1989 British League season

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1989 British League season
LeagueSunbrite British League
ChampionsOxford Cheetahs
Knockout CupCradley Heathens
IndividualShawn Moran
Highest averageHans Nielsen
Division/s below1989 National League

The 1989 British League season (also known as the Sunbrite British League for sponsorship reasons) was the 55th season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom and the 25th known as the British League.[1]

Summary[edit]

The Coventry Bees were the defending champions from 1988. The league was once again run over a 15-heat formula, with 7 riders per team.[2]

Oxford Cheetahs bounced back to winning ways claiming their third title in five years. The team was led by their double world champion Hans Nielsen who by the end of the season would be world champion for the third time and top the averages for an incredible seventh season running. He was backed up by Simon Wigg, Martin Dugard, Andy Grahame, Marvyn Cox and Troy Butler, all of whom averaged from about 6 to 8 points for the season. The defending champions Coventry could only finish 5th after losing Tommy Knudsen for the season. Cradley Heath won thir 8th Knockout Cup in 11 years (it would also be their last).[3]

Final table[edit]

Pos Team PL W D L BP Pts
1 Oxford Cheetahs 32 22 1 9 13 58
2 Wolverhampton Wolves 32 19 2 11 12 52
3 Cradley Heathens 32 19 3 10 10 51
4 Belle Vue Aces 32 19 2 11 10 50
5 Coventry Bees 32 15 3 14 8 41
6 Swindon Robins 32 12 1 19 8 33
7 Reading Racers 32 13 1 18 5 32
8 Bradford Dukes 32 9 2 21 3 23
9 King's Lynn Stars 32 8 1 23 3 20

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

British League Knockout Cup[edit]

The 1989 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 51st edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Cradley Heath Heathens were the winners for the fourth successive year if including the tied 1986 final.[4][5][6]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
21/04 Belle Vue 57-33 King's Lynn
08/04 King's Lynn 38-52 Belle Vue

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
26/06 Reading 51-39 Belle Vue
10/06 Cradley Heath 50-40 Oxford
09/06 Belle Vue 45.5-44.5 Reading
09/06 Oxford 45-45 Cradley Heath
13/05 Coventry 45-45 Bradford
06/05 Bradford 46-44 Coventry
22/04 Swindon 45-45 Wolverhampton
10/04 Wolverhampton 49-41 Swindon

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
26/08 Bradford 57-33 Wolverhampton
19/08 Cradley Heath 42-48 Reading
07/08 Wolverhampton 60-30 Bradford
31/07 Reading 40-50 Cradley Heath

Final

First leg

Wolverhampton Wolves
Ronnie Correy 9
Robert Pfetzing 8
Andy Phillips 7
Graham Jones 7
Jan Stæchmann 3
Brian Karger (guest) 3
Neil Collins 3		41 - 49Cradley Heath
Kelvin Tatum (guest) 13
Greg Hancock 11
Jimmy Nilsen (guest) 10
Gert Handberg 6
Alan Grahame 6
Simon Cross 2
John Bostin 1
[7]

Second leg

Cradley Heath
Shawn Moran (guest) 14
Simon Cross 12
Kelvin Tatum (guest) 7
Gert Handberg 5
Greg Hancock 5
Alan Grahame 3
John Bostin 0		46 - 44Wolverhampton Wolves
Jimmy Nilsen (guest) 10
Graham Jones 9
Andy Phillips 6
Robert Pfetzing 6
Ronnie Correy 5
Neil Collins 4
Jan Stæchmann 4
[7]

Cradley Heath were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 95-85.

Riders' Championship[edit]

Shawn Moran won the British League Riders' Championship. It was the held at Belle Vue Stadium on 1 October.[8]

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total
1 United States Shawn Moran 3 3 3 3 3 15
2 Denmark Hans Nielsen 3 3 3 3 2 14
3 Denmark Brian Karger 2 3 2 2 3 12
4 England Martin Dugard 1 2 1 2 3 9
5 United States Ronnie Correy 3 2 3 0 0 8
6 Sweden Jimmy Nilsen 0 1 3 1 3 8
7 England Kelvin Tatum 2 0 1 3 2 8
8 England Alan Grahame 0 2 2 2 2 8
9 England Richard Knight 2 0 2 2 1 7
10 United States Rick Miller 3 1 1 1 1 7
11 England Simon Wigg 1 1 2 3 0 7
12 United States Lance King 1 3 0 0 1 5
13 England Jeremy Doncaster 1 2 0 1 1 5
14 Denmark Peter Ravn 2 0 0 1 2 5
15 England Paul Thorp 0 1 1 0 0 2
16 England Glenn Hornby (res) 0 0 0
17 England Scott Smith (res) 0 0 0
18 New Zealand Mitch Shirra 0 r(inj) 0
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired

Leading final averages[edit]

Rider Club Average
Denmark Hans Nielsen Oxford 10.91
Denmark Jan O. Pedersen Cradley 10.22
Denmark Erik Gundersen Cradley 9.97
United States Sam Ermolenko Wolverhampton 9.85
United States Shawn Moran Belle Vue 9.68
England Kelvin Tatum Coventry 9.49
England Simon Cross Cradley 9.13
England Jeremy Doncaster Reading 8.61
Sweden Jimmy Nilsen Swindon 8.41
United States Kelly Moran Belle Vue 8.29

Riders & final averages[edit]

Belle Vue

Bradford

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Kings Lynn

Oxford

Reading

Swindon

Wolverhampton


See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ "1990 league tables". Speedway GB.
  3. ^ "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  4. ^ "1989 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  5. ^ "Heathens scent cup glory". Sandwell Evening Mail. 17 October 1989. Retrieved 1 October 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ^ "Speedway". Sandwell Evening Mail. 27 October 1989. Retrieved 1 October 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ a b "Cradley Speedway 1989 season". Cradley Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  8. ^ "Sad day for Doncaster and Shirra". Reading Evening Post. 2 October 1989. Retrieved 5 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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