1984 British League season
LeagueBritish League
ChampionsIpswich Witches
Knockout CupIpswich Witches
League CupCradley Heathens
IndividualChris Morton
PairsBelle Vue Aces
Midland CupCradley Heathens
Highest averageHans Nielsen
Division/s below1984 National League

The 1984 British League season was the 50th season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom and the 20th known as the British League.[1]

Team changes

Three teams dropped out and four teams replaced them. Midland's clubs Birmingham Brummies and Leicester Lions both dropped out and Hackney Hawks dropped to the National League, becoming the Hackney Kestrels after taking over from the Crayford Kestrels. The new teams to the league were Oxford Cheetahs, Newcastle Diamonds, Exeter Falcons (all from the National League) and the returning Wolverhampton Wolves who did not ride in 1982 and 1983.

Summary

Oxford Cheetahs were financed by David Hawkins of Northern Sports. They bought Hans Nielsen from Birmingham for a record £30,000, Simon Wigg for £25,000 from Cradley Heath, Marvyn Cox for £15,000 from Rye House, Melvyn Taylor for £12,000 from King's Lynn and Jens Rasmussen.[2] Defending champions Cradley Heath couldn't hold onto their title after losing Simon Wigg to Oxford and loaning Jan O. Pedersen to Sheffield Tigers because of their huge combined c.m.a. being over the limit.

The 50th season of British speedway saw a close fight between Ipswich Witches, Belle Vue Aces and Cradley Heathens. A resounding home win over Ipswich and a string of away wins meant Belle Vue looked favourites to win the league, but in October Ipswich took 3 points from Cradley home and away to end the midlanders hopes and clinched the title with a win at previously unbeaten at home Reading. They made it a cup double by beating Belle Vue home and away in the final with Belle Vue also missing out in the League Cup final to Cradley Heath. The Suffolk team had a great season despite losing their leading rider Dennis Sigalos who rode for Wolverhampton Wolves until breaking his leg early in the league season. Australian Billy Sanders remained one of the teams main scorers and he was supported by strong season scoring from American showman John Cook, Finn Kai Niemi and the English international pair of Jeremy Doncaster and Richard Knight.[3][4]

The league season saw some notable absentees. Kenny Carter made no league appearances after breaking his leg and aggravating the injury in attempting to qualify for the World Final. Remarkably he won the British Final despite being barely able to walk. Michael Lee was judged to have endangered the safety of other riders when storming off the track in the wrong direction and received a season long ban (reduced from 3 years after appeal) and made no league appearances for Poole

Draconian measures were brought in to exclude any rider pushing the tapes, as opposed to breaking them. The aforementioned Lee walked out of an England / USA test match after falling foul of the rule strictly applied by the referee. Erik Gundersen scored heavily in the league but his high average was hampered by a string of exclusions for tape infringements so much that he finished outside the top 10 rider averages. In the World Championship, the FIM didn't apply the same strictness and he was able to get several flying starts on his way to winning the World Title.

A scandal broke in September when the Sunday People newspaper published a story about race fixing and riders being paid to forfeit their place in the British Final. Riders named were Simon Wigg, Malcolm Simmons, John Louis, Mark Courtney, Kelly Moran and Alan Grahame. Specifically Simmons dropping out for Wigg in the British Final and rides by Wigg's opponents in that final came under scrutiny. Wigg was disqualified from the 1985 World Championship.

Final table

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Ipswich Witches 30 25 2 3 52
2 Belle Vue Aces 29 23 3 3 49
3 Cradley Heath Heathens 30 21 2 7 44
4 Reading Racers 30 17 1 12 35
5 Sheffield Tigers 30 15 0 15 30
6 King's Lynn Stars 30 15 0 15 30
7 Wimbledon Dons 30 15 0 15 30
8 Oxford Cheetahs 30 14 1 15 29
9 Swindon Robins 29 12 2 15 26
10 Wolverhampton Wolves 30 13 0 17 26
11 Eastbourne Eagles 30 12 1 17 25
12 Coventry Bees 30 11 2 17 24
13 Poole Pirates 30 10 1 19 21
14 Halifax Dukes 30 9 3 18 21
15 Exeter Falcons 30 8 2 20 18
16 Newcastle Diamonds 30 9 0 21 18

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Hans Nielsen Denmark Oxford Cheetahs 10.78
2 Chris Morton England Belle Vue Aces 10.72
3 Jan Andersson Sweden Reading Racers 10.36
4 Simon Wigg England Oxford Cheetahs 9.98
5 Phil Crump Australia Swindon Robins 9.96
6 Bobby Schwartz United States Eastbourne Eagles 9.82
7 Billy Sanders Australia Ipswich Witches 9.73
8 Peter Collins England Belle Vue Aces 9.68
9 Shawn Moran United States Sheffield Tigers 9.66
10 John Cook United States Ipswich Witches 9.36

British League Knockout Cup

The 1984 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 46th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Ipswich Witches were the winners.[5]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
15/07Eastbourne41-36Poole
30/06Swindon36-42Ipswich
29/06Exeter32-46Wolverhampton
28/06Wimbledon46-32Coventry
25/06Reading41-36Cradley Heath
18/06Wolverhampton45-33Exeter
16/06Coventry52-26Wimbledon
09/06Cradley Heath46-32Reading
09/06Kings Lynn49-29Newcastle
07/06Ipswich45-33Swindon
06/06Poole37-41Eastbourne
12/05Halifax37-41Sheffield
05/05Belle Vue53-25Oxford
26/04Sheffield49-29Halifax

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
16/09Eastbourne42-34Kings Lynn
06/09Sheffield40-38Wolverhampton
01/09Belle Vue50-28Coventry
27/08Coventry42-36Belle Vue
25/08Kings Lynn57-21Eastbourne
10/08Wolverhampton42-36Sheffield
26/07Ipswich46-32Cradley Heath
25/07Cradley Heath40-38Ipswich

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
14/10Belle Vue56-22Wolverhampton
05/10Wolverhampton40-38Belle Vue
27/09Ipswich57-21Kings Lynn
26/09Kings Lynn44-34Ipswich

Final

First leg

Belle Vue Aces
McKinna 9
Collins 8
Morton 6
Smith 6
Ross 2
Carr 2
Courtney 0		33 - 45Ipswich Witches
Sanders 12
Cook 10
Knight 8
Doncaster 7
Niemi 6
Flatman 2
Blackbird 0
[6]

Second leg

Ipswich Witches
Sanders 9
Doncaster 8
Cook 8
Blackbird 8
Niemi 6
Knight 5
Flatman 3		47 - 31Belle Vue Aces
Smith 9
Ross 9
Morton 6
McKinna 4
Carr 2
Collins 1
Courtney 0
[7]

Ipswich Witches were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 92-64.

League Cup

The League Cup was split into North and South sections. The two-legged final was won by Cradley Heath Heathens beating Belle Vue Aces in the final 80-76 on aggregate.

South Group

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Reading Racers 16 11 0 5 22
2 Wimbledon Dons 16 11 0 5 22
3 Ipswich Witches 16 10 1 5 21
4 Eastbourne Eagles 16 9 1 6 19
5 Oxford Cheetahs 16 9 0 7 18
6 Poole Pirates 16 8 0 8 16
7 King's Lynn Stars 16 7 0 9 14
8 Swindon Robins 16 5 1 10 11
9 Exeter Falcons 16 0 1 15 1

North Group

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Belle Vue Aces 12 10 0 2 20
2 Cradley Heathens 12 6 0 6 12
3 Newcastle Diamonds 12 6 0 6 12
4 Coventry Bees 12 5 0 7 10
5 Sheffield Tigers 12 5 0 7 10
6 Wolverhampton Wolves 12 5 0 7 10
7 Halifax Dukes 12 5 0 7 10

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
21/07Belle Vue55–23Wimbledon
04/08Cradley Heath52–26Reading
09/08Wimbledon38–40Belle Vue
13/08Reading42–36Cradley Heath

Final

Date Team one Score Team two
07/10Cradley Heath44–34Belle Vue
14/10Belle Vue42–36Cradley Heath

Riders' Championship

Chris Morton won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 20 October.[8]

Pos.RiderHeat ScoresTotal
1England Chris Morton3 1 3 3 313+3
2Denmark Hans Nielsen3 2 2 3 313+2
3Denmark Erik Gundersen3 3 2 3 213+1
4Denmark Peter Ravn2 3 3 2 212
5United States Shawn Moran2 2 2 2 311
6Denmark Tommy Knudsen0 3 3 3 110
7Australia Billy Sanders3 3 1 X 18
8England Malcolm Simmons2 2 1 1 17
9United States Sam Ermolenko0 1 3 0 26
10Sweden Jan Andersson2 2 0 0 26
11United States Bobby Schwartz0 0 0 2 35
12Australia Phil Crump1 1 1 2 X5
13England Neil Evitts0 1 2 1 04
14England Martin Scarisbrick1 0 1 1 14
15England John Louis1 0 0 - -1
16England Andy Campbell1 0 0 1 02
17England Lee Edwards (res)0 0 - - -0
18England Glenn Hornby (res)0 0 - - -0
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired

Pairs

The British League Pairs Championship was held at Monmore Green Stadium on 11 September and was won by Belle Vue.[9]

Semi finals

  • Belle Vue beat Coventry 7–2
  • Reading beat Wimbledon 7–2

Final

  • Belle Vue beat Reading 5–4

Midland Cup

Cradley Heath won the Midland Cup for the second consecutive year. The competition consisted of five teams and was sponsored by Marlboro.[10]

First round

Team one Team two Score
WolverhamptonOxford43–35, 45–33

Semi final round

Team one Team two Score
CoventrySwindon45–33, 33–45
CoventrySwindon46–32, 32–46
CoventrySwindon40–38, 34–43
CradleyWolverhampton40–38, 39–39

Final

First leg

Swindon
Phil Crump 12
Bo Petersen 10
Ari Koponen 6
Alf Busk 4
Shawn McConnell 3
Per Sorensen 2
Kevin Smith 0		37–40Cradley Heath
Lance King 8
Erik Gundersen 7
Phil Collins 7
Finn Jensen 7
Alan Grahame 6
Simon Cross 5
Steve Collins 0

Second leg

Cradley Heath
Erik Gundersen 10
Phil Collins 9
Lance King 8
Alan Grahame 6
Finn Jensen 6
Simon Cross 4
Steve Collins 0		43–35Swindon
Phil Crump 12
Bo Petersen 8
Per Sorensen 7
Ari Koponen 5
Alf Busk 1
Shawn McConnell 1
Kevin Smith 1

Cradley Heath won on aggregate 83–72

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Eastbourne

Exeter

Halifax

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Newcastle

Oxford

Poole

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

Wimbledon

Wolverhampton

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ↑ Bamford/Shailes, Robert/Glynn (2007). The Story of Oxford Speedway. Tempus Publishing Ltd. pp. 128–135. ISBN 978-0-7524-4161-0.
  3. ↑ "1984 league tables". Speedway GB. Archived from the original on 1 October 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  4. ↑ "Favourite-ever Ipswich Witches teams... FANS HAVE THEIR SAY". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  5. ↑ "1984 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  6. ↑ "Speedway". Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 28 October 1984. Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ↑ "Speedway". Daily Mirror. 29 October 1984. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ↑ "Morton takes title". Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 21 October 1984. Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ↑ "Morton Collins, perfect partners". Birmingham Mail. 12 September 1984. Retrieved 17 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ↑ "Cradley finish on high note". Birmingham Weekly Mercury. 28 October 1984. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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