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1977 British League season

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1977 British League season
LeagueBritish League
No. of competitors19
ChampionsWhite City Rebels
Knockout CupKing's Lynn Stars
IndividualOle Olsen
PairsIpswich Witches
Midland CupCoventry Bees
London CupWhite City Rebels
Highest averageMichael Lee
Division/s below1977 National League

The 1977 Gulf British League season was the 43rd season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom[1] and the 13th season known as the British League.[2]

Summary

[edit]

Newport had dropped down to the National League but their riders transferred to the Bristol Bulldogs so the league retained 19 teams. Cradley Heath reverted to their nickname of Heathens after four years of being called United.[3] The league was sponsored by Gulf Oil for a third season.[4]

White City Rebels won the title in only their second season of existence. The London team caused a surprise with their consistent form throughout the season with heavy scoring of Gordon Kennett leading the team. The success came from a group of five other riders hitting around a seven average to support Kennett. The five were Englishmen Mike Sampson, Steve Weatherley and Trevor Geer, Pole Marek Cieślak and Finn Kai Niemi.[5] Wolverhampton Wolves signed 18 year-old Danish rider Hans Nielsen.

Kevin Holden of Poole Pirates had started the season in great form for his new club, following his move from Exeter Falcons. He was hitting over a 9 point average but sadly was killed during the home match against Reading on 27 April. After sliding into the fence he ruptured a blood vessel of the heart.[6]

Final table

[edit]
Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 White City Rebels 36 27 1 8 55
2 Exeter Falcons 36 25 3 8 53
3 Reading Racers 36 25 3 8 53
4 Ipswich Witches 36 25 1 10 51
5 Belle Vue Aces 36 19 3 14 41
6 King's Lynn Stars 36 19 2 15 40
7 Cradley Heathens 36 20 0 16 40
8 Coventry Bees 36 19 1 16 39
9 Wimbledon Dons 36 17 2 17 36
10 Poole Pirates 36 17 2 17 36
11 Swindon Robins 36 17 1 18 35
12 Bristol Bulldogs 36 17 0 19 34
13 Sheffield Tigers 36 16 2 18 34
14 Hull Vikings 36 15 0 21 30
15 Wolverhampton Wolves 36 14 0 22 28
16 Hackney Hawks 36 13 1 22 27
17 Halifax Dukes 36 12 0 24 24
18 Birmingham Brummies 36 8 0 28 16
19 Leicester Lions 36 6 0 30 12

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)

[edit]
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Michael Lee England King's Lynn 10.64
2 Ivan Mauger New Zealand Exeter 10.62
3 Peter Collins England Belle Vue 10.49
4 Gordon Kennett England White City 10.41
5 Ole Olsen Denmark Coventry 10.40
6 Billy Sanders Australia Ipswich 10.39
7 Anders Michanek Sweden Cradley 10.35
8 Dave Jessup England Reading 10.27
9 Malcolm Simmons England Poole 10.22
10 John Davis England Reading 9.84

British League Knockout Cup

[edit]

The 1977 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 39th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. King's Lynn Stars were the winners.[7]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
18/05 Poole 41-37 Reading
25/04 Exeter 50-28 Swindon
25/04 Reading 43-35 Poole
15/04 Wolverhampton 51-27 Leicester
12/04 Leicester 40-38 Wolverhampton

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
23/07 Halifax 38-40 Reading
22/07 Wolverhampton 41-37 Kings Lynn
28/06 White City 51-27 Birmingham
20/06 Birmingham 34-44 White City
18/06 Coventry 57-21 Exeter
18/06 Kings Lynn 55-23 Wolverhampton
17/06 Bristol 56-22 Wimbledon
16/06 Wimbledon 48-30 Bristol
13/06 Exeter 38-40 Coventry
09/06 Sheffield 46-32 Hackney
08/06 Hull 46-32 Cradley Heath
11/06 Cradley Heath 42-36 Hull
03/06 Hackney 49-29 Sheffield
02/06 Ipswich 38-40 Belle Vue
30/05 Reading 53-25 Halifax

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
22/08 Reading 51-27 Belle Vue
08/08 White City 50-28 Coventry
06/08 Kings Lynn 42-36 Hackney
05/08 Bristol 52-26 Hull
03/08 Coventry 43-35 White City
03/08 Hull 49-29 Bristol
29/07 Hackney 34-44 Kings Lynn

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
14/10 Bristol 42-36 Reading
10/10 Reading 47-31 Bristol
24/09 Kings Lynn 44-34 White City
21/09 White City 42-34 Kings Lynn

Final

[edit]

First leg

Reading Racers
John Davis 10
Dave Jessup 8
Hans Wassermann 7
Bengt Jansson 6
Doug Underwood 4
Bob Humphreys 3
Ian Gledhill 2		40 - 38King's Lynn Stars
Michael Lee 15
Terry Betts 12
Carl Glover 5
Ian Turner 5
Richard Hellsen 1
Billy Spiers 0
David Gagen 0
[8]

Second leg

King's Lynn Stars
Terry Betts 10
Michael Lee 7
Richard Hellsen 7
David Gagen 6
Ian Turner 6
Billy Spiers 3
Carl Glover 2		41 - 37Reading Racers
Dave Jessup 15
John Davis 8
Bengt Jansson 6
Doug Underwood 4
Bob Humphreys 3
Hans Wassermann 1
Ian Gledhill 0
[8]

King's Lynn Stars were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 79-77.

Riders' Championship

[edit]

Ole Olsen won the British League Riders' Championship for the third time, it was held at Hyde Road on 15 October and sponsored by Leyland Cars.[9]

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total
1 Denmark Ole Olsen 3 3 3 3 3 15
2 England Peter Collins 3 3 3 2 3 14
3 England Michael Lee 3 2 2 3 3 13
4 New Zealand Ivan Mauger 3 2 2 2 3 12
5 Finland Ila Teromaa 2 3 1 3 2 11
6 Poland Edward Jancarz 2 1 3 2 1 9
7 Scotland Jim McMillan 1 3 1 1 2 8
8 England Doug Wyer 1 0 2 2 2 7
9 England Bob Kilby 0 2 3 1 1 7
10 England Dave Jessup 2 0 2 1 0 5
11 Australia Phil Herne 1 1 0 3 0 5
12 England Chris Pusey 0 2 1 0 1 4
13 England Gordon Kennett 1 1 1 0 1 4
14 England Ray Wilson 0 EF 0 1 2 3
15 Australia Billy Sanders EF 1 0 0 0 1
16 Wales Graham Drury 2 0 0 0 0 2
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded

Pairs

[edit]

The British League Pairs Championship was held at Foxhall Stadium on 29 September and was won by Ipswich Witches for the second consecutive year.[10]

Pos Team Pts Riders
1 Ipswich Witches 26 Billy Sanders 14, John Louis 12
2 King's Lynn Stars 23 Michael Lee 18, David Gagen 5
3 White City Rebels 20 Gordon Kennett 13, Steve Weatherley 7
4 Wolverhampton Wolves 17 Jim McMillan 10, Finn Thomsen 7
5 Reading Racers 17 Dave Jessup 10, John Davis 7
6 Belle Vue Aces 12 Alan Wilkinson 8, Chris Morton 4
7 Sheffield Tigers 11 Craig Pendlebury 6, Doug Wyer 5

Final leading averages

[edit]
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Michael Lee England King's Lynn 10.59
2 Ole Olsen Denmark Coventry 10.52
3 Ivan Mauger New Zealand Exeter 10.50
4 Peter Collins England Belle Vue 10.46
5 Gordon Kennett England White City 10.41
6 Anders Michanek Sweden Cradley 10.35
7 Dave Jessup England Reading 10.32
8 Malcolm Simmons England Poole 10.27
9 Billy Sanders Australia Ipswich 10.18
10 John Davis England Reading 9.80

Midland Cup

[edit]

Coventry won the Midland Cup for the second consecutive year. The competition consisted of six teams and was sponsored by the Trustee Savings Bank.[11]

First round

Team one Team two Score
Birmingham Swindon 36–42, 26–52
Leicester Cradley 38–40, 31–47

Semi final round

Team one Team two Score
Coventry Swindon 54–24, 48–29
Cradley Wolverhampton 51–27, 38–40

Final

[edit]

First leg

Coventry
Mitch Shirra 11
Ole Olsen 10
Tommy Nilsson 8
Mick Bell 6
Alan Molyneux 5
Frank Smith 4
Alf Busk 3		47–31Cradley Heath
Bruce Cribb 11
Bob Valentine 8
Steve Bastable 5
Larry Ross (guest) 4
Arthur Price 2
Dave Perks 1
Anders Michanek r/r

Second leg

Cradley Heath
Bruce Cribb 12
Steve Bastable 6
Bob Valentine 5
Les Collins (guest) 5
Arthur Price 4
Dave Perks 4
Bernt Persson r/r		36–42Coventry
Mitch Shirra 13
Ole Olsen 12
Alan Molyneux 9
Tommy Nilsson 6
Mick Bell 1
Alf Busk 1
Frank Smith 0

Coventry won on aggregate 89–67

London Cup

[edit]

White City Rebels won the London Cup. Two of their fixtures doubled up as League and Knockout Cup matches.[12]

Pos Team P W D L F A Pts
1 White City 4 3 0 1 161 150 6
2 Wimbledon 4 2 1 1 170 141 5
3 Hackney 4 0 1 3 136 176 1

Results

Team Score Team
White City 42–36 Wimbledon
White City 46–32 Hackney
Wimbledon 51–27 Hackney
Wimbledon 44–33 White City
Hackney 38–40 White City
Hackney 39–39 Wimbledon

Riders & final averages

[edit]

Belle Vue

Birmingham

Bristol

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Exeter

Hackney

Halifax

Hull

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Leicester

Poole

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

White City

Wimbledon

Wolverhampton

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  2. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  3. ^ "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  4. ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  5. ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  6. ^ "IT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY.....1977". Poole Speedway. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  7. ^ "1977 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  8. ^ a b "Season 1977" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  9. ^ "Immaculate Olsen roars to title". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 17 October 1977. Retrieved 2 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ^ "Sport in Brief". Birmingham Daily Post. 30 September 1977. Retrieved 17 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. ^ "Super Shirra leads Bees in Cup romp". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 30 September 1977. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. ^ "1977 fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
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