1970 British League season

1970 British League season
LeagueBritish League
No. of competitors19
ChampionsBelle Vue Aces
Knockout CupWimbledon Dons
IndividualBarry Briggs
London CupWimbledon Dons
Midland CupCoventry Bees
Highest averageIvan Mauger
Division/s belowBritish League (Div 2)

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 New Zealand Belle Vue 11.23
2 Anders Michanek Sweden Newcastle 10.91
3 Jim Airey Australia Sheffield 10.82
4 Ray Wilson England Leicester 10.77
5 Nigel Boocock England Coventry 10.67
6 Eric Boocock England Halifax 10.59
7 Barry Briggs New Zealand Swindon 10.56
8 Ole Olsen Denmark Wolverhampton 10.27
9 Jim McMillan Scotland Glasgow 10.26
10 Martin Ashby England 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

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

Second leg

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 - 34Wimbledon Dons
Ronnie Moore 13
Trevor Hedge 10
Reg Luckhurst 5
Cyril Maidment 2
Jim Tebby 2
Bob Dugard 1
Peter Murray 1
[7]

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 New Zealand Barry Briggs 3 3 1 3 3 13+3
2 Sweden Anders Michanek 3 2 3 3 2 13+2
3 England Eric Boocock 2 3 2 3 3 13+1
4 New Zealand Ronnie Moore 3 2 3 3 1 12
5 New Zealand Ivan Mauger 3 1 3 ex 3 10
6 England Nigel Boocock 2 3 1 2 2 10
7 Australia Jim Airey 2 3 2 1 1 9
8 England Martin Ashby 0 1 1 2 3 7
9 Norway Reidar Eide 2 1 2 1 1 7
10 England Ray Wilson 0 2 0 2 1 5
11 Sweden Bernt Persson 1 1 0 1 2 5
12 Denmark Ole Olsen 1 2 2 0 0 5
13 England Terry Betts 0 0 0 2 2 4
14 Australia Charlie Monk 1 0 3 0 0 4
15 Sweden Olle Nygren 0 0 1 0 0 1
16 Sweden Hasse Holmqvist 1 0 0 0 0 1
17 Hungary Sándor Lévai (res) 1 - - - - 1
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, exc=excluded

Final leading averages

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

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

Second leg

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

Coventry won on aggregate 83–73

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Exeter

Glasgow

Hackney

Halifax

King's Lynn

Leicester

Newcastle

Newport

Oxford

Poole

Sheffield

Swindon

Wembley

West Ham

Wimbledon

Wolverhampton

See also

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. ^ a b "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.