy Gooch 7.97
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jon Erskine 6.56
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Norman Strachan 6.47
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Bob Hughes 6.26
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Cyril Francis 5.69
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alby Golden 5.72
 * 🇳🇿 Terry Shearer 2.00

Oxford


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ronnie Genz 8.53
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Eddie Reeves 7.32
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Colin Gooddy 6.87
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Leo McAuliffe 6.58
 * 🇳🇿 Rick Timmo 5.52
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 John Bishop 4.38
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Peter Seaton 2.77

Poole


 * 🇳🇿 Bill Andrew 8.32
 * 🇦🇺 Geoff Mudge 7.67
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Pete Smith 7.46
 * 🇳🇴 Odd Fossengen 6.94
 * 🇳🇿 Bruce Cribb 5.71
 * 🇵🇱 Ted Laessing 5.25
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Maury Mattingley 5.14
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tim Bungay 4.53
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tony Lewis 4.36

Sheffield


 * 🇦🇺 Charlie Monk 10.07
 * 🇸🇪 Bengt Larsson 7.97
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Arnold Haley 7.54
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bob Paulson 6.79
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 John Dews 6.39
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Brian Maxted 6.13
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Billy Bales 4.76
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dave Baugh 1.49

Swindon


 * 🇳🇿 Barry Briggs 10.87
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mike Broadbank 8.51
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bob Kilby 8.20
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mike Keen 6.18
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Clive Hitch 5.99
 * 🇳🇿 Frank Shuter 5.25
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Pete Munday 4.94
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Peter Jackson 4.29

West Ham


 * 🇳🇴 Sverre Harrfeldt 9.78
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Norman Hunter 9.71
 * Ken McKinlay 9.11
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Brian Leonard 5.36
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tony Clarke 4.95
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Stan Stevens 4.46
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 George Barclay 3.33
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Barry Crowson 2.57

Wimbledon


 * 🇸🇪 Olle Nygren 9.31
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Trevor Hedge 9.15
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Reg Luckhurst 7.93
 * 🇦🇺 Garry Middleton 5.87
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jim Tebby 5.61
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alan Cowland 5.49
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bob Dugard 5.18
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Peter Murray 3.54

Wolverhampton


 * 🇸🇪 Hasse Holmqvist 9.58
 * 🇦🇺 Jim Airey 9.24
 * Peter Vandenberg 7.68
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 James Bond 6.82
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Pete Jarman 5.97
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dave Hemus 4.86
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mick Handley 4.30
 * 🇦🇺 Doug White 2.86
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Geoff Ambrose 2.35
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dave Parry 2.29