1983 British League season

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1983 British League season
LeagueBritish League
ChampionsCradley Heathens
Knockout CupCradley Heathens
League CupBelle Vue Aces
IndividualErik Gundersen
Midland CupCradley Heathens
London CupWimbledon Dons
Highest averageHans Nielsen
Division/s below1983 National League

The 1983 British League season was the 49th season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom and the 19th known as the British League.[1]

Summary[edit]

Cradley Heath Heathens won the league and cup double.[2] Despite losing their double world champion Bruce Penhall to retirement the Cradley side performed just as well. Erik Gundersen, Simon Wigg and Lance King were now some of the world's leading riders and backed up by Phil Collins, Alan Grahame and Peter Ravn they were a formidable team. Even Penhall's replacement, a new signing from Denmark Jan O. Pedersen was already showing signs of a bright future.[3]

Final table[edit]

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Cradley Heath Heathens 28 26 0 2 52
2 Ipswich Witches 28 22 1 5 45
3 Coventry Bees 28 19 0 9 38
4 Reading Racers 28 17 0 11 34
5 Belle Vue Aces 28 15 3 10 33
6 Wimbledon Dons 28 15 1 12 31
7 Hackney Hawks 28 14 0 14 28
8 King's Lynn Stars 28 12 1 15 25
9 Birmingham Brummies 28 12 0 16 24
10 Sheffield Tigers 28 10 2 16 22
11 Halifax Dukes 28 10 1 17 21
12 Leicester Lions 28 9 2 17 20
13 Poole Pirates 28 9 0 19 18
14 Eastbourne Eagles 28 7 1 20 15
15 Swindon Robins 28 7 0 21 14

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)[edit]

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Dennis Sigalos United States Ipswich Witches 10.99
2 Hans Nielsen Denmark Birmingham Brummies 10.77
3 Erik Gundersen Denmark Cradley Heathens 10.59
4 Mitch Shirra New Zealand Reading Racers 10.38
5 Michael Lee England Poole Pirates 10.36
6 Kenny Carter England Halifax Dukes 10.34
7 Billy Sanders Australia Ipswich Witches 10.27
8 Chris Morton England Belle Vue Aces 10.17
9 Phil Crump Australia Swindon Robins 9.88
10 Jan Andersson Sweden Reading Racers 9.61

British League Knockout Cup[edit]

The 1983 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 45th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Cradley Heath Heathens were the winners.[4]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
09/07 Belle Vue 56-22 Halifax
30/06 Wimbledon 46-32 Swindon
25/06 Halifax 41-37 Belle Vue
25/06 Swindon 34-44 Wimbledon
19/06 Eastbourne 34-43 Kings Lynn
11/06 Coventry 45-33 Sheffield
11/06 Cradley Heath 46-32 Hackney
11/06 Kings Lynn 47-31 Eastbourne
09/06 Sheffield 37-41 Coventry
30/05 Birmingham 43-35 Reading
30/05 Reading 44-34 Birmingham
27/05 Hackney 35-43 Cradley Heath
24/05 Leicester 40-38 Ipswich
19/05 Ipswich 43-34 Leicester

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
21/08 Kings Lynn 45-33 Belle Vue
20/08 Belle Vue 58-20 Kings Lynn
23/07 Coventry 44-34 Wimbledon
21/07 Wimbledon 38-40 Coventry
18/07 Reading 40-38 Ipswich
13/07 Poole 35-43 Cradley Heath
09/07 Cradley Heath 53-25 Poole
07/07 Ipswich 39-39 Reading

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
09/10 Belle Vue 38-40 Coventry
08/10 Coventry 44-34 Belle Vue
24/09 Cradley Heath 47-31 Reading
19/09 Reading 32-46 Cradley Heath

Final

First leg=

Coventry Bees
Ole Olsen 10
Gary Guglielmi 8
Sam Nikolajsen 7
Steve Bastable 5
Rick Miller4
Finn Thomsen (guest) 3
Kevin Hawkins 2		39 - 39Cradley Heath
Erik Gundersen 13
Simon Wigg 11
Phil Collins 8
Alan Grahame 3
Peter Ravn 2
Jan O. Pedersen 2
Lance King R/R
[5]

Second leg

Cradley Heath
Erik Gundersen 13
Alan Grahame 9
Peter Ravn 7
Simon Wigg 7
Phil Collins 6
Jan O. Pedersen 5
Lance King R/R		47 - 31Coventry Bees
Ole Olsen 10
Gary Guglielmi 10
Bo Petersen (guest) 7
Steve Bastable 2
Rick Miller 1
Kevin Hawkins 1
Sam Nikolajsen 0
[5]

Cradley Heath were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 86-70.

League Cup[edit]

The League Cup was split into North and South sections. The two-legged final was won by Belle Vue Aces beating Coventry Bees in the final 86-70 on aggregate.

South Group

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Wimbledon Dons 14 11 0 3 22
2 Ipswich Witches 14 9 0 5 18
3 Reading Racers 14 8 0 6 16
4 Poole Pirates 14 8 0 6 16
5 Hackney Hawks 14 8 0 6 16
6 King's Lynn Stars 13 6 1 6 13
7 Eastbourne Eagles 14 2 1 11 5
8 Swindon Robins 13 2 0 11 4

North Group

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Coventry Bees 12 9 1 2 19
2 Belle Vue Aces 12 8 0 4 16
3 Cradley Heathens 12 7 1 4 15
4 Halifax Dukes 11 5 0 7 10
5 Leicester Lions 12 4 0 8 8
6 Sheffield Tigers 12 4 0 8 8
7 Birmingham Brummies 12 4 0 8 8

Final[edit]

Date Team one Score Team two
22/10 Coventry 39–39 Belle Vue
23/10 Belle Vue 47–31 Coventry

Leading final averages[edit]

Rider Team Average
Denmark Hans Nielsen Birmingham 10.82
United States Dennis Sigalos Ipswich 10.75
England Chris Morton Belle Vue 10.30
England Kenny Carter Halifax 10.28
Denmark Erik Gundersen Cradley Heath 10.23
England Michael Lee Poole 10.16
Australia Phil Crump Swindon 10.03
New Zealand Mitch Shirra Reading 10.02
Denmark Tommy Knudsen Coventry 9.87
Australia Billy Sanders Ipswich 9.70
Denmark Ole Olsen Coventry 9.56

Riders' Championship[edit]

Erik Gundersen won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 15 October.[6]

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total
1 Denmark Erik Gundersen 3 3 3 2 3 14
2 England Michael Lee 0 3 3 3 3 12
3 Denmark Hans Nielsen 2 3 3 2 2 12
4 England Kenny Carter 1 1 2 3 3 10
5 England John Louis 0 3 1 2 3 9
6 Australia Billy Sanders 3 1 1 3 1 9
7 New Zealand Mitch Shirra 2 2 0 3 1 8
8 Denmark Bo Petersen 3 2 1 0 2 8
9 Australia Phil Crump 3 0 2 2 1 8
10 Denmark Ole Olsen 1 2 2 0 2 7
11 Sweden Jan Andersson 2 1 2 1 1 7
12 England Paul Woods 2 2 0 1 0 5
13 New Zealand David Bargh 1 0 1 1 2 5
14 England Chris Morton 1 1 3 0 0 5
15 England Mark Courtney 0 0 0 1 0 1
16 Finland Kai Niemi 0 0 0 - - 0
17 England Martin Scarisbrick (res) 0 - - - - 0
18 England David Wild (res) 0 - - - - 0
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired

Midland Cup[edit]

Cradley Heath won the Midland Cup. The competition consisted of five teams.[7]

First round

Team one Team two Score
Leicester Swindon 38–40, 32–46

Semi final round

Team one Team two Score
Coventry Birmingham 48–30, 38–40
Cradley Swindon 60–18, 40–38

Final[edit]

First leg

Coventry
Seve Bastable 11
Rick Miller 7
Kevin Hawkins 6
Sam Nikolajsen 5
Gary Guglielmi 4
John Davis (guest) 4
Keith White 1		38–40Cradley Heath
Erik Gundersen 11
Simon Wigg 6
Alan Grahame 6
Phil Collins 6
Peter Ravn 5
Jan O Pedersen 3
Simon Cross 3

Second leg

Cradley Heath
Lance King 11
Erik Gundersen 10
Alan Grahame 9
Phil Collins 9
Peter Ravn 7
Simon Wigg 6
Jan O Pedersen 4		56–22Coventry
Jan Andersson (guest) 12
Rick Miller 4
Gary Guglielmi 3
Seve Bastable 1
Kevin Hawkins 1
Sam Nikolajsen 1
Keith White 0

Cradley won on aggregate 96–60

London Cup[edit]

Wimbledon won the London Cup but the competition consisted of just Wimbledon and Hackney.[8]

Results

Team Score Team
Wimbledon 50–28 Hackney
Hackney 43–35 Wimbledon

Riders & final averages[edit]

Belle Vue

Birmingham

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Eastbourne

Hackney

Halifax

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Leicester

Poole

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

Wimbledon

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ "1983 league tables". Speedway GB.
  3. ^ "1983". Cradley Speedway. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  4. ^ "1983 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  5. ^ a b "Coventry Bees 1983 season" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  6. ^ "Dane wins". Sunday Mirror. 16 October 1983. Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ "Cradley's treble glory!". Birmingham Mail. 25 October 1983. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ^ "1983 fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
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