1986 British League season

1986 British League season

League	British League
Champions	Oxford Cheetahs
Knockout Cup	Oxford & Cradley (shared)
League Cup	Oxford & Cradley (shared)
Individual	Hans Nielsen
Pairs	Oxford Cheetahs
Midland Cup	Oxford Cheetahs
Highest average	Hans Nielsen
Division/s below	1986 National League
← 1985 1987 →

The 1986 British League season was the 52nd season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 22nd known as the British League. ^[1]

Summary

Oxford Cheetahs won the league for the second consecutive year and the treble by sharing both the Speedway Star Knockout Cup and League Cup with Cradley Heath Heathens. Despite the easy manner of their 1985 league success Oxford made critical changes which ensured domination for a second consecutive season. They were forced to make changes due to the averages points limit that applied to all teams. Hans Nielsen and Simon Wigg were retained, as were Andy Grahame and Marvyn Cox but Jens Ramussen was replaced with Per Sorensen and Nigel De'ath was brought in as full time reserve. Both Sorensen and De'ath maintained good form throughout the season and combined with the heavy scores of the heat leaders the team were able to win the league again. ^{[2] [3]} Cradley returned to form and provided Oxford with their main challenge, the rivalry between the Nielsen of Oxford and Erik Gundersen of Cradley was memorable. Nielsen also replaced Gundersen as the world champion by the end of the season and the pair were World Pairs and World Cup winners.

One of the Danish pairs main rivals was Englishman Kenny Carter, regarded as a potential world champion and who at the age of just 21 nearly won the 1982 world title. He was riding for Bradford Dukes and ten matches into the season, on the morning of 21 May the speedway world was subject to another shock. Following on from the Billy Sanders tragedy the season before Carter shot his wife dead and then killed himself. ^[4]

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	BP	Pts
1	Oxford Cheetahs	18	18	0	0	8	44
2	Cradley Heath Heathens	20	13	3	4	9	38
3	Wolverhampton Wolves	19	13	0	6	6	32
4	Sheffield Tigers	19	10	2	7	6	28
5	Coventry Bees	20	10	1	9	6	27
6	Bradford Dukes	20	8	1	11	4	21
7	Reading Racers	20	7	3	10	4	21
8	Swindon Robins	19	8	1	10	4	21
9	Ipswich Witches	20	7	1	12	3	18
10	Belle Vue Aces	19	5	0	14	2	12
11	King's Lynn Stars	20	2	0	18	0	4

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

British League Knockout Cup

The 1986 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 48th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Oxford Cheetahs and Cradley Heath Heathens were declared joint winners because the second leg of the final was not held and the first leg had ended 39-39. ^[5]

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
21/07	Reading	53-25	Kings Lynn
19/07	Swindon	47-31	Ipswich
17/07	Ipswich	38-40	Swindon
05/07	Kings Lynn	43-35	Reading
21/05	Cradley Heath	46-32	Belle Vue
03/05	Belle Vue	45-33	Cradley Heath

Quarter-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
29/09	Reading	45-33	Cradley Heath
24/09	Cradley Heath	50-28	Reading
17/09	Coventry	43-34	Sheffield
17/09	Oxford	48-30	Swindon
07/09	Swindon	37-41	Oxford
26/06	Sheffield	44-34	Coventry
24/06	Bradford	45-33	Wolverhampton
02/06	Wolverhampton	38-40	Bradford

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
16/10	Sheffield	33-45	Oxford
15/10	Cradley Heath	50-28	Bradford
10/10	Oxford	45-33	Sheffield
13/07	Braford	39-39	Cradley Heath

Final The title was shared after two failed attempts to hold the second leg due to rain. ^{[6] [3]}

First and only leg

1 November 1986

Cradley Heath Jan O. Pedersen 8 Phil Collins 8 Erik Gundersen 7 Nigel Leaver 6 Steve Bastable 4 Paul Fry 3 Simon Cross 3	39 - 39	Oxford Cheetahs Hans Nielsen 14 Simon Wigg 9 Marvyn Cox 9 Nigel De'ath 4 Per Sorensen 1 Andy Grahame 1 Jon Surman 1
	[7]

Dudley Wood Stadium

League Cup

The League Cup was contested as a league format. The cup was shared following two failed attempts to stage the second leg of the final at Oxford due to rain. Oxford had won the first leg at Cradley Heath 40-38. ^[3]

Qualifying table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Coventry Bees	20	14	1	5	37
2	Oxford Cheetahs	20	13	1	6	36
3	Ipswich Witches	20	12	1	7	30
4	Cradley Heathens	20	10	2	8	29
5	Swindon Robins	20	9	3	8	27
6	Sheffield Tigers	20	10	2	8	27
7	Bradford Dukes	20	9	3	8	26
8	Reading Racers	20	10	0	10	24
9	Belle Vue Aces	20	6	2	12	17
10	Wolverhampton Wolves	20	6	1	13	16
11	King's Lynn Stars	20	2	2	16	6

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
03/09	Coventry	39–39	Cradley Heath
03/09	Oxford	40–38	Ipswich
10/09	Cradley Heath	41–37	Coventry
21/09	Ipswich	34–42	Oxford

Final (First and only leg)

18 October 1986

Cradley Heath Erik Gundersen 11 Phil Collins 7 Simon Cross 6 Jan O. Pedersen 5 Steve Bastable 5 Nigel Leaver 2 Paul Fry 2	38 - 40	Oxford Cheetahs Hans Nielsen 11 Marvyn Cox 10 Simon Wigg 9 Per Sorensen 4 Nigel De'ath 4 Andy Grahame 2 Jon Surman 0
	[8]

Dudley Wood Stadium

Riders' Championship

Hans Nielsen won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 12 October. ^[9]

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Hans Nielsen	3 3 3 3 3	15
2	Erik Gundersen	2 3 3 2 1	11+3
3	Shawn Moran	3 3 1 2 2	11+2
4	Chris Morton	3 2 3 0 3	11+1
5	Jan Andersson	2 3 3 1 2	11
6	Simon Wigg	1 0 2 3 3	9
7	Tommy Knudsen	0 2 2 3 1	8
8	Jan O. Pedersen	2 2 0 1 3	8
9	John Jørgensen	3 2 2 1 0	8
10	Jeremy Doncaster	0 1 2 3 2	8
11	Alan Grahame	1 0 1 2 2	6
12	John Davis	2 1 1 0 1	5
13	Preben Eriksen	1 1 0 0 1	3
14	Andy Campbell	0 1 1 1 0	3
15	Neil Evitts	1 0 0 2 0	3
16	Kai Niemi	0 0 0 0 -	0
17	Lee Edwards (res)	0 - - - -	0

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

Pairs

The British League Pairs Championship was held at Owlerton Stadium on 24 August and was won by Oxford for the second consecutive year. ^[10]

Pos	Team	Pts	Riders
1	Oxford	25	Wigg 15, Nielsen 10
2	Coventry	22	Tatum 13, Jorgensen 9
3	Sheffield	18	Moran S 11, Collins N 7
4	Belle Vue	18	Morton 17, Collins P 1
5	Bradford	16	King 9, Evitts 7
6	Cradley Heath	16	Gundersen 14, Pedersen 2
7	Ipswich	11	Niemi 8, Doncaster 3

Leading final averages

Rider	Team	Average
Hans Nielsen	Oxford	11.57
Erik Gundersen	Cradley Heath	11.03
Jeremy Doncaster	Ipswich	10.38
Simon Wigg	Oxford	10.20
Kenny Carter+	Bradford	10.05
Sam Ermolenko	Wolverhampton	9.72
Tommy Knudsen	Coventry	9.68
Shawn Moran	Sheffield	9.65
Chris Morton	Belle Vue	9.34
Jan Andersson	Reading	9.34
Neil Evitts	Bradford	9.32
Bobby Schwartz	Kings Lynn	9.06

+rode 10 matches before his death

Midland Cup

Oxford won the Midland Cup for the second consecutive year. The competition consisted of six teams. ^[11]

First round

Team one	Team two	Score
Swindon	Wolverhampton	39–39, 27–51
Reading	Coventry	40–38, 26–52

Semi final round

Team one	Team two	Score
Oxford	Wolverhampton	42–36, 39–39
Cradley	Coventry	41–37, 35–43

Final

First leg

25 October 1986

Coventry Tommy Knudsen 11 John Jorgensen 10 Kelvin Tatum 8 Alun Rossiter 6 Rick Miller 5 David Bargh 3 David Clarke 1	44–34	Oxford Simon Wigg 13 Jeremy Doncaster (guest) 7 Per Sorensen 6 Marvyn Cox 5 Nigel De'ath 2 Andy Grahame 1 Jon Surman 0

Brandon Stadium

Second leg

29 October 1986

Oxford Hans Nielsen 11 Simon Wigg 10 Marvyn Cox 10 Per Sorensen 6 Nigel De'ath 4 Andy Grahame 3 Jon Surman 2	46–32	Coventry Rick Miller 14 Alun Rossiter 9 Kelvin Tatum 6 David Bargh 1 Tommy Knudsen 1 (ill) David Clarke 1 John Jorgensen r/r

Oxford Stadium

Oxford won on aggregate 80–76

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• Chris Morton 9.34
• Carl Blackbird 7.37
• Peter Collins 6.93
• Kenny McKinna 6.48
• Andy Smith 6.10
• Mark Courtney 5.43
• Declan Eccles 4.28
• Mark Crang 2.67
• Barry Ayres 2.65
• Bernie Collier 1.60
• Lee Edwards 1.06

Bradford

• Kenny Carter 10.05
• Neil Evitts 9.32
• Lance King 8.20
• Gary Havelock 7.26
• Sean Willmott 6.30
• Larry Ross 6.01
• Gordon Whitaker 4.16
• Michael Graves 3.88

Coventry

• Tommy Knudsen 9.68
• John Jørgensen 8.74
• Kelvin Tatum 8.69
• Rick Miller 6.41
• David Bargh 5.68
• Alun Rossiter 5.60
• David Clarke 3.50
• Mike Bacon 1.71

Cradley Heath

• Erik Gundersen 11.03
• Jan O. Pedersen 8.58
• Phil Collins 7.80
• Simon Cross 7.17
• Steve Bastable 6.08
• Nigel Leaver 3.74
• Paul Fry 3.23
• Paul Taylor 2.06

Ipswich

• Jeremy Doncaster 10.38
• Kai Niemi 8.00
• Richard Knight 7.79
• Jens Rasmussen 5.69
• Louis Carr 4.90
• Paul Woods 4.71
• Roman Matoušek 4.57
• Robbie Fuller 4.17
• Alan Farmer 3.79

King's Lynn

• Bobby Schwartz 9.06
• Michael Lee 7.74
• Malcolm Simmons 6.73
• Andy Campbell 5.38
• Einar Kyllingstad 4.91
• Steve Regeling 4.70
• Stephen Davies 4.60
• Ray Morton 4.21
• Carl Baldwin 4.15
• Adrian Stevens 2.28
• John Stokes 1.11

Oxford

• Hans Nielsen 11.57
• Simon Wigg 10.20
• Marvyn Cox 8.11
• Andy Grahame 6.14
• Per Sorensen 6.05
• Nigel De'ath 5.34
• Kevin Smart 4.33
• Jon Surman 2.43

Reading

• Jan Andersson 9.34
• John Davis 8.72
• Mitch Shirra 7.90
• Per Jonsson 7.36
• Peter Glanz 5.89
• Malcolm Holloway 5.47
• Dave Mullett 5.33
• Gary Tagg 1.35
• Billy Pinder 1.27

Sheffield

• Shawn Moran 9.65
• Kelly Moran 8.76
• Neil Collins 7.89
• Peter Carr 7.53
• Les Collins 7.24
• Sean Wilson 5.83
• Martin Hagon 5.46
• David Walsh 4.62
• Peter McNamara 3.27

Swindon

• Phil Crump 8.77
• Kai Niemi 8.45
• Jimmy Nilsen 7.82
• Richard Hellsen 6.79
• Alan Grahame 6.64
• Finn Thomsen 6.07
• Per Sorensen 5.16
• Brian Karger 4.58
• Rob Fortune 3.16

Wolverhampton

• Sam Ermolenko 9.72
• Preben Eriksen 7.70
• John Eskildsen 7.04
• Sam Nikolajsen 6.18
• Jan Stæchmann 5.23
• Andy Phillips 2.97
• Chris Cobby 1.07

See also

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

References

1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
2. "1986 league tables". Speedway GB.
3. Bamford/Shailes, Robert/Glynn (2007). The Story of Oxford Speedway. Tempus Publishing Ltd. pp. 134–136. ISBN   978-0-7524-4161-0.
4. "The tragic life and horrific death of troubled Yorkshire speedway legend 'King Kenny' Carter". Examiner Live. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
5. "1986 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
6. "Cradley Speedway 1986 season". Cradley Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
7. "Speedway" . Birmingham Mail. 3 November 1986. Retrieved 18 May 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
8. "Speedway" . Birmingham Mail. 20 October 1986. Retrieved 18 May 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
9. "Speedway" . Western Daily Press. 13 October 1986. Retrieved 5 June 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
10. "Chris's final warning" . Manchester Evening News. 26 August 1986. Retrieved 18 May 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
11. "Bees:We had fight" . Coventry Evening Telegraph. 30 October 1986. Retrieved 21 October 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.