1969 British League Division Two season

1969 British League Division Two season

League	British League Division Two
No. of competitors	16
Champions	Belle Vue Colts
Knockout Cup	Belle Vue Colts
Individual	Geoff Ambrose
Highest average	Des Lukehurst
Division/s above	British League (Div 1)
← 1968 1970 →

The 1969 British League Division Two season was the second season of second tier motorcycle speedway in Great Britain. ^{[1] [2]}

Summary

The league expanded from 10 to 16 teams in its second season. Weymouth Eagles dropped out after just one season. The seven new entrants included three newly created teams called the Crewe Kings, ^[3] Doncaster Stallions and the Rochester Bombers. The King's Lynn Starlets who were the reserve side of the Stars also entered, along with Ipswich Witches who returned to league action (their first since 1962), ^[4] the Long Eaton Rangers (formerly the Archers), and the Eastbourne Eagles (first since 1959). ^[5] The Rochester Bombers team moved to Romford from 10 May, after the local council refused to give permission for racing and became known as the Romford Bombers. ^[6] Former Leicester rider Ivor Brown re-opened the speedway at Long Eaton Stadium. ^[7]

Belle Vue Colts completed the league and cup double, which included retaining their league title. ^{[8] [9]} Ken Eyre and Eric Broadbelt were once again instrumental in helping the Colts win again and they were backed up well by Chris Bailey and Bill Moulin. ^[10]

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Belle Vue Colts	30	23	1	6	47
2	Reading Racers	30	19	1	10	39
3	Rochester/Romford Bombers	30	19	1	10	39
4	Crayford Highwaymen	30	19	0	11	38
5	Rayleigh Rockets	30	16	2	12	34
6	Canterbury Crusaders	30	15	2	13	32
7	Crewe Kings	30	15	0	15	30
8	Eastbourne Eagles	30	14	2	14	30
9	Middlesbrough Teessiders	30	14	1	15	29
10	Long Eaton Rangers	30	14	1	15	29
11	Ipswich Witches	30	13	1	16	27
12	Doncaster Stallions	30	12	0	18	24
13	Nelson Admirals	30	11	2	17	24
14	Berwick Bandits	30	11	1	18	23
15	Plymouth Devils	30	9	0	21	18
16	King's Lynn Starlets	30	8	1	21	17

British League Division Two Knockout Cup

The 1969 British League Division Two Knockout Cup was the second edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Belle Vue Colts were the winners of the competition. ^[11]

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
12/06	Ipswich	55-23	Plymouth
11/06	Belle Vue	55-22	King's Lynn
08/06	Eastbourne	37-40	Rayleigh
12/06	Middlesbrough	49-29	Nelson
09/06	Crewe	49-29	Doncaster
14/06	Canterbury	51-26	Crayford
12/06	Long Eaton	48-29	Berwick
12/06	Romford	38-38	Reading
07/07	Reading	44-34	Romford

Quarter-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
16/07	Belle Vue	58-20	Ipswich
19/07	Rayleigh	43-34	Middlesbrough
14/07	Crewe	44-33	Canterbury
17/07	Long Eaton	42-35	Reading

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
06/08	Belle Vue	55-23	Rayleigh
08/09	Crewe	58-20	Long Eaton

Final

First leg

22 September 1969

Crewe Kings Geoff Curtis 10 Colin Tucker 9 Barry Meeks 8 Ian Bottomley 8 Paul O'Neil 6 Pete Saunders 1 Dave Parry 0	42 – 36	Belle Vue Colts Ken Moss 10 Chris Bailey 10 Steve Waplington 5 Mike Hiftle 4 Taffy Owen 4 Eric Broadbelt 3 Ken Eyre R/R
	[12] [13]

Earle Street

Second leg

24 September 1969

Belle Vue Colts Eric Broadbelt 14 Chris Bailey 11 Mike Hiftle 11 Ken Moss 8 Steve Waplington 6 Taffy Owen 5 Ken Eyre R/R	55 – 23	Crewe Kings Geoff Curtis 9 Paul O'Neil 9 Dave Parry 2 Colin Tucker 1 Ian Bottomley 1 Pete Saunders 1 Barry Meeks 0
	[12]

Hyde Road Stadium

Belle Vue Colts were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 91–65.

Riders' Championship

Geoff Ambrose won the Rider's Championship, held at Hackney Wick Stadium on 26 September. ^[14]

Pos.	Rider	Pts	Total
1	Geoff Ambrose	2 3 3 3 3	14
2	Mick Bell	2 3 2 3 3	13
3	Ross Gilbertson	3 3 3 2 2	13
4	Maury Robinson	3 2 3 1 2	11
5	Reg Trott	3 1 2 2 1	9
6	Peter Murray	3 2 1 3 ef	9
7	Martyn Piddock (res)	1 3 1 3	8
8	Phil Woodcock (res)	1 2 1 3 ef	7
9	Paul O'Neil (res)	0 ef 2 2 2	6
10	Geoff Curtis	ex 3 0 0 3	6
11	Colin Sanders	1 1 1 2 0	5
12	Pete Wrathall	f 1 2 1 1	5
13	Dave Schofield	ex 1 1 0 2	4
14	Ted Spittles	2 0 0 1 1	4
15	Ian Turner	1 2 r 0 0	3
16	Terry Lee	2 fex	2
17	Eric Broadbelt	fex	0
18	Dingle Brown	0 0 0 ex 0	0
19	George Devonport	0 f	0

• f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Final leading averages

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Des Lukehurst		Romford/Rochester	11.52
2	Graeme Smith		Rayleigh	10.74
3	Tony Lomas		Long Eaton	10.49
4	Peter Murray		Canterbury	10.35
5	Ross Gilbertson		Romford/Rochester	10.10
5	Geoff Curtis		Crewe	10.10
7	Geoff Ambrose		Crayford	10.03

Riders' final averages

Belle Vue Colts

• Ken Eyre 9.84
• Eric Broadbelt 9.74
• Chris Bailey 8.25
• Bill Moulin 8.19
• Mike Hiftle 8.00
• Ken Moss 7.94
• Steve Waplington 7.94
• Taffy Owen 7.08
• Peter Thompson 6.67
• Colin Goad 5.17

Berwick

• Maury Robinson 9.32
• Mark Hall 8.03
• Peter Kelly 7.93
• Bernie Lagrosse/Roy Williams 6.89
• Brian Black 6.12
• Ken Omand 4.73
• Andy Meldrum 4.60
• Ian Paterson 4.19
• Terry Holmes 3.53
• Alex Nichol 3.43
• Grieves Davidson 3.06
• Colin Robertson 2.74
• Bill Maxwell 1.67

Canterbury

• Peter Murray 10.35
• Martyn Piddock 9.80
• Ken Vale 8.71
• Graham Miles 6.89
• John Hibben 6.57
• Barry Thomas 6.03
• Jake Rennison 5.33
• Dave Percy 4.69
• Graham Banks 4.61
• Jim Crowhurst 4.56
• Brian Foote 4.00
• Gerald Reardon 3.70
• Neville Brice 3.69

Crayford

• Geoff Ambrose 10.03
• Archie Wilkinson 8.56
• Tony Childs 8.24
• Chris Harrison 6.51
• Mick Steel 6.44
• Colin Clark 6.17
• Tony Armstrong 5.26
• Judd Drew 4.33

Crewe

• Geoff Curtis 10.10
• Paul O'Neal 8.88
• Barry Meeks 7.56
• Ian Bottomley 7.03
• Dave Parry 6.76
• Peter Seaton 6.46
• Colin Tucker 6.34
• Pete Saunders 5.92
• Glyn Blackburn 4.14

Doncaster

• Terry Shearer 9.68
• Dave Baugh 8.76
• Guy Hawkes 7.00
• Chris Hawkins 6.38
• Derek Timms 5.77
• Alan Bridgett 5.72
• George Devonport 5.22
• Doug Wyer 3.82
• Stuart Ulph 3.73
• Neil Glover 2.18

Eastbourne

• Barry Crowson 9.93
• Reg Trott 8.70
• Alby Golden 7.88
• Hugh Saunders 7.00
• Dave Jessup 6.62
• Derek Cook 5.32
• Laurie Sims 4.99
• Cec Platt 4.60
• John Hedderick 4.15
• Tony Hall 4.00
• Joe Robson 3.76
• Ray Boughtflower 2.67

Ipswich

• John Harrhy 7.87
• Pete Bailey 7.74
• Ted Spittles 7.61
• Ron Bagley 7.34
• Ernie Baker 6.38
• Dennis Wasden 5.30
• Neville Slee 4.81
• Gil Farmer 4.19
• Mike Coomber 4.09
• Bernie Aldridge 3.88

King's Lynn

• George Barclay 9.18
• Ken Vale 7.33
• Ian Turner 7.16
• Peter Seaton 7.00
• Arthur Price 6.57
• Tony Featherstone 5.29
• Peter Maxted 5.07
• John Ingamells 4.05
• Russ Osborne 3.76
• John Knock 2.40
• Chris Blythe 1.75
• Nigel Spindler 1.33

Long Eaton

• Tony Lomas 10.49
• Geoff Penniket 8.26
• Peter Wrathall 7.78
• Malcolm Shakespeare 6.88
• Glyn Chandler 6.36
• Roy Carter 5.57
• Pat Adaway 4.98
• Peter Gay 4.82
• Gil Farmer 4.52
• Bernie Hornby 2.13

Middlesbrough

• Terry Lee 9.28
• Tom Leadbitter 8.97
• Roger Mills 7.19
• Pete Reading 6.02
• Dave Durham 5.43
• Bruce Forrester 5.13
• Tim Swales 4.75
• Paul O'Neal 4.57

Nelson

• Murray Burt 8.00
• Dave Schofield 8.00
• Alan Knapkin 7.25
• Stuart Riley 5.71
• Sid Sheldrick 5.16
• Dai Evans 4.64
• Peter Thompson 4.29
• Paul Sharples 3.26
• Jack Lee 2.76
• Dave Beacon 1.83

Plymouth

• Colin Sanders 7.17
• Bob Coles 6.37
• Dave Whittaker 6.18
• Chris Roynon 6.11
• Keith Marks 5.24
• John Hammond 4.33
• Ian Gills 4.21
• Clark Facey 2.42

Rayleigh

• Graeme Smith 10.74
• Laurie Etheridge 8.53
• Mike Gardner 7.81
• Geoff Maloney 7.43
• Roger Wright 7.28
• Dingle Brown 7.17
• Terry Stone 6.18
• Dennis Mannion 5.50
• Barry Lee 4.39
• Ian Champion 4.25
• Bob Newman 3.90

Reading

• Mick Bell 9.04
• Richard May 7.96
• Mike Vernam 7.79
• Alan Jackson 7.47
• Ian Champion 6.64
• Phil Pratt 6.33
• Dene Davies 6.18
• Bob Tabet 5.46
• Bernie Leigh 5.05

Rochester/Romford

• Des Lukehurst 11.52
• Ross Gilbertson 10.10
• Phil Woodcock 9.17
• Brian Davies 7.28
• Tony George 5.93
• Brian Foote 5.48
• Frank Wendon 4.99
• Ian Gills 4.64
• Charlie Benham 3.40
• Chris Yeatman 3.20

See also

• List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
• Knockout Cup (speedway)

References

1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
2. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN   0-904584-45-3.
3. "All set for Speedway" . Crewe Chronicle. 15 May 1969. Retrieved 5 December 2024– via British Newspaper Archive.
4. "Ranger's Fingers Crossed as Speedway Returns" . Stapleford & Sandiacre News. 11 April 1969. Retrieved 15 September 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
5. "Teams". wwosbackup. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
6. "Romford Speedway". Defunct Speedway. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
7. "Brown waits for speedway decision" . Long Eaton Advertiser. 24 January 1969. Retrieved 22 September 2024– via British Newspaper Archive.
8. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 101. ISBN   0-86215-017-5.
9. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
10. "Belle Vue Colts". wwosbackup. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
11. "1969 British League Division Two Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
12. "Season 1969" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
13. "Kings lead by six points" . Staffordshire Sentinel. 23 September 1969. Retrieved 5 December 2024– via British Newspaper Archive.
14. "Speedway" . Daily Mirror. 27 September 1969. Retrieved 14 June 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.