1997 Speedway Conference League

1997 Speedway Conference League
LeagueConference League
(also called Amateur League)
ChampionsPeterborough Thundercats
IndividualJon Armstrong
Division/s above1997 Elite League
1997 Premier League

The 1997 Speedway Conference League (also called the Amateur League), was the third tier/division of British speedway. It reverted to being the third tier because during the previous season it was inadvertently the second-tier competition while the British League ran as a single merged division.[1]

Summary

The title was won by Peterborough Thundercats the junior side belonging to Peterborough Panthers.[2][3]

The majority of the clubs were the junior sides belonging to their respective senior side or a collaboration ran by their senior sides. The Raven Sprockets were a combination of the Reading Racers and Swindon Robins, the Western Warriors were a combination of the Exeter Falcons and Newport Wasps, the Shuttle Cubs were Wolverhampton Wolves and Long Eaton Speedway and finally the Anglian Angels were the Ipswich Witches and Rye House Rockets.

Final league table

[4]

Pos Team Played W D L F A Pts
1 Peterborough Thundercats 24 22 1 1 1064 729 45
2 Berwick Border Raiders 24 17 2 5 999 767 36
3 Ryde Wight Wizards 24 15 1 8 987 857 31
4 Buxton Hitmen 24 15 0 9 948 901 30
5 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 24 13 2 9 961 874 28
6 St Austell Gulls 24 13 0 11 963 871 26
7 Raven Sprockets+ (Reading and Swindon) 24 10 3 11 820 848 23
8 Western Warriors+ (Exeter and Newport) 24 10 0 14 909 946 20
9 Oxford Cubs 24 9 0 15 901 909 18
10 Shuttle Cubs+ (Wolverhampton and Long Eaton) 24 9 0 15 799 969 18
11 Lathallan Lightning 24 7 0 17 798 967 14
12 Belle Vue Colts 24 7 0 17 819 1024 14
13 Anglian Angels+ (Ipswich and King's Lynn) 24 4 1 19 725 1031 9

+ combined team

Fixtures & results

Home \ Away AA BV BER BUX LL MIL OX PET RAV RWW SA SC WW
Anglian Angels 37–41 22–56 40–38 34–43 21–39 36–52 34–44 22–38 37–41 34–44 40–38 42–36
Belle Vue Colts 39–30 33–38 41–37 41–36 26–46 28–25 29–45 26–46 35–42 48–29 36–40 46–32
Berwick Border Raiders 50–28 41–30 47–30 50–28 39–39 52–26 37–41 38–10 49–29 54–24 50–25 54–24
Buxton Hitmen 45–33 53–25 38–39 48–28 44–33 40–36 24–52 36–42 36–41 40–32 46–31 40–37
Lathallan Lightning 44–33 42–36 30–48 38–39 37–40 45–33 32–45 35–42 41–35 35–43 38–37 39–38
Mildenhall Fen Tigers 53–25 40–37 30–47 40–38 41–37 47–30 39–39 52–26 38–40 48–30 47–31 44–34
Oxford Cubs 51–27 52–25 42–36 38–40 48–30 37–41 36–40 45–33 45–32 38–39 37–41 48–30
Peterborough Thundercats 52–26 51–27 50–28 52–26 49–29 51–26 40–35 48–27 43–25 44–34 57–21 45–32
Raven Sprockets 44–34 41–32 27–51 36–40 46–32 40–38 40–38 15–33 34–43 38–40 52–26 44–33
Ryde Wight Wizards 53–25 44–32 43–34 37–41 59–19 48–30 49–28 38–40 39–39 43–35 44–34 49–29
St Austell Gulls 55–21 47–31 58–30 37–41 53–25 40–38 43–11 38–39 44–34 45–33 53–25 34–41
Shuttle Cubs 45–26 26–19 34–37 36–41 39–31 38–35 39–38 26–31 43–32 28–43 50–28 29–48
Western Warriors 38–40 43–35 36–42 30–47 47–25 39–37 36–42 45–33 40–38 41–37 40–38 60–18
Source: [5]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Riders' Championship

Jon Armstrong won the Riders' Championship. The final was held on 7 September at Long Eaton Stadium.[6]

Pos. Rider Team Total
1 Jon Armstrong Buxton 13
2 Bobby Eldridge Ryde 13
3 David Howe Peterborough 12
4 Blair Scott Lathallan 11
5 Roger Lobb Western Warriors 10
6 David Meldrum Berwick 9
7 Mark Blackwell Ryde 9
8 Simon Stead Peterborough 8
9 Dean Garrod Mildenhall 7
10 Rob Clarence Shuttle Cubs 6
11 Mark Thompson Anglian Angels 5
12 Philip Ambrose Oxford 4
13 Lee Dixon Belle Vue 4
14 Paul Lee Shuttle Cubs 3
15 Ian Clarke Raven Sprockets 3
16 Stephen Read Buxton 1
17 Nathan McDonald (res) Shuttle Cubs 0

See also

References

  1. ^ "1996 tables". Speedway GB.
  2. ^ "1997 tables". Speedway GB.
  3. ^ "Peterborough Panthers". Greyhound Derby.com.
  4. ^ "Table". Speedway Archives.
  5. ^ "1997 fixtures & results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  6. ^ "Lee Nightmare". Nottingham Evening Post. 8 September 1997. Retrieved 22 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.