1987 British League season

Last updated

1987 British League season
League British League
No. of competitors12
Champions Coventry Bees
Knockout Cup Cradley Heathens
League Cup Coventry Bees
Individual Hans Nielsen
Pairs Oxford Cheetahs
Midland Cup Cradley Heathens
Highest average Hans Nielsen
Division/s below 1987 National League

The 1987 British League season was the 53rd season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 23rd known as the British League. [1]

Contents

Summary

Coventry Bees comfortably won the league finishing 16 points clear of Cradley Heath. The same five main riders who made up the 1986 team rode through the 1987 season but crucially four of them improved on their 1986 averages. Tommy Knudsen and Kelvin Tatum both hit over 10, while Rick Miller and David Bargh both improved by about 2 points on average. John Jørgensen also remained consistent for the Bees. Coventry also won the League Cup but lost to Cradley in the final of the Knockout Cup. [2] The double defending champions Oxford Cheetahs were forced to release Simon Wigg to Hackney and Per Sorensen because of the 45 point limit. They finished second from bottom despite Hans Nielsen topping the averages once again. [3]

The second leg replay of the League Cup final was the last ever meeting held at Hyde Road.

Final table

PosTeamPLWDLBPPts
1 Coventry Bees 2219301152
2 Cradley Heath Heathens 221318936
3 Swindon Robins 221228733
4 Sheffield Tigers 221309632
5 Bradford Dukes 221039730
6 Ipswich Witches 221039629
7 Reading Racers 221129428
8 Belle Vue Aces 2210111526
9 Hackney Kestrels 227312320
10 Wolverhampton Wolves 226214317
11 Oxford Cheetahs 226115316
12 King's Lynn Stars 224117211

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

British League Knockout Cup

The 1987 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 49th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Cradley Heath Heathens were the winners for the second successive year if including the tied 1986 final. [4]

First round

DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
10/07Hackney48-42Bradford
10/07Oxford51-39Belle Vue
04/07Kings Lynn41-49Sheffield
13/06Swindon47-43Wolverhampton
04/06Sheffield51-39Kings Lynn
01/06Wolverhampton44-46Swindon
30/05Belle Vue47-43Oxford
30/05Bradford49-41Hackney

Quarter-finals

DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
15/09Bradford41-49Cradley Heath
15/08Swindon43-47Reading
07/08Oxford48-42Ipswich
06/08Ipswich47-43Oxford
05/08Cradley Heath55-35Bradford
27/07Reading48-41Swindon
13/07Sheffield48-42Coventry
11/07Coventry51-38Sheffield

Semi-finals

DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
30/09Coventry48-42Reading
30/09Oxford47-43Cradley Heath
16/09Cradley Heath39-33 AOxford
07/09Reading47-43Coventry

Final

First leg

Coventry Bees
Tommy Knudsen 17
John Jørgensen 8
David Bargh 8
David Clarke 6
Wayne Broadhurst 3
Rick Miller 3
Kelvin Tatum 0 (inj)
45 - 45 Cradley Heath
David Walsh 12
Erik Gundersen 11
Jan O. Pedersen 11
Simon Cross 8
Jan Jakobsen 2
Paul Fry 1
Nigel Leaver 0
[5]

Second leg

Cradley Heath
Erik Gundersen 11
Jan O. Pedersen 11
David Walsh 11
Simon Cross 9
Paul Fry 4
Jan Jakobsen 2
Nigel Leaver 1
49 - 41 Coventry Bees
Tommy Knudsen 16
Kelly Moran (guest) 7
David Bargh 7
John Jørgensen 5
David Clarke 3
Rick Miller 3
Wayne Broadhurst 3
[5]

Cradley Heath were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 94-86.

League Cup

The League Cup was contested as a league format. Coventry Bees won the final over two legs defeating Belle Vue Aces 84–72 on aggregrate. It was the last time that the competition was contested. [6]

Qualifying table

PosTeamPLWDLPts
1 Coventry Bees 22161543
2 Oxford Cheetahs 22142639
3 Belle Vue Aces 22141738
4 Cradley Heathens 22140836
5 Sheffield Tigers 22132733
6 Reading Racers 22121931
7 Swindon Robins 22921126
8 Wolverhampton Wolves 22911223
9 Bradford Dukes 22821222
10 Hackney Kestrels 22621417
11 King's Lynn Stars 22511612
11 Ipswich Witches 22411710

Semi-finals

DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
14/08Oxford42–36Belle Vue
22/08Belle Vue44–34Oxford
31/08Coventry45–33Cradley Heath
31/08Cradley Heath36–42Coventry

Final

DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
15/09Coventry41–37Belle Vue
18/10Belle Vue41–37Coventry

Replay first leg

Coventry Bees
Tommy Knudsen 11
Kelvin Tatum 11
Rick Miller 8
David Bargh 7
John Jørgensen 6
David Clarke 3
Wayne Broadhurst 0
46 - 32 Belle Vue
Peter Ravn 11
Paul Thorp 7
Andy Smith 5
Chris Morton 4
Kenny McKinna 4
Glen Hornby 1
David Blackburn 0

Replay second leg

Belle Vue
Chris Morton 14
Peter Ravn 11
Kenny McKinna 8
Richard Knight 4
Glen Hornby 2
David Blackburn 1
Bernie Collier 0
40 - 38 Coventry Bees
David Bargh 10
Tommy Knudsen 8
Kelvin Tatum 8
Rick Miller 5
John Jørgensen 4
David Clarke 3
Wayne Broadhurst 0

Coventry were declared League Cup winners, winning on aggregate 84-72.

Riders' Championship

Hans Nielsen won the British League Riders' Championship for the second successive year. It was the held at Hyde Road on 12 October, shortly before the venue closed for good. [7]

Pos.RiderHeat ScoresTotal
1 Flag of Denmark.svg Hans Nielsen 3 2 3 3 314
2 Flag of England.svg Chris Morton 3 3 1 3 313
3 Flag of the United States.svg Kelly Moran 2 2 2 2 311+3
4 Flag of England.svg Kelvin Tatum 2 3 2 2 211+2
5 Flag of Denmark.svg Tommy Knudsen TX 2 3 3 210
6 Flag of England.svg Richard Knight 3 1 1 3 210
7 Flag of Sweden.svg Jan Andersson 1 1 3 2 310
8 Flag of New Zealand.svg Mitch Shirra 1 3 3 0 18
9 Flag of England.svg Simon Wigg 1 2 2 1 17
10 Flag of Denmark.svg Jan O. Pedersen 2 3 0 1 06
11 Flag of England.svg Sean Willmott 2 1 1 1 16
12 Flag of Sweden.svg Jimmy Nilsen 0 TX 0 2 24
13 Flag of Denmark.svg Preben Eriksen 1 0 2 1 04
14 Flag of Denmark.svg Erik Gundersen 3 0 0 0 14
15 Flag of England.svg Bernie Collier (res)0 0 1 1 0 02
16 Flag of England.svg Louis Carr 0 - - - - -0
17 Flag of the United States.svg Shawn Moran 0 0 0 0 00

Pairs

The British League Pairs Championship was held at Smallmead Stadium on 12 July and was won by Oxford for the third consecutive year. [8]

Semi Final
PosTeamPtsRiders
1Swindon16Shirra 8, Nilsen 8
2Oxford14Nielsen 12 Grahame 2
3Cradley13Pedersen 7, Gundersen 6
4Wolverhampton11Ermolenko 11, Eriksen 0

Final

In the final Nilsen fell and was excluded and Shirra touched the tapes and was excluded, leaving Nielsen and Grahame to complete a 7-0 (pts) uncontested heat.

Leading final averages

RiderTeamAverage
Flag of Denmark.svg Hans Nielsen Oxford11.38
Flag of Denmark.svg Erik Gundersen Cradley Heath10.44
Flag of Denmark.svg Tommy Knudsen Coventry10.25
Flag of England.svg Kelvin Tatum Coventry10.06
Flag of the United States.svg Sam Ermolenko Wolverhampton9.86
Flag of England.svg Jeremy Doncaster Ipswich9.67
Flag of Sweden.svg Jimmy Nilsen Swindon9.61
Flag of Denmark.svg Jan O. Pedersen Cradley Heath9.60
Flag of the United States.svg Shawn Moran Sheffield9.47
Flag of England.svg Simon Wigg Hackney9.38

Midland Cup

Cradley Heath won the Midland Cup. The competition consisted of six teams. [9]

First round

Team oneTeam twoScore
ReadingSwindon38–39, 37–41
WolverhamptonCradley38–39, 31–47

Semi final round

Team oneTeam twoScore
CoventrySwindon48–30, 36–42
CradleyOxford43–35, 40–38

Final

Because of cancellations due to bad weather the final of the competition doubled up as the Knockout Cup final (see above for details). [9]

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Bradford

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Hackney

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Oxford

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

Wolverhampton

See also

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References

  1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. "1987 league tables". Speedway GB.
  3. Bamford/Shailes, Robert/Glynn (2007). The Story of Oxford Speedway. Tempus Publishing Ltd. pp. 137–138. ISBN   978-0-7524-4161-0.
  4. "1987 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  5. 1 2 "Coventry Bees 1987 season" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  6. "Coventry Bees results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  7. "Nielsen retains title after scare" . Sandwell Evening Mail. 12 October 1987. Retrieved 5 June 2023 via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. "Oxford Wins Hans Down" . Reading Evening Post. 13 July 1987. Retrieved 18 May 2023 via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. 1 2 "Speedway" . Daily Mirror. 22 October 1987. Retrieved 21 October 2023 via British Newspaper Archive.