1966 British League season

The 1966 British League season was the 32nd season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the second season known as the British League.[1] Halifax Dukes won the league and then secured the league and cup double.[2]

1966 British League season
LeagueBritish League
Season1966
ChampionsHalifax Dukes
No. of competitors19
Knockout CupHalifax Dukes
IndividualBarry Briggs
Highest averageBarry Briggs

Summary

The League expanded to 19, with a new team, the King's Lynn Stars.[3] Halifax Dukes won the league after 36 games and finished three points clear of Coventry Bees. The Halifax team success was due to the consistency of their riders, in particular Eric Boocock, Eric Boothroyd, Dave Younghusband and Tommy Roper who all scored heavily throughout the season. Halifax also completed the double winning the British League Knockout Cup. In they final they easily beat Wimbledon Dons.[4]

The four times world champion Barry Briggs topped the averages for Swindon Robins during the same season in which he sealed his fourth world title. The dangers of speedway were highlighted once again however when Welshman Ivor Hughes was killed during the league match riding for Cradley Heath Heathens against Sheffield Tigers on 20 August.[5]

Final table
M W D L F A Pts
1 Halifax Dukes 36 27 0 9 1574 1229 54
2 Coventry Bees 36 25 1 10 1548 1255 51
3 Swindon Robins 36 23 0 13 1553 1248 46
4 Wimbledon Dons 36 22 0 14 1485 1314 44
5 Newcastle Diamonds 36 20 0 16 1491.5 1304.5 40
6 Poole Pirates 36 19 2 15 1443 1356 40
7 West Ham Hammers 36 19 1 10 1499.5 1304.5 39
8 Glasgow Tigers 36 18 0 18 1395 1394 36
9 Wolverhampton Wolves 36 17 2 17 1340.5 1461.5 36
10 Exeter Falcons 36 17 1 18 1392.5 1403.5 35
11 Sheffield Tigers 36 17 0 19 1410 1394 34
12 Edinburgh Monarchs 35 17 0 18 1310.5 1413.5 34
13 Belle Vue Aces 36 16 0 20 1362 1443 32
14 Hackney Hawks 36 15 1 20 1347.5 1456.5 31
15 Oxford Cheetahs 36 14 2 20 1291 1510 30
16 King's Lynn Stars 36 15 0 21 1275 1524 30
17 Newport Wasps 36 12 1 23 1319 1486 25
18 Long Eaton Archers 36 12 1 23 1286 1516 25
19 Cradley Heath Heathens 35 10 0 25 1196 1506 20

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Barry Briggs New Zealand Swindon Robins 11.08
2 Nigel Boocock England Coventry Bees 10.67
3 Gote Nordin Sweden Newport Wasps 10.53
4 Eric Boocock England Halifax Dukes 10.41
5 Olle Nygren Sweden Wimbledon Dons 10.32
6 Colin Pratt England Hackney Hawks 9.93
7 Ken McKinlay Scotland West Ham Hammers 9.78
8 Mike Broadbank England Swindon Robins 9.77
9 Sverre Harrfeldt Norway West Ham Hammers 9.76
10 Trevor Hedge England Wimbledon Dons 9.64

Knockout Cup

Halifax Dukes won the cup and therefore secured the league and cup double.[6]

Main article: British League Knockout Cup 1966

Final leading average
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Barry Briggs New Zealand Swindon Robins 11.12
2 Nigel Boocock England Coventry Bees 10.54
3 Eric Boocock England Halifax Dukes 10.46
4 Göte Nordin Sweden Newport Wasps 10.44
5 Olle Nygren Sweden Wimbledon Dons 10.40
6 Colin Pratt England Hackney Hawks 10.00
7 Sverre Harrfeldt Norway West Ham Hammers 9.89
8 Ivan Mauger New Zealand Newcastle Diamonds 9.82
9 Ken McKinlay Scotland West Ham Hammers 9.67
10 Mike Broadbank England Swindon Robins 9.60
11 Trevor Hedge England Wimbledon Dons 9.39
12 Cyril Maidment England Belle Vue Aces 9.55
13 Arne Pander Denmark Oxford Cheetahs 9.53
14 Norman Hunter England West Ham Hammers 9.42
15 Terry Betts England King's Lynn Stars 9.41
16 Trevor Hedge England Wimbledon Dons 9.39
17 Eric Boothroyd England Halifax Dukes 9.29
18 Ron Mountford England Coventry Bees 9.29
19 Charlie Monk Australia Glasgow Tigers 9.27
20 Rick France England Coventry Bees 9.22

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Edinburgh

Exeter

Glasgow

  • Australia Charlie Monk 9.27
  • New Zealand Alf Wells 7.47
  • Australia Bluey Scott 7.06
  • England Willie Templeton 6.75
  • England Maurie Mattingley 6.35
  • Norway Jonny Faafeng 5.30
  • Scotland Bill McMillan 4.95
  • Scotland Jimmy McMillan 3.54

Hackney

  • England Colin Pratt 10.00
  • England Roy Trigg 8.63
  • England Gerry Jackson 6.81
  • England Les McGillivray 5.40
  • England Brian Davies 5.25
  • England Malcolm Brown 4.58
  • England Ernie Baker 3.44
  • England Sandy McGillivray 2.86
  • England John Poyser 2.00

Halifax

King's Lynn

  • England Terry Betts 9.41
  • Australia Peter Moore 9.18
  • England David Crane 6.20
  • England Alan Jay 4.90
  • England Stan Stevens 4.73
  • England Alan Smith 3.75
  • England Howdy Byford 3.55
  • England Ken Adams 2.61
  • England John Mills 2.61
  • England Cyril Crane 2.17

Long Eaton

Newcastle

  • New Zealand Ivan Mauger 9.82
  • England Peter Kelly 8.05
  • England Brian Brett 7.74
  • New Zealand Graham Coombes 6.37
  • England Mike Watkin 6.11
  • England Russ Dent 5.82
  • England Dave Gifford 4.57
  • England Alan Butterfield 5.20

Newport

  • Sweden Gote Nordin 10.44
  • Australia Jack Biggs 7.23
  • England Jon Erskine 6.03
  • England Tim Bungay 5.54
  • England Geoff Penniket 5.43
  • England Alby Golden 5.34
  • Wales Bob Hughes 4.75
  • England Ken Vale 3.68

Oxford

Poole

Sheffield

Swindon

West Ham

Wimbledon

Wolverhampton

See also

References
  1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  3. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  4. "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  5. "Ivor Hughes". Cradley Speedway. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  6. "HALIFAX DUKES". Greyhound Derby.com. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
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