1970 British League season

1970 British League season

League	British League
No. of competitors	19
Champions	Belle Vue Aces
Knockout Cup	Wimbledon Dons
Individual	Barry Briggs
London Cup	Wimbledon Dons
Midland Cup	Coventry Bees
Highest average	Ivan Mauger
Division/s below	British League (Div 2)
← 1969 1971 →

The 1970 British League season was the 36th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the sixth season known as the British League. ^{[1] [2]}

Summary

Wembley Lions under the promotion of Trevor Redmond and Bernard Cottrel entered the British league having bought the licence - and inherited the riders - from the Coatbridge Monarchs. ^[3] It was the first time since 1956 that Wembley would compete in the league. ^[4]

Belle Vue Aces secured their first British League title. The Manchester team were once again led by the brilliant Ivan Mauger who would secure a third consecutive world champion title before the end of the season. He topped the averages with 11.18 as the team finished ten points ahead of their nearest rivals Wimbledon Dons. The Dons found some consolation when winning their third consecutive British League Knockout Cup. ^[5]

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Belle Vue Aces	36	27	2	7	56
2	Wimbledon Dons	36	22	2	12	46
3	Coventry Bees	36	22	1	13	45
4	Leicester Lions	36	21	0	15	42
5	Poole Pirates	36	20	0	16	40
6	Halifax Dukes	36	19	1	16	39
7	Sheffield Tigers	36	18	3	15	39
8	Glasgow Tigers	36	18	1	17	37
9	Wolverhampton Wolves	36	16	2	18	34
10	Exeter Falcons	36	16	1	19	34
11	Hackney Hawks	36	15	2	19	33
12	King's Lynn Stars	36	16	0	20	32
13	Oxford Cheetahs	36	16	0	20	32
14	Wembley Lions	36	15	2	19	32
15	Cradley Heath Heathens	36	15	1	20	31
16	Swindon Robins	36	14	2	20	30
17	Newcastle Diamonds	36	15	0	21	30
18	West Ham Hammers	36	14	2	20	30
19	Newport Wasps	36	12	0	24	24

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ivan Mauger		Belle Vue	11.23
2	Anders Michanek		Newcastle	10.91
3	Jim Airey		Sheffield	10.82
4	Ray Wilson		Leicester	10.77
5	Nigel Boocock		Coventry	10.67
6	Eric Boocock		Halifax	10.59
7	Barry Briggs		Swindon	10.56
8	Ole Olsen		Wolverhampton	10.27
9	Jim McMillan		Glasgow	10.26
10	Martin Ashby		Exeter	10.14

British League Knockout Cup

The 1970 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 32nd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Wimbledon Dons were the winners for the third consecutive year. ^[6] It was the first time that the competition was sponsored by the Speedway Star.

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
23/04	Wimbledon	44-34	Hackney
21/04	Exeter	51-27	King's Lynn
21/04	West Ham	29-49	Belle Vue

Second round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
06/06	Halifax	43-35	Coventry
06/06	Swindon	44-34	Wolverhampton
05/06	Newport	35-43	Leicester
01/06	Newcastle	41-37	Wembley
28/05	Oxford	38-40	Poole
28/05	Sheffield	44-34	Glasgow
28/05	Wimbledon	49-29	Cradley Heath
23/05	Belle Vue	49-29	Exeter
07/05	Romford	48-30	Reading

Quarter-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
25/07	Belle Vue	56-22	Poole
22/07	Swindon	46-32	Leicester
02/07	Sheffield	41-37	Halifax
25/06	Wimbledon	46-32	Newcastle

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
24/09	Wimbledon	44-34	Swindon
23/09	Belle Vue	40-38	Sheffield

Final

First leg

15 October 1970

Wimbledon Dons Trevor Hedge 12 Ronnie Moore 11 Cyril Maidment 6 Jim Tebby 6 Reg Luckhurst 5 Bob Dugard 4 Peter Murray 4	46 - 31	Belle Vue Aces Tommy Roper 10 Ivan Mauger 8 Chris Pusey 6 Sören Sjösten 4 Ken Eyre 2 Steve Waplington 1 Mike Hiftle 0
	[7]

Wimbledon Stadium

Second leg

24 October 1970

Belle Vue Aces Ivan Mauger 12 Sören Sjösten 10 Tommy Roper 6 Mike Hiftle 6 Dave Hemus 4 Chris Pusey 3 Ken Eyre 3	44 - 34	Wimbledon Dons Ronnie Moore 13 Trevor Hedge 10 Reg Luckhurst 5 Cyril Maidment 2 Jim Tebby 2 Bob Dugard 1 Peter Murray 1
	[7]

Hyde Road Stadium

Wimbledon Dons were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 80-75.

Riders' Championship

Barry Briggs won the British League Riders' Championship for the sixth consecutive year, held at Hyde Road on 17 October. He won a three way run off for the title. ^[8]

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Barry Briggs	3 3 1 3 3	13+3
2	Anders Michanek	3 2 3 3 2	13+2
3	Eric Boocock	2 3 2 3 3	13+1
4	Ronnie Moore	3 2 3 3 1	12
5	Ivan Mauger	3 1 3 ex 3	10
6	Nigel Boocock	2 3 1 2 2	10
7	Jim Airey	2 3 2 1 1	9
8	Martin Ashby	0 1 1 2 3	7
9	Reidar Eide	2 1 2 1 1	7
10	Ray Wilson	0 2 0 2 1	5
11	Bernt Persson	1 1 0 1 2	5
12	Ole Olsen	1 2 2 0 0	5
13	Terry Betts	0 0 0 2 2	4
14	Charlie Monk	1 0 3 0 0	4
15	Olle Nygren	0 0 1 0 0	1
16	Hasse Holmqvist	1 0 0 0 0	1
17	Sándor Lévai (res)	1 - - - -	1

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

Final leading averages

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ivan Mauger		Belle Vue	11.18
2	Anders Michanek		Newcastle	10.88
3	Jim Airey		Sheffield	10.86
4	Ray Wilson		Leicester	10.80
5	Nigel Boocock		Coventry	10.66
6	Eric Boocock		Halifax	10.54
7	Barry Briggs		Swindon	10.53
8	Jim McMillan		Glasgow	10.27
9	Ole Olsen		Wolverhampton	10.25
10	Martin Ashby		Exeter	10.09
11	Trevor Hedge		Wimbledon	9.97
12	Ronnie Moore		Wimbledon	9.95
13	Bob Kilby		Swindon	9.68
14	Sören Sjösten		Belle Vue	9.66
15	Bengt Jansson		Hackney	9.49
16	Bruce Cribb		Exeter	9.47
17	Olle Nygren		West Ham	9.36
18	John Boulger		Leicester	9.34
19	Bernt Persson		Cradley Heath	9.29
20	Terry Betts		King's Lynn	922

London Cup

Wimbledon won the London Cup for the third consecutive year. ^[9]

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Wimbledon Dons	4	3	0	1	178	133	6
2	Hackney Hawks	4	2	0	2	174	138	4
3	West Ham Hammers	4	1	0	3	129	182	2

Results

Team	Score	Team
Hackney	56–22	West Ham
Hackney	37–41	Wimbledon
West Ham	33–45	Hackney
West Ham	32–46	Wimbledon
Wimbledon	35–42	West Ham
Wimbledon	42–36	Hackney

Midland Cup

Coventry won the Midland Cup for the second consecutive year. The competition consisted of six teams. ^[10]

First round

Team one	Team two	Score
Wolverhampton	Cradley	42–36, 35–43
Oxford	Swindon	37–41, 32–46

Semi final round

Team one	Team two	Score
Cradley	Coventry	43–35, 29–49
Swindon	Leicester	36–41, 33–45

Final

First leg

10 October 1970

Coventry Nigel Boocock 10 Ken McKinlay 9 Rick France 9 Col Cottrell 8 Les Owen 6 Roger Hill 2 Tony Lomas 2	46–32	Leicester Ray Wilson 10 John Boulger 9 Graham Plant 6 John Hart 6 Norman Storer 1 Malcolm Brown 0 Alan Cowland 0

Brandon Stadium

Second leg

13 October 1970

Leicester John Boulger 12 Ray Wilson 11 Graham Plant 6 John Hart 5 Malcolm Brown 4 Norman Storer 3 Alan Cowland 0	41–37	Coventry Tony Lomas 10 Ken McKinlay 8 Nigel Boocock 7 Les Owen 5 Col Cottrell 5 Roger Hill 2 John Harrhy 0

Leicester Stadium

Coventry won on aggregate 83–73

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• Ivan Mauger 11.18
• Sören Sjösten 9.66
• Tommy Roper 7.91
• Chris Pusey 7.31
• Dave Hemus 5.79
• Eric Broadbelt 5.33
• Ken Eyre 5.33
• Mike Hiftle 4.25
• Steve Waplington 3.52

Coventry

• Nigel Boocock 10.66
• Ken McKinlay 8.50
• Rick France 7.78
• Les Owen 6.08
• Tony Lomas 5.91
• Roger Hill 5.90
• Col Cottrell 5.66
• Ron Mountford 1.58

Cradley Heath

• Bernt Persson 9.29
• Roy Trigg 8.45
• Colin Pratt 7.75
• Jan Simensen 7.51
• Chris Bass 4.38
• Jimmy Squibb 4.09
• Mike Gardner 3.50
• Ken Wakefield 2.65

Exeter

• Martin Ashby 10.09
• Bruce Cribb 9.47
• Jan Holub I 6.81
• Chris Julian 6.09
• Neil Street 5.30
• Bengt Andersson 5.21
• Bob Coles 4.81
• Phil Woodcock 4.62

Glasgow

• Jimmy McMillan 10.27
• Charlie Monk 8.53
• Oyvind Berg 7.79
• Doug Templeton 5.36
• Willie Templeton 5.33
• Bobby Beaton 5.33
• Bill McMillan 3.64
• Alistair Brady 1.85
• Brian Murray 1.64

Hackney

• Bengt Jansson 9.49
• Garry Middleton 8.20
• Jack Biggs 6.08
• Bob Andrews 6.01
• Jimmy Gooch 5.96
• Laurie Etheridge 4.83
• Les McGillivray 4.71
• Barry Thomas 3.59

Halifax

• Eric Boocock 10.54
• Les Sharpe 8.21
• Dave Younghusband 7.80
• Alan Jay 7.04
• Colin McKee 5.95
• Greg Kentwell 5.80
• Terry Lee 4.27

King's Lynn

• Terry Betts 9.22
• Howard Cole (Kid Bodie) 8.49
• Malcolm Simmons 7.58
• Allan Brown 5.05
• Alan Bellham 4.97
• Clive Featherby 4.44
• Ian Turner 4.36
• Arthur Price 4.32
• David Crane 3.31

Leicester

• Ray Wilson 10.80
• John Boulger 9.34
• Graham Plant 6.72
• Norman Storer 5.71
• John Hart 5.04
• Malcolm Brown 4.76
• Alan Cowland 4.51
• Tom Leadbitter 3.43

Newcastle

• Anders Michanek 10.88
• George Hunter 7.88
• Dave Gifford 6.62
• Geoff Curtis 5.15
• Mike Watkin 4.30
• Russ Dent 4.06
• Dag Lövaas 3.91

Newport

• Sándor Lévai 8.45
• Bill Andrew 7.78
• Edgar Stangeland 6.38
• Bengt Brannefors 4.57
• Bob Hughes 4.34
• Jon Erskine 4.09
• Norman Strachan 3.91
• Brian Leonard 3.77
• Ross Gilbertson 2.24

Oxford

• Hasse Holmqvist 9.10
• Ronnie Genz 7.03
• Colin Gooddy 6.66
• Pete Jarman 6.48
• Rick Timmo 6.38
• Eddie Reeves 5.89
• Mick Bell 4.76
• Peter Seaton 2.82

Poole

• Geoff Mudge 7.93
• Gordon Guasco 7.72
• Odd Fossengen 7.39
• Pete Smith 7.29
• Mike Cake 5.84
• Ted Laessing 4.76
• Frank Shuter 4.70
• Mike Vernam 2.36

Sheffield

• Jim Airey 10.86
• Arnold Haley 8.88
• Bengt Larsson 7.03
• Bob Paulson 5.32
• John Dews 5.20
• Brian Maxted 4.27
• Dave Baugh 3.23
• Doug Wyer 2.54

Swindon

• Barry Briggs 10.53
• Bob Kilby 9.68
• Clive Hitch 5.58
• Barry Duke 5.26
• Pete Munday 4.57
• Mike Keen 4.34
• John Bishop 3.45

Wembley

• Reidar Eide 9.10
• Ove Fundin 7.93
• Bert Harkins 7.31
• Wayne Briggs 5.85
• Dave Jessup 4.76
• Brian Leonard 4.17
• Des Lukehurst 3.82
• Tim Bungay 3.26
• Bengt Andersson 2.43

West Ham

• Olle Nygren 9.36
• Christer Löfqvist 7.82
• Tony Clarke 7.45
• Peter Bradshaw 5.62
• Stan Stevens 5.38
• Sverre Harrfeldt 4.63
• Martyn Piddock 4.61
• Garry Hay 4.25
• Antonín Kasper Sr. 4.15
• Barry Crowson 3.56

Wimbledon

• Trevor Hedge 9.97
• Ronnie Moore 9.95
• Reg Luckhurst 7.74
• Cyril Maidment 6.67
• Jim Tebby 6.34
• Gary Everett 5.93
• Peter Murray 4.25
• Bob Dugard 3.78
• Nigel Rackett 2.33

Wolverhampton

• Ole Olsen 10.25
• Norman Hunter 7.33
• Peter Vandenberg 6.62
• James Bond 5.31
• Mick Handley 5.29
• Geoff Ambrose 5.23
• Jon Erskine 5.12
• Peter Jackson 4.07

See also

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

References

1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
2. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN   0-86215-017-5.
3. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN   0-904584-45-3.
4. Jacobs, Norman (2001). Speedway in London. ISBN   0-7524-2221-9
5. "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
6. "1970 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
7. "Season 1970" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
8. "Briggs keeps the Crown" . Sunday Mirror. 18 October 1970. Retrieved 1 June 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
9. "Wimbledon 1970" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
10. "Boulger on form for Lions" . Nottingham Evening Post. 14 October 1970. Retrieved 21 October 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.