1997 Premier League speedway season
LeaguePremier League
ChampionsReading Racers
Knockout CupEdinburgh Monarchs
Young ShieldExeter Falcons
IndividualPeter Carr
PairsLong Eaton Invaders
FoursLong Eaton Invaders
Highest averageDave Mullett
Division/s above1997 Elite League
Division/s below1997 Conference League

The 1997 Premier League speedway season was the second division of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom and governed by the Speedway Control Board (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA).

Restructure

A restructure of British speedway took place, with the Premier League becoming the second division and a new Elite League becoming the top division. During the two previous seasons (1995 and 1996) there had been only one division of British speedway also called the Premier League, this confused matters because the Premier League was now only a second tier competition.

Season summary

The Premier League was consisted of 14 teams for the 1997 season, running on a standard format with no play-offs. The Young Shield was introduced as an end of season cup competition for the top eight teams in the league standings.[1][2]

Reading Racers won the title.[3]

Final table

Pos M W D L F A Pts Bon Tot
1 Reading Racers 26 22 0 4 1323 1011 44 13 57
2 Long Eaton Invaders 26 18 1 7 1227 1107 37 11 48
3 Edinburgh Monarchs 26 17 1 8 1235 1102 38 8 43
4 Newcastle Diamonds 26 15 0 11 1201 1134 30 8 38
5 Exeter Falcons 26 14 0 12 1213 1125 28 6 34
6 Glasgow Tigers 26 12 2 10 1158 1179 26 6 32
7 Arena Essex Hammers 26 12 0 14 1157 1179 24 7 31
8 Isle of Wight Islanders* 26 12 0 14 1149 1184 24 7 31
9 Hull Vikings 26 13 0 13 1134 1195 26 5 31
10 Sheffield Tigers 26 12 0 14 1116 1219 24 5 29
11 Oxford Cheetahs 26 9 0 17 1116 1219 18 6 24
12 Stoke Potters 26 8 2 16 1111 1122 18 3 21
13 Berwick Bandits 26 7 1 18 1105 1223 15 4 19
14 Newport Wasps 26 7 1 18 1095 1241 15 2 17

Premier League Knockout Cup

The 1997 Premier League Knockout Cup was the 30th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams and the first with the name Premier League Knockout Cup. Edinburgh Monarchs were the winners of the competition.[5]

During 1995 and 1996 the British League merged and ran as one newly named Premier League, which therefore meant that the second tier of speedway in the United Kingdom was the 1995 Academy League season, followed one year later by the 1996 Speedway Conference League season.

First round

Northern Group

Pos Team Played W D L Pts
1Hull Vikings1171315
2Edinburgh Monarchs1261513
3Newcastle Diamonds1261513
4Sheffield Tigers1260612
5Berwick Bandits1251611
6Stoke Potters1150610
7Glasgow Tigers124088

Southern Group

Pos Team Played W D L Pts
1Oxford Cheetahs1063115
2Reading Racers1071215
3Long Eaton Invaders1062214
4Arena Essex Hammers1042410
5Exeter Falcons102084
6Skegness Braves101092

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
04/07Edinburgh51-39Reading
21/07Reading48-42Edinburgh
29/06Oxford51-39Hull
09/07Hull46-43Oxford

Final

First leg

Oxford Cheetahs
Neville Tatum 13
Philippe Bergé 11
Lawrence Hare 11
Mikael Teurnberg 6
Jeremy Luckhurst 2
Anthony Barlow 0
Darren Andrews R/R		43 – 47Edinburgh Monarchs
Peter Carr 12
Robert Eriksson 10
Kenny McKinna 10
Paul Gould 7
Blair Scott 6
Barry Campbell 2
Neil Hewitt 0
[6][7]

Second leg

Edinburgh Monarchs
Kenny McKinna 13
Peter Carr 12
Robert Eriksson 11
Blair Scott 5
Paul Gould 3
Barry Campbell 3
Neil Hewitt R/R		47 – 43Oxford Cheetahs
Philippe Bergé 15
Neville Tatum 12
Lawrence Hare 8
Mikael Teurnberg 4
William Beveridge 4
Anthony Barlow 0
Jeremy Luckhurst R/R
[6][7]

Edinburgh were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 94–86.

Riders' Championship

Peter Carr won the Riders' Championship. The final was held on 13 September at Brandon Stadium.[8]

Pos.RiderPtsTotalSFFinal
1England Peter Carr2 2 0 2 3933
2England Glenn Cunningham0 2 3 3 21022
3Sweden Robert Eriksson2 2 3 2 r921
4Australia Brett Woodifield3 1 3 1 31130
5England Dave Mullett1 3 3 3 2121
6England Neville Tatum3 3 2 3 1121
7England Leigh Lanham3 3 fex 2 190
8England Stuart Robson1 1 1 3 390
9Scotland Scott Lamb2 1 2 1 39
10England Carl Stonehewer3 1 1 1 28
11England Les Collins1 3 1 0 27
12England Scott Smith0 0 2 2 15
13England Neil Collins2 0 2 0 04
14England Troy Pratt0 2 1 0 03
15England Paul Bentley1 0 0 1 13
16Sweden Anders Henriksson0 fex - - -0
17England David Housley (res)- - 0 - 00
18England Nick Simmons (res)- - - 0 -0
  • f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure t=touched tapes

Pairs

The Premier League Pairs Championship was held at Oxford Stadium on 26 September. The event was won by Long Eaton Invaders.[9][10]

Pos Team Pts Riders
1 Long Eaton33Stonehewer 18, Dixon 15
2 Reading31Richardson 19, Mullett 12
3 Exeter28Coles 21, Lanham 7
4 Oxford26Hare 20, Tatum 6
5 Sheffield26Kessler 18, Smith 8
6 Glasgow23Powell 13, Collins 10
7 Edinburgh22Carr P 17, McKinna 5

Fours

Long Eaton Invaders won the Premier League Four-Team Championship, which was held on 3 August 1997, at the East of England Arena.[11][12]

Final
Pos Team Pts Riders
1Long Eaton28Lee 7, Stonehewer 7, Werner 7, Dixon 6, Elkins 1
2Edinburgh23Carr P 12, Eriksson 6, McKinna K 4, Gould 1
3Oxford17Hare 6, Teurnberg 4, Berge 4, Tatum 3
4Berwick9Lamb 4, Little 2, Pingel 1, Kosonen 1, Meldrum 1

Final leading averages

Rider Team Average
England Dave MullettReading10.47
England Carl StonehewerLong Eaton10.39
England Glenn CunninghamReading9.92
England Peter CarrEdinburgh9.88
England Martin DixonLong Eaton9.81
Scotland Kenny McKinnaEdinburgh9.73
Germany Robbie KesslerSheffield9.76
England Alan GrahameHull9.75
Sweden Robert ErikssonEdinburgh9.46
England Les CollinsStoke9.44

Riders & final averages

Arena Essex

  • Troy Pratt 8.65
  • Jan Pedersen 8.42
  • Colin White 7.22
  • Tommy Palmer 7.08
  • David Mason 4.07
  • John Wainwright 4.00
  • Paul Lydes-Uings 2.44

Berwick

Edinburgh

Exeter

Glasgow

  • Neil Collins 9.02
  • Mick Powell 8.32
  • Stewart McDonald 7.47
  • Sean Courtney 6.91
  • Will Beveridge 4.44
  • Grant MacDonald 3.28

Hull

Isle of Wight/Skegness

Long Eaton

Newcastle

Newport

Oxford

Reading

Sheffield

Stoke

Jon Armstrong 2.00

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Wheelie Good Trophy for Champs". Reading Evening Post. 30 June 1997. Retrieved 10 December 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. ↑ "History Archive". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  3. ↑ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - MODERN ERA (1991-PRESENT)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  4. ↑ "Is this the end for the Braves?". Boston Target. 25 June 1997. Retrieved 14 July 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ↑ "1997 Premier League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  6. 1 2 "1997 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  7. 1 2 "Edinburgh results 1997" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  8. ↑ "Champions". Reading Evening Post. 15 September 1997. Retrieved 24 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ↑ "1997 season results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  10. ↑ "Speedway Premier League Pairs 26/09/1997". YouTube. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  11. ↑ "Monarchs are right out of luck". Daily Record. 4 August 1997. Retrieved 6 July 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. ↑ "1997 Long Eaton results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
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