1981 British League season

1981 British League season
LeagueBritish League
No. of competitors16
ChampionsCradley Heath Heathens
Knockout CupIpswich Witches
League CupCoventry Bees
IndividualKenny Carter
Midland CupCoventry Bees
London CupHackney Hawks
Highest averageBruce Penhall
Division/s below1981 National League

The 1981 British League season was the 47th season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom and the 17th known as the British League.[1]

Summary

The league comprised 16 teams - one fewer than the previous season. Wolverhampton Wolves had dropped down to the National League.[2]

American Bruce Penhall (who would be crowned world champion by the end of the season) topped the averages and helped Cradley Heathens win their first title. The Cradley team included Penhall, rising Danish star Erik Gundersen and British internationals Alan Grahame and Phil Collins. The league runner-up Ipswich Witches gained some consolation by winning the Knockout Cup.[3]

Final League table

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Cradley Heathens 30 26 1 3 53
2 Ipswich Witches 30 21 4 5 46
3 Swindon Robins 30 19 3 8 41
4 Belle Vue Aces 30 19 1 10 39
5 Coventry Bees 30 18 0 12 36
6 Birmingham Brummies 30 13 1 16 27
7 Halifax Dukes 30 13 1 16 27
8 Hackney Hawks 30 12 2 16 26
9 Poole Pirates 30 12 2 16 26
10 Sheffield Tigers 30 13 0 17 26
11 Reading Racers 30 9 7 14 25
12 Hull Vikings 30 10 4 16 24
13 Eastbourne Eagles 30 10 3 17 23
14 King's Lynn Stars 30 10 2 18 22
15 Leicester Lions 30 11 0 19 22
16 Wimbledon Dons 30 7 3 20 17

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Bruce Penhall United States Cradley Heathens 11.08
2 Kenny Carter England Halifax Dukes 10.50
3 Phil Crump Australia Swindon Robins 10.39
4 Michael Lee England King's Lynn Stars 10.34
5 Erik Gundersen Denmark Cradley Heathens 10.26
6 Chris Morton England Belle Vue Aces 10.26
7 Jan Andersson Sweden Reading Racers 10.02
8 Gordon Kennett England Eastbourne Eagles 9.95
9 Kelly Moran United States Eastbourne Eagles 9.83
10 Hans Nielsen Denmark Birmingham Brummies 9.83

British League Knockout Cup

The 1981 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 43rd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Ipswich Witches were the winners.[4]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
04/06 Middlesbrough 43-53 Eastbourne
23/05 Berwick 39-57 Wimbledon
08/05 Peterborough 50-46 Halifax
04/05 Newcastle 40-56 Leicester
08/05 Edinburgh 49-47 Sheffield
12/04 Mildenhall 38-58 Poole
31/05 Rye House 34-62 Birmingham
03/05 Boston 47-48 Hull

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
08/07 Poole 49-47 Leicester
24/06 Hull 54-42 Belle Vue
23/06 Leicester 51-45 Poole
20/06 Cradley Heath 60-36 Eastbourne
14/06 Peterborough 38-58 Birmingham
13/06 Belle Vue 53-43 Hull
11/06 Wimbledon 40-56 Reading
08/06 Birmingham 63-33 Peterborough
08/06 Reading 55-41 Wimbledon
07/06 Eastbourne 49-47 Cradley Heath
30/05 Coventry 63-33 Hackney
30/05 Swindon 69-27 Edinburgh
29/05 Hackney 37-59 Coventry
01/05 Kings Lynn 47-49 Ipswich
21/05 Ipswich 53-43 Kings Lynn
12/06 Edinburgh 47-49 Swindon

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
03/09 Swindon 74-22 Leicester
25/08 Leicester 45-51 Swindon
20/08 Ipswich 54-42 Cradley Heath
12/08 Cradley Heath 48-48 Ipswich
03/08 Reading 51-45 Coventry
24/07 Birmingham 52-44 Hull
22/07 Hull 49-47 Birmingham
11/07 Coventry 49-45 Reading

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
28/09 Reading 49-47 Birmingham
18/09 Birmingham 54-42 Reading
18/09 Swindon 46-50 Ipswich
10/09 Ipswich 57-39 Swindon

Final

First leg

Birmingham Brummies
Hans Nielsen 14
Kai Niemi 13
Andy Grahame 8
Bruce Cribb 8
Neil Evitts 4
Simon Wigg 0
Paul Thorp 0		47 - 49Ipswich Witches
Preben Eriksen 12
John Cook 11
Kevin Jolly 7
Dennis Sigalos 6
Tim Hunt 6
Mike Lanham 5
Nigel Flatman 2

Second leg

Ipswich Witches
Dennis Sigalos 11
John Cook 10
Preben Eriksen 8
Kevin Jolly 7
Mike Lanham 7
Tim Hunt 6
Nigel Flatman 2		51 - 45Birmingham Brummies
Hans Nielsen 17
Andy Grahame 17
Kai Niemi 8
Bruce Cribb 1
Neil Evitts 1
Mike Wilding 1
Paul Thorp 0

The Ipswich Witches were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 100-92.

League Cup

The League Cup was inaugurated in 1981 with the 16 teams split into North and South sections comprising 8 teams each that met each other home and away. The winners of each section qualified for the two-legged final with Coventry Bees beating King's Lynn Stars in the final 120–70 on aggregate.

North Group

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Coventry Bees 14 12 0 2 24
2 Cradley Heathens 14 11 0 3 22
3 Belle Vue Aces 14 7 0 7 14
4 Sheffield Tigers 14 7 0 7 14
5 Birmingham Brummies 14 6 0 8 12
6 Hull Vikings 14 5 0 9 10
7 Leicester Lions 14 4 0 10 8
8 Halifax Dukes 14 4 0 10 8

South Group

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 King's Lynn Stars 14 10 1 3 21
2 Reading Racers 14 10 0 4 20
3 Ipswich Witches 14 9 0 5 18
4 Poole Pirates 14 7 0 7 14
5 Swindon Robins 14 7 0 7 14
6 Hackney Hawks 14 5 1 8 11
7 Eastbourne Eagles 14 5 0 9 10
8 Wimbledon Dons 14 2 0 12 4

Final

Date Team one Score Team two
10/10 Coventry 68–28 King's Lynn
11/10 King's Lynn 42–54 Coventry

Riders' Championship

Kenny Carter won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 17 October and sponsored by the Daily Mirror.[5]

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total
1 England Kenny Carter 3 3 3 3 3 15
2 England Chris Morton 3 3 2 2 3 13+3
3 United States Shawn Moran 3 2 3 2 3 13+2
4 Australia Phil Crump 2 3 2 1 2 10
5 England Dave Jessup 1 2 1 3 2 9
6 Denmark Hans Nielsen 1 3 3 1 0 8
7 United States Dennis Sigalos 2 1 0 2 3 8
8 United States Bruce Penhall 2 2 1 1 2 8
9 England Les Collins 1 0 3 2 1 7
10 England Malcolm Simmons 2 0 1 3 1 7
11 England Gordon Kennett 1 2 2 0 1 6
12 United States Scott Autrey 3 0 1 0 1 5
13 Sweden Jan Andersson 0 1 2 0 2 5
14 Denmark Bo Petersen 0 1 0 3 0 4
15 Denmark Ole Olsen 0 1 0 1 2
16 England Joe Owen 0 0 0 0 0 0
17 England Gary O'Hare (res) 0 - - - - 0
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired

Final leading averages

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Bruce Penhall United States Cradley 11.01
2 Kenny Carter England Halifax 10.17
=3 Phil Crump Australia Swindon 10.30
=3 Michael Lee England King's Lynn 10.30
5 Jan Andersson Sweden Reading 10.26
6 Hans Nielsen Denmark Birmingham 9.80
7 Chris Morton England Belle Vue 9.75
8 Erik Gundersen Denmark Cradley 9.72
9 John Davis England Poole 9.70
10 Gordon Kennett England Eastbourne 9.67

Midland Cup

Coventry won the Midland Cup. The competition consisted of five teams and was sponsored by the Trustee Savings Bank.[6]

First round

Team one Team two Score
Birmingham Swindon 39–39, 37–41

Semi final round

Team one Team two Score
Leicester Coventry 33–44, 34–44
Swindon Cradley 44–33, 32–46

Final

First leg

Cradley Heath
Erik Gundersen 12
Bruce Penhall 11
Alan Grahame 9
Phil Collins 3
John McNeill 2
Dave Shields 2
Bent Rasmussen 0		39–39Coventry
Ole Olsen 9
Tommy Knudsen 8
Gary Guglielmi 7
Keith White 6
Kevin Hawkins 5
Steve Wilcock 3
Mitch Shirra 1

Second leg

Coventry
Ole Olsen 12
Tommy Knudsen 8
Mitch Shirra 7
Keith White 7
Gary Guglielmi 6
Kevin Hawkins 4
Rob Hollingworth 1		45–33Cradley Heath
Bruce Penhall 12
Alan Grahame 12
Dave Shields 5
Erik Gundersen 3
Phil Collins 1
Bent Rasmussen 0
John McNeill 0

Coventry won on aggregate 84–72

London Cup

Hackney won the London Cup but the competition consisted of just Wimbledon and Hackney.[7]

Results

Team Score Team
Wimbledon 43–36 Hackney
Hackney 46–32 Wimbledon

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Birmingham

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Eastbourne

Hackney

Halifax

Hull

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Leicester

Poole

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

Wimbledon

See also

References

  1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  3. ^ "1981". Cradley Speedway. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  4. ^ "1981 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  5. ^ "Speedwayn". Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 18 October 1981. Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ^ "Heathens Fury". Sandwell Evening Mail. 11 October 1981. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ "1981 fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 1 October 2023.