1987 British League season

1987 British League season

League	British League
No. of competitors	12
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
← 1986 1988 →

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]

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

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	BP	Pts
1	Coventry Bees	22	19	3	0	11	52
2	Cradley Heath Heathens	22	13	1	8	9	36
3	Swindon Robins	22	12	2	8	7	33
4	Sheffield Tigers	22	13	0	9	6	32
5	Bradford Dukes	22	10	3	9	7	30
6	Ipswich Witches	22	10	3	9	6	29
7	Reading Racers	22	11	2	9	4	28
8	Belle Vue Aces	22	10	1	11	5	26
9	Hackney Kestrels	22	7	3	12	3	20
10	Wolverhampton Wolves	22	6	2	14	3	17
11	Oxford Cheetahs	22	6	1	15	3	16
12	King's Lynn Stars	22	4	1	17	2	11

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

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
10/07	Hackney	48-42	Bradford
10/07	Oxford	51-39	Belle Vue
04/07	Kings Lynn	41-49	Sheffield
13/06	Swindon	47-43	Wolverhampton
04/06	Sheffield	51-39	Kings Lynn
01/06	Wolverhampton	44-46	Swindon
30/05	Belle Vue	47-43	Oxford
30/05	Bradford	49-41	Hackney

Quarter-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
15/09	Bradford	41-49	Cradley Heath
15/08	Swindon	43-47	Reading
07/08	Oxford	48-42	Ipswich
06/08	Ipswich	47-43	Oxford
05/08	Cradley Heath	55-35	Bradford
27/07	Reading	48-41	Swindon
13/07	Sheffield	48-42	Coventry
11/07	Coventry	51-38	Sheffield

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
30/09	Coventry	48-42	Reading
30/09	Oxford	47-43	Cradley Heath
16/09	Cradley Heath	39-33 A	Oxford
07/09	Reading	47-43	Coventry

Final

First leg

20 October 1987

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]

Brandon Stadium

Second leg

21 October 1987

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]

Dudley Wood Stadium

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

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Coventry Bees	22	16	1	5	43
2	Oxford Cheetahs	22	14	2	6	39
3	Belle Vue Aces	22	14	1	7	38
4	Cradley Heathens	22	14	0	8	36
5	Sheffield Tigers	22	13	2	7	33
6	Reading Racers	22	12	1	9	31
7	Swindon Robins	22	9	2	11	26
8	Wolverhampton Wolves	22	9	1	12	23
9	Bradford Dukes	22	8	2	12	22
10	Hackney Kestrels	22	6	2	14	17
11	King's Lynn Stars	22	5	1	16	12
11	Ipswich Witches	22	4	1	17	10

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
14/08	Oxford	42–36	Belle Vue
22/08	Belle Vue	44–34	Oxford
31/08	Coventry	45–33	Cradley Heath
31/08	Cradley Heath	36–42	Coventry

Final

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
15/09	Coventry	41–37	Belle Vue
18/10	Belle Vue	41–37	Coventry

Replay first leg

24 October 1987

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

Brandon Stadium

Replay second leg

1 November 1987

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

Hyde Road

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.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Hans Nielsen	3 2 3 3 3	14
2	Chris Morton	3 3 1 3 3	13
3	Kelly Moran	2 2 2 2 3	11+3
4	Kelvin Tatum	2 3 2 2 2	11+2
5	Tommy Knudsen	TX 2 3 3 2	10
6	Richard Knight	3 1 1 3 2	10
7	Jan Andersson	1 1 3 2 3	10
8	Mitch Shirra	1 3 3 0 1	8
9	Simon Wigg	1 2 2 1 1	7
10	Jan O. Pedersen	2 3 0 1 0	6
11	Sean Willmott	2 1 1 1 1	6
12	Jimmy Nilsen	0 TX 0 2 2	4
13	Preben Eriksen	1 0 2 1 0	4
14	Erik Gundersen	3 0 0 0 1	4
15	Bernie Collier (res)	0 0 1 1 0 0	2
16	Louis Carr	0 - - - - -	0
17	Shawn Moran	0 0 0 0 0	0

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

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]

Group A Pos Team Pts Riders 1 Cradley 17 Pedersen 9 Gundersen 8 2 Belle Vue 14 Thorp 10 Morton 4 3 Sheffield 12 Moran S 12 Carr 0 4 King's Lynn 11 Knight 6 Regeling 5

Group B Pos Team Pts Riders 1 Oxford 17 Nielsen 12 Grahame 5 2 Swindon 16 Shirra 9 Nilsen 7 3 Hackney 14 Galvin 8 Wigg 6 4 Bradford 5 King 3 Evitts 2

Group C Pos Team Pts Riders 1 Wolves 14 Eriksen 9 Ermolenko 5 2 Coventry 14 Tatum 8 Knudsen 6 3 Reading 13 Jonsson 7 Andersson 6 4 Ipswich 13 Doncaster 8 Niemi 5

Semi Final
Pos	Team	Pts	Riders
1	Swindon	16	Shirra 8, Nilsen 8
2	Oxford	14	Nielsen 12 Grahame 2
3	Cradley	13	Pedersen 7, Gundersen 6
4	Wolverhampton	11	Ermolenko 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

Rider	Team	Average
Hans Nielsen	Oxford	11.38
Erik Gundersen	Cradley Heath	10.44
Tommy Knudsen	Coventry	10.25
Kelvin Tatum	Coventry	10.06
Sam Ermolenko	Wolverhampton	9.86
Jeremy Doncaster	Ipswich	9.67
Jimmy Nilsen	Swindon	9.61
Jan O. Pedersen	Cradley Heath	9.60
Shawn Moran	Sheffield	9.47
Simon Wigg	Hackney	9.38

Midland Cup

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

First round

Team one	Team two	Score
Reading	Swindon	38–39, 37–41
Wolverhampton	Cradley	38–39, 31–47

Semi final round

Team one	Team two	Score
Coventry	Swindon	48–30, 36–42
Cradley	Oxford	43–35, 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

• Chris Morton 8.92
• Paul Thorp 8.41
• Peter Ravn 8.38
• Andy Smith 6.35
• Kenny McKinna 5.82
• Carl Blackbird 5.55
• David Blackburn 3.92
• Glenn Hornby 2.65

Bradford

• Neil Evitts 8.58
• Lance King 8.47
• Sean Willmott 7.35
• Gary Havelock 7.31
• Steve Bastable 5.73
• Randy Green 5.71
• Michael Graves 4.97
• Anthony Hulme 1.48

Coventry

• Tommy Knudsen 10.25
• Kelvin Tatum 10.06
• Rick Miller 8.20
• John Jørgensen 7.80
• David Bargh 7.46
• David Clarke 3.44
• Andy Hackett 2.58
• Wayne Broadhurst 2.18
• Darren Slater 2.13

Cradley Heath

• Erik Gundersen 10.44
• Jan O. Pedersen 9.60
• Simon Cross 9.33
• David Walsh 5.10
• Alan Grahame 4.94
• Jan Jakobsen 3.94
• Dean Barker 3.79
• Paul Fry 3.47
• Wayne Garratt 1.18

Hackney

• Simon Wigg 9.38
• Roland Danno 7.03
• Andy Galvin 6.10
• Allan Johansen 5.60
• Malcolm Simmons 5.40
• Alan Mogridge 5.22
• Barry Thomas 5.20
• Mark Loram 5.08

Ipswich

• Jeremy Doncaster 9.67
• Armando Castagna 8.00
• Kai Niemi 7.61
• Gerd Riss 6.39
• Andy Hines 5.03
• Louis Carr 4.58
• Martin Hagon 4.05
• Robbie Fuller 3.97
• Jamie Luckhurst 2.20

King's Lynn

• Richard Knight 8.35
• John Cook 6.67
• Steve Regeling 6.42
• Ian Barney 6.25
• Andy Campbell 5.34
• Stephen Davies 5.27
• Einar Kyllingstad 4.94
• Mick Poole 4.93
• Ray Morton 4.39

Oxford

• Hans Nielsen 11.38
• Marvyn Cox 8.53
• Andy Grahame 7.87
• Jens Rasmussen 5.68
• Nigel De'ath 4.39
• Kevin Smart 3.72
• Alastair Stevens 3.63
• Jon Surman 3.04

Reading

• Per Jonsson 9.34
• Jan Andersson 8.99
• John Davis 6.95
• Tony Olsson 6.60
• Peter Glanz 6.45
• Malcolm Holloway 6.02
• Gary Tagg 2.57
• Rodney Payne 1.33

Sheffield

• Shawn Moran 9.47
• Kelly Moran 9.23
• Neil Collins 7.59
• Peter Carr 7.26
• Sean Wilson 5.50
• Ian M Stead 4.72
• Adrian Stevens 3.88

Swindon

• Jimmy Nilsen 9.61
• Mitch Shirra 9.36
• Andrew Silver 7.35
• Richard Hellsen 6.73
• Brian Karger 6.55
• Alun Rossiter 6.37
• Conny Ivarsson 5.73
• Matthew Cross 1.54
• Stephen Rose 0.63

Wolverhampton

• Sam Ermolenko 9.86
• Preben Eriksen 7.28
• Ronnie Correy 6.33
• Jan Stæchmann 6.01
• Lars Munkedal 5.48
• Andy Phillips 4.74
• Chris Cobby 3.20
• Andy Sumner 1.26
• Torben Hansen 0.40

See also

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

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. "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. "Speedway" . Daily Mirror. 22 October 1987. Retrieved 21 October 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.