1976 British League season
LeagueBritish League
ChampionsIpswich Witches
No. of competitors19
Knockout CupIpswich Witches
IndividualOle Olsen
PairsIpswich Witches
Midland CupCoventry Bees
Highest averageJohn Louis
Division/s below1976 National League

The 1976 Gulf British League season was the 42nd season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom[1] and the 12th season known as the British League.[2]

Summary

The White City Rebels made their debut as did 1975 National League champions Birmingham Brummies.[3] Oxford Cheetahs dropped down a division with White City inheriting both their riders and their nickname. The league was sponsored by Gulf Oil for a second season.

Ipswich Witches won their second consecutive title. The Witches team was once again headed by John Louis and Billy Sanders but this time Tony Davey also scored well with an average of 8.37, resulting in a comfortable league title success for the Suffolk team. The team then went on to claim the double on 28 October by winning the Knockout Cup.[4]

Wimbledon Dons had the worst possible start to a season when their leading rider and the man touted to be a world champion Tommy Jansson died during a 1976 Individual Speedway World Championship meeting in Stockholm, on 20 May.[5]

Final table

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Ipswich Witches 36 27 1 8 55
2 Belle Vue Aces 36 23 2 11 48
3 Exeter Falcons 36 23 2 11 48
4 Coventry Bees 36 21 2 13 44
5 Swindon Robins 36 19 4 13 42
6 Reading Racers 36 19 3 14 41
7 Hackney Hawks 36 20 0 16 40
8 Newport 36 19 1 16 39
9 Cradley United 36 19 1 16 39
10 Poole Pirates 36 18 1 17 37
11 Wolverhampton Wolves 36 18 1 17 37
12 Hull Vikings 36 18 0 18 36
13 White City Rebels 36 16 3 17 35
14 King's Lynn Stars 36 16 3 17 35
15 Halifax Dukes 36 14 1 21 29
16 Wimbledon Dons 36 12 3 21 27
17 Sheffield Tigers 36 13 1 22 27
18 Birmingham Brummies 36 7 0 29 14
19 Leicester Lions 36 5 1 30 11

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 John Louis England Ipswich 11.10
2= Ivan Mauger New Zealand Exeter 11.00
2= Ole Olsen Denmark Coventry 11.00
4 Peter Collins England Belle Vue 10.98
5 Phil Crump Australia Newport 10.68
6 Dave Jessup England Reading 10.42
7 Malcolm Simmons England Poole 10.30
8 Dave Morton England Hackney 10.28
9 John Boulger Australia Cradley 9.93
10 Martin Ashby England Swindon 9.89

British League Knockout Cup

The 1976 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 38th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Ipswich Witches were the winners.[6]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
04/05Leicester39-39Halifax
29/04Wimbledon48-30Birmingham
26/04Birmingham38-40Wimbledon
10/04Coventry48-30Wolverhampton
09/04Wolverhampton38-39Coventry
27/03Halifax41-37Leicester

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
31/07Belle Vue49-29Wimbledon
01/07Coventry46-32White City
27/06Halifax46-32Hull
24/06Wimbledon35-43Belle Vue
21/06Exeter46-32Newport
12/06Cradley Heath34-44Ipswich
10/06Ipswich39-38Cradley Heath
09/06Hull44.5-33.5Halifax
04/06Hackney40-38Reading
04/06Newport47-31Exeter
03/06Sheffield36-42Kings Lynn
02/06Poole42-36Swindon
31/05Reading37-41Hackney
29/05Swindon54-24Poole
26/05White City49-29Coventry
22/05Kings Lynn42-36Sheffield

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
18/09Halifax47-31Hackney
03/09Hackney41-37Halifax
26/08Ipswich45-33Swindon
23/08Belle Vue45-33Newport
18/08White City38-40Kings Lynn
14/08Kings Lynn44-34White City
13/08Newport40-38Belle Vue
24/07Swindon44-34Ipswich

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
03/10Halifax42-35Kings Lynn
02/10Belle Vue41-37Ipswich
30/09Ipswich43-35Belle Vue
29/09Kings Lynn46-32Halifax

Final

First leg

King's Lynn Stars
Michael Lee12
Ian Turner 11
Terry Betts 7
David Gagen 3
Ray Bales 3
Richard Hellsen 1
Adi Funk 0		36 - 41Ipswich Witches
John Louis 11
Dave Gooderham 8
Tony Davey 7
Billy Sanders 6
Mike Lanham 4
Ted Howgego 3
Kevin Jolly 2
[7]

Second leg

Ipswich Witches
John Louis 12
Billy Sanders 10
Tony Davey 8
Dave Gooderham 7
Mike Lanham 7
Ted Howgego 3
Kevin Jolly 3		50 - 27King's Lynn Stars
Terry Betts 10
Michael Lee 9
Ian Turner 5
Richard Hellsen 2
Billy Spiers 1
Pete Smith 0
David Gagen 0
[7]

Ipswich Witches were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 91-63.

Riders' Championship

Ole Olsen won the British League Riders' Championship for the second time, it was held at Hyde Road on 16 October and sponsored by Leyland Cars.[8]

Pos.RiderHeat ScoresTotal
1Denmark Ole Olsen3 3 3 3 315
2England Peter Collins3 2 3 3 314
3England John Louis3 3 3 2 213
4England Martin Ashby3 2 3 2 212
5England Dave Jessup2 3 2 3 111
6Australia Phil Crump0 3 1 1 38
7New Zealand Barry Briggs0 2 2 2 06
8Finland Ila Teromaa1 2 3 EF -6
9England Chris PuseyEF 0 2 1 36
10England Doug Wyer1 2 1 0 15
11England Gordon Kennett1 1 1 EF 25
12New Zealand Ivan Mauger2 1 EF 2 -5
13England Dave Morton2 EF 0 1 14
14England Mick Hines (res)1 2 0 - -3
15England Terry Betts1 0 1 0 EF2
16England Malcolm Simmons2 F R - -2
17Scotland Jim McMillan0 1 0 0 01
18Australia John Boulger (res)F - - - -0
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded

Pairs

The British League Pairs Championship was held at Foxhall Stadium on 19 October and was won by Ipswich Witches.[9]

PosTeamPtsRiders
1Ipswich Witches22John Louis 12, Billy Sanders 10
2Coventry Bees21Ole Olsen 14, Mitch Shirra 7
2Belle Vue Aces21Peter Collins 15, Chris Morton 6
2Cradley United21John Boulger 11, Bruce Cribb 10
5Poole Pirates18Malcolm Simmons 15, Eric Broadbelt 3
6Hackney Hawks12Dave Morton 6, Zenon Plech 6
7Sheffield Tigers8Doug Wyer 5, Reg Wilson 3

Final leading averages

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 John Louis England Ipswich 11.08
2 Peter Collins England Belle Vue 11.06
3 Ole Olsen Denmark Coventry 11.05
4 Ivan Mauger New Zealand Exeter 10.86
5 Phil Crump Australia Newport 10.67
6 Dave Jessup England Reading 10.35
7 Dave Morton England Hackney 10.18
8 Malcolm Simmons England Poole 10.17
9 Martin Ashby England Swindon 9.88
10 John Boulger Australia Cradley 9.79

Midland Cup

Coventry won the Midland Cup. The competition consisted of six teams.[10]

First round

Team one Team two Score
SwindonLeicester49–29, 44–34
CradleyCoventry35–43, 28–50

Semi final round

Team one Team two Score
WolverhamptonSwindon44–34, 36–42
BirminghamCoventry31–47, 28–50

Final

First leg

Coventry
Jiri Stancl 17
Mitch Shirra 11
Ole Olsen 9
Alan Molyneux 7
Frank Smith 4
John Haarhy 2
Nigel Boocock r/r		50–28Wolverhampton
Jim McMillan 10
Bruce Cribb (guest) 7
George Hunter 6
John Jackson 3
Bob Valentine (guest) 2
Leif Berlin 0
Tony Gillias (guest) 0

Second leg

Wolverhampton
Rob Hollingworth 11
Bruce Cribb (guest) 7
Jim McMillan 6
George Hunter 6
John Jackson 5
Steve Bastable (guest) 2
Leif Berlin 2		39–37Coventry
Jiri Stancl 12
Ole Olsen 12
Mitch Shirra 7
Frank Smith 4
Alan Molyneux 2
John Haarhy 0
Nigel Boocock r/r

Coventry won on aggregate 87–67

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Birmingham

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Exeter

Hackney

Halifax

Hull

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Leicester

Newport

Poole

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

White City

Wimbledon

Wolverhampton

See also

References

  1. ↑ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  2. ↑ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  3. ↑ "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  4. ↑ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  5. ↑ "Legend Who Died Young". Retro Speedway. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  6. ↑ "1976 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  7. 1 2 "Season 1976" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  8. ↑ "Olsen races to title". Sunday Mirror. 17 October 1976. Retrieved 2 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ↑ "Speedway". Daily Mirror. 20 October 1976. Retrieved 16 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ↑ "Muddy Marvel, Ole rubs it in". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 23 October 1976. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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