1993 British League season

Last updated

1993 British League season
League British League
No. of competitors11
Champions Belle Vue Aces
Knockout Cup Bradford Dukes
Fours Reading Racers
Individual Per Jonsson
Highest average Sam Ermolenko
Division/s below British League (Div 2)

The 1993 British League season was the 59th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 29th known as the British League. [1] [2]

Contents

Summary

Oxford Cheetahs dropped out of the first division resulting in their three time World Champion Hans Nielsen moving to Coventry Bees and Martin Dugard joining Eastbourne Eagles. [3] Swindon Robins also dropped down to division 2 with their leading rider Leigh Adams going to the Arena Essex. Swindon's other leading riders also moved with Jimmy Nilsen switching to Bradford, Mitch Shirra to Ipswich and Kelly Moran retired.

Belle Vue Aces won their first title since 1982. The Manchester team relied on a group of consistent riders, with no rider exceeding a 9-point average but five riders ranging from 8.75 to 6.72. The team consisted of World Under-21 champion Joe Screen, Australian Jason Lyons, Americans Bobby Ott and Shawn Moran and Dane Frede Schött. [4] The Championship was the closest in British League history with Belle Vue finishing on the same points as Wolverhampton Wolves and taking the title on heat points difference. It all came down to the last match when Belle Vue visited Wolves and pulled off a 54–53 victory. Wolves who were clear at the top of the table earlier in the season suffered a series of injuries and were missing four riders towards the end of the season. [5]

Final table

PosTeamPLWDLBPPts
1 Belle Vue Aces 40241151463
2 Wolverhampton Wolves 40230171763
3 Eastbourne Eagles 40231161461
4 Arena Essex Hammers 40211181053
5 Coventry Bees 40183191352
6 Reading Racers 40201191051
7 Bradford Dukes 4019318748
8 Ipswich Witches 4017023842
9 King's Lynn Stars 4015421640
10 Poole Pirates 4017023640
11 Cradley Heath Heathens 4016024537

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

Fixtures and results

A Fixtures

Home \ AwayAEBVBRACOVCHEASIPSKLPPRRWOL
Arena Essex65–4370–3872–3664–4453–5467–4071–3771–3761–4755–53
Belle Vue71–3765–4160–4763–4562–4666–4277–3178–3068–4057–51
Bradford66–4257–5154–5467–4168–4066–4260–4771–759–4961–47
Coventry67–4173–3460–4856–5262–4670–3862–4657–5164–4442–66
Cradley Heath56–5259–4952–5552–5458–5062–4657–5156–5250–5853–55
Eastbourne57–5163–4570–3853–5562–4662–4682–2660–4862–4656–52
Ipswich49–5970–3851–5759–4949–5958–5057.5–50.562–4647–6147–61
King's Lynn52–5555–5336–4254–5469–3936–3635–4265–4354–5456–52
Poole51–5756–5263–4558–5066–4256–5262–4661–4756–5260–48
Reading51–5759–4768–4057–5165–4249–5962–4575–3357–4857–51
Wolverhampton65–4363–4465–4365–4361–4764–4465–4363–4561–4668–39
Source: [6]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

B Fixtures

Home \ AwayAEBVBRACOVCHEASIPSKLPPRRWOL
Arena Essex55–5372–3654–5463–4553–5441–6768–4071–3762–4665–43
Belle Vue76–3261–4767–4160–4558–5062–4465–4377–3056–5157–51
Bradford63–4554–5458–5048–6068–4069–3954–5450–5857–5157–51
Coventry55–5353–5560–4863–4552–5650–5869–3963–4564–4451–57
Cradley Heath67–4148–6066–4251–5756–4274–3462–4557–5158–5056–52
Eastbourne60–4862–4660–4762–4567–4157–5179–2962–4658–4945–61
Ipswich61–4752–5665–4367–4157–5167–4152–5558–5060–4867–41
King's Lynn58–5058–5063–4455–5362–4674–3464–4470–3869–3960–48
Poole52–5660–4751–5761–4758–5063–4557–5163–4550–5863–45
Reading66–4258–5064–4459–4964–4453–5555–5360–4870–3858–50
Wolverhampton66–4253–5456–5263–4562–4661–4653–5562–4673–3560–48
Source: [7]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Speedway Star Knockout Cup

The 1993 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 55th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Bradford Dukes were the winners for a third consecutive year. [8]

First round

DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
08/07Ipswich55-53Wolverhampton
24/05Wolverhampton64-43Ipswich
22/05Cradley Heath59-49Belle Vue
21/05Arena Essex72-36Kings Lynn
21/05Belle Vue58-48Cradley Heath
08/05Kings Lynn54-54Arena Essex
16/07Belle Vue59-47Cradley Heath
30/06Cradley Heath59-49Belle Vue

Quarter-finals

DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
20/08Belle Vue60-47Wolverhampton
11/08Wolverhampton57-51Belle Vue
31/07Coventry64-44Poole
14/07Poole55-53Coventry
05/07Reading63-45Arena Essex
04/07Bradford66-42Eastbourne
27/06Eastbourne63-45Bradford
18/06Arena Essex67-41Reading

Semi-finals

DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
10/10Belle Vue61-46Arena Essex
21/09Arena Essex67-41Belle Vue
18/09Bradford61-47Coventry
14/08Coventry54-54Bradford

Final

First leg

Bradford Dukes
Kelvin Tatum 12
Sean Wilson 12
Gary Havelock 9
Antal Kocso 9
Simon Green 8
Paul Bentley 6
Darren Pearson 2
58 - 50 Arena Essex Hammers
Josh Larsen 15
Leigh Adams 14
Leigh Lanham 8
Bo Petersen 7
Robert Ledwith 5
Neville Tatum 1
Colin White 0
[9]

Second leg

Arena Essex Hammers
Leigh Adams 14
Josh Larsen 12
Bo Petersen 11
Neville Tatum 6
Robert Ledwith 6
Colin White 3
Leigh Lanham 2
Russell Etherington 1
55 - 53 Bradford Dukes
Kelvin Tatum 15
Gary Havelock 13
Paul Pickering 12
Sean Wilson 6
Paul Bentley 4
Darren Pearson 3
Antal Kocso 0
[10]

Bradford Dukes were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 111-105.

Fours

Reading Racers won the fours championship final (sponsored by H.E.A.T) and held at the East of England Arena on 25 July. [11] [12]

Final

PosTeamPtsRiders
1Reading27Jonsson 8, Mullett 8, Castagna 7, Olsson 4
2Wolves25Ermolenko 8, Karlsson P
3Belle Vue11Screen 6
4Arena Essex9Larsen 3, Ravn 3

Riders' Championship

Per Jonsson won the British League Riders' Championship. It was due to be run at Abbey Stadium in early October but was called off twice due to wet weather before finally taking place on 31 October. [13]

Pos.RiderTotal
1 Flag of Sweden.svg Per Jonsson 14
2 Flag of Sweden.svg Henka Gustafsson 13+3
3 Flag of England.svg Chris Louis 13+2
4 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Leigh Adams 11
5 Flag of Sweden.svg Peter Karlsson 10
6 Flag of Denmark.svg Hans Nielsen 10
7 Flag of Sweden.svg Tony Rickardsson 8
8 Flag of England.svg Joe Screen 7
9 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Craig Boyce 6
10 Flag of England.svg Simon Cross 6
11 Flag of New Zealand.svg Gary Allan 6
12 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Jason Crump 5
13 Flag of England.svg Kelvin Tatum 5
14 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Jason Lyons 3
15 Flag of England.svg David Norris 3
16 Flag of England.svg Glenn Cunningham (res)2
17 Flag of England.svg Simon Wigg 1
18 Flag of England.svg Steve Camden (res)0

Leading averages

RiderTeamAverage
Flag of the United States.svg Sam Ermolenko Wolverhampton11.12
Flag of Sweden.svg Per Jonsson Reading10.34
Flag of Denmark.svg Hans Nielsen Coventry10.05
Flag of the United States.svg Greg Hancock Cradley Heath9.85
Flag of the United States.svg Ronnie Correy Wolverhampton9.62
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Leigh Adams Arena Essex9.49
Flag of Sweden.svg Henrik Gustafsson Kings Lynn9.27
Flag of Sweden.svg Tony Rickardsson Ipswich9.01
Flag of the United States.svg Billy Hamill Cradley Heath8.99
Flag of England.svg Martin Dugard Eastbourne8.98

Riders & final averages

Arena Essex

Belle Vue

Bradford

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Eastbourne

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Poole

Reading

Wolverhampton

See also

References

  1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  3. "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  4. "1993 league tables". Speedway GB.
  5. "1993 Fixtures" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  6. "1993 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
  7. "1993 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 20 May 2025.
  8. "1993 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  9. "Speedway" . Sunday Mirror. 17 October 1993. Retrieved 27 June 2021 via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. "Dukes lift cup again" . Huddersfield Daily Examiner. 23 October 1993. Retrieved 13 May 2023 via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. "Racers' fab four are hot stuff!" . Reading Evening Post. 26 July 1993. Retrieved 11 May 2023 via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. "1993 fixtures" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  13. "Speedway results" . Newcastle Journal. 1 November 1993. Retrieved 6 June 2023 via British Newspaper Archive.