1986 British League season

1986 British League season
LeagueBritish League
ChampionsOxford Cheetahs
Knockout CupOxford & Cradley (shared)
League CupOxford & Cradley (shared)
IndividualHans Nielsen
PairsOxford Cheetahs
Midland CupOxford Cheetahs
Highest averageHans Nielsen
Division/s below1986 National League

The 1986 British League season was the 52nd season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 22nd known as the British League.[1]

Summary

Oxford Cheetahs won the league for the second consecutive year and the treble by sharing both the Speedway Star Knockout Cup and League Cup with Cradley Heath Heathens. Despite the easy manner of their 1985 league success Oxford made critical changes which ensured domination for a second consecutive season. They were forced to make changes due to the averages points limit that applied to all teams. Hans Nielsen and Simon Wigg were retained, as were Andy Grahame and Marvyn Cox but Jens Ramussen was replaced with Per Sorensen and Nigel De'ath was brought in as full time reserve. Both Sorensen and De'ath maintained good form throughout the season and combined with the heavy scores of the heat leaders the team were able to win the league again.[2][3] Cradley returned to form and provided Oxford with their main challenge, the rivalry between the Nielsen of Oxford and Erik Gundersen of Cradley was memorable. Nielsen also replaced Gundersen as the world champion by the end of the season and the pair were World Pairs and World Cup winners.

One of the Danish pairs main rivals was Englishman Kenny Carter, regarded as a potential world champion and who at the age of just 21 nearly won the 1982 world title. He was riding for Bradford Dukes and ten matches into the season, on the morning of 21 May the speedway world was subject to another shock. Following on from the Billy Sanders tragedy the season before Carter shot his wife dead and then killed himself.[4]

Final table

Pos Team PL W D L BP Pts
1 Oxford Cheetahs 18 18 0 0 8 44
2 Cradley Heath Heathens 20 13 3 4 9 38
3 Wolverhampton Wolves 19 13 0 6 6 32
4 Sheffield Tigers 19 10 2 7 6 28
5 Coventry Bees 20 10 1 9 6 27
6 Bradford Dukes 20 8 1 11 4 21
7 Reading Racers 20 7 3 10 4 21
8 Swindon Robins 19 8 1 10 4 21
9 Ipswich Witches 20 7 1 12 3 18
10 Belle Vue Aces 19 5 0 14 2 12
11 King's Lynn Stars 20 2 0 18 0 4

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

British League Knockout Cup

The 1986 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 48th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Oxford Cheetahs and Cradley Heath Heathens were declared joint winners because the second leg of the final was not held and the first leg had ended 39-39.[5]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
21/07 Reading 53-25 Kings Lynn
19/07 Swindon 47-31 Ipswich
17/07 Ipswich 38-40 Swindon
05/07 Kings Lynn 43-35 Reading
21/05 Cradley Heath 46-32 Belle Vue
03/05 Belle Vue 45-33 Cradley Heath

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
29/09 Reading 45-33 Cradley Heath
24/09 Cradley Heath 50-28 Reading
17/09 Coventry 43-34 Sheffield
17/09 Oxford 48-30 Swindon
07/09 Swindon 37-41 Oxford
26/06 Sheffield 44-34 Coventry
24/06 Bradford 45-33 Wolverhampton
02/06 Wolverhampton 38-40 Bradford

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
16/10 Sheffield 33-45 Oxford
15/10 Cradley Heath 50-28 Bradford
10/10 Oxford 45-33 Sheffield
13/07 Braford 39-39 Cradley Heath

Final The title was shared after two failed attempts to hold the second leg due to rain.[6][3]

First and only leg

Cradley Heath
Jan O. Pedersen 8
Phil Collins 8
Erik Gundersen 7
Nigel Leaver 6
Steve Bastable 4
Paul Fry 3
Simon Cross 3		39 - 39Oxford Cheetahs
Hans Nielsen 14
Simon Wigg 9
Marvyn Cox 9
Nigel De'ath 4
Per Sorensen 1
Andy Grahame 1
Jon Surman 1
[7]

League Cup

The League Cup was contested as a league format. The cup was shared following two failed attempts to stage the second leg of the final at Oxford due to rain. Oxford had won the first leg at Cradley Heath 40–38.[3]

Qualifying table

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Coventry Bees 20 14 1 5 37
2 Oxford Cheetahs 20 13 1 6 36
3 Ipswich Witches 20 12 1 7 30
4 Cradley Heathens 20 10 2 8 29
5 Swindon Robins 20 9 3 8 27
6 Sheffield Tigers 20 10 2 8 27
7 Bradford Dukes 20 9 3 8 26
8 Reading Racers 20 10 0 10 24
9 Belle Vue Aces 20 6 2 12 17
10 Wolverhampton Wolves 20 6 1 13 16
11 King's Lynn Stars 20 2 2 16 6

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
03/09 Coventry 39–39 Cradley Heath
03/09 Oxford 40–38 Ipswich
10/09 Cradley Heath 41–37 Coventry
21/09 Ipswich 34–42 Oxford

Final (First and only leg)

Cradley Heath
Erik Gundersen 11
Phil Collins 7
Simon Cross 6
Jan O. Pedersen 5
Steve Bastable 5
Nigel Leaver 2
Paul Fry 2		38 - 40Oxford Cheetahs
Hans Nielsen 11
Marvyn Cox 10
Simon Wigg 9
Per Sorensen 4
Nigel De'ath 4
Andy Grahame 2
Jon Surman 0
[8]

Riders' Championship

Hans Nielsen won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 12 October.[9]

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total
1 Denmark Hans Nielsen 3 3 3 3 3 15
2 Denmark Erik Gundersen 2 3 3 2 1 11+3
3 United States Shawn Moran 3 3 1 2 2 11+2
4 England Chris Morton 3 2 3 0 3 11+1
5 Sweden Jan Andersson 2 3 3 1 2 11
6 England Simon Wigg 1 0 2 3 3 9
7 Denmark Tommy Knudsen 0 2 2 3 1 8
8 Denmark Jan O. Pedersen 2 2 0 1 3 8
9 Denmark John Jørgensen 3 2 2 1 0 8
10 England Jeremy Doncaster 0 1 2 3 2 8
11 England Alan Grahame 1 0 1 2 2 6
12 England John Davis 2 1 1 0 1 5
13 Denmark Preben Eriksen 1 1 0 0 1 3
14 England Andy Campbell 0 1 1 1 0 3
15 England Neil Evitts 1 0 0 2 0 3
16 Finland Kai Niemi 0 0 0 0 - 0
17 England Lee Edwards (res) 0 - - - - 0
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired

Pairs

The British League Pairs Championship was held at Owlerton Stadium on 24 August and was won by Oxford for the second consecutive year.[10]

Pos Team Pts Riders
1 Oxford 25 Wigg 15, Nielsen 10
2 Coventry 22 Tatum 13, Jorgensen 9
3 Sheffield 18 Moran S 11, Collins N 7
4 Belle Vue 18 Morton 17, Collins P 1
5 Bradford 16 King 9, Evitts 7
6 Cradley Heath 16 Gundersen 14, Pedersen 2
7 Ipswich 11 Niemi 8, Doncaster 3

Leading final averages

Rider Team Average
Denmark Hans Nielsen Oxford 11.57
Denmark Erik Gundersen Cradley Heath 11.03
England Jeremy Doncaster Ipswich 10.38
England Simon Wigg Oxford 10.20
England Kenny Carter+ Bradford 10.05
United States Sam Ermolenko Wolverhampton 9.72
Denmark Tommy Knudsen Coventry 9.68
United States Shawn Moran Sheffield 9.65
England Chris Morton Belle Vue 9.34
Sweden Jan Andersson Reading 9.34
England Neil Evitts Bradford 9.32
United States Bobby Schwartz Kings Lynn 9.06

+rode 10 matches before his death

Midland Cup

Oxford won the Midland Cup for the second consecutive year. The competition consisted of six teams.[11]

First round

Team one Team two Score
Swindon Wolverhampton 39–39, 27–51
Reading Coventry 40–38, 26–52

Semi final round

Team one Team two Score
Oxford Wolverhampton 42–36, 39–39
Cradley Coventry 41–37, 35–43

Final

First leg

Coventry
Tommy Knudsen 11
John Jorgensen 10
Kelvin Tatum 8
Alun Rossiter 6
Rick Miller 5
David Bargh 3
David Clarke 1		44–34Oxford
Simon Wigg 13
Jeremy Doncaster (guest) 7
Per Sorensen 6
Marvyn Cox 5
Nigel De'ath 2
Andy Grahame 1
Jon Surman 0

Second leg

Oxford
Hans Nielsen 11
Simon Wigg 10
Marvyn Cox 10
Per Sorensen 6
Nigel De'ath 4
Andy Grahame 3
Jon Surman 2		46–32Coventry
Rick Miller 14
Alun Rossiter 9
Kelvin Tatum 6
David Bargh 1
Tommy Knudsen 1 (ill)
David Clarke 1
John Jorgensen r/r

Oxford won on aggregate 80–76

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Bradford

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Oxford

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

Wolverhampton

See also

References

  1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ "1986 league tables". Speedway GB.
  3. ^ a b c Bamford/Shailes, Robert/Glynn (2007). The Story of Oxford Speedway. Tempus Publishing Ltd. pp. 134–136. ISBN 978-0-7524-4161-0.
  4. ^ "The tragic life and horrific death of troubled Yorkshire speedway legend 'King Kenny' Carter". Examiner Live. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  5. ^ "1986 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  6. ^ "Cradley Speedway 1986 season". Cradley Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  7. ^ "Speedway". Birmingham Mail. 3 November 1986. Retrieved 18 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ^ "Speedway". Birmingham Mail. 20 October 1986. Retrieved 18 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ^ "Speedway". Western Daily Press. 13 October 1986. Retrieved 5 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ^ "Chris's final warning". Manchester Evening News. 26 August 1986. Retrieved 18 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. ^ "Bees:We had fight". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 30 October 1986. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.