1970 British League season

The 1970 British League season was the 36th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the sixth season known as the British League.[1][2]

1970 British League season
LeagueBritish League
ChampionsBelle Vue Aces
No. of competitors19
Knockout CupWimbledon Dons
IndividualBarry Briggs
Highest averageIvan Mauger
Division/s belowBritish League (Div 2)

Summary

Wembley Lions under the promotion of Trevor Redmond and Bernard Cottrel entered the British league having bought the licence - and inherited the riders - from the Coatbridge Monarchs.[3] It was the first time since 1956 that Wembley would compete in the league.[4]

Belle Vue Aces secured their first British League title. The Manchester team were once again led by the brilliant Ivan Mauger who would secure a third consecutive world champion title before the end of the season. He topped the averages with 11.18 as the team finished ten points ahead of their nearest rivals Wimbledon Dons. The Dons found some consolation when winning their third consecutive British League Knockout Cup.[5]

Final table
Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Belle Vue Aces 36 27 2 7 56
2 Wimbledon Dons 36 22 2 12 46
3 Coventry Bees 36 22 1 13 45
4 Leicester Lions 36 21 0 15 42
5 Poole Pirates 36 20 0 16 40
6 Halifax Dukes 36 19 1 16 39
7 Sheffield Tigers 36 18 3 15 39
8 Glasgow Tigers 36 18 1 17 37
9 Wolverhampton Wolves 36 16 2 18 34
10 Exeter Falcons 36 16 1 19 34
11 Hackney Hawks 36 15 2 19 33
12 King's Lynn Stars 36 16 0 20 32
13 Oxford Cheetahs 36 16 0 20 32
14 Wembley Lions 36 15 2 19 32
15 Cradley Heath Heathens 36 15 1 20 31
16 Swindon Robins 36 14 2 20 30
17 Newcastle Diamonds 36 15 0 21 30
18 West Ham Hammers 36 14 2 20 30
19 Newport Wasps 36 12 0 24 24

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Ivan Mauger New Zealand Belle Vue Aces 11.23
2 Anders Michanek Sweden Newcastle Diamonds 10.91
3 Jim Airey Australia Sheffield Tigers 10.82
4 Ray Wilson England Leicester Lions 10.77
5 Nigel Boocock England Coventry Bees 10.67
6 Eric Boocock England Halifax Dukes 10.59
7 Barry Briggs New Zealand Swindon Robins 10.56
8 Ole Olsen Denmark Wolverhampton Wolves 10.27
9 Jim McMillan Scotland Glasgow Tigers 10.26
10 Martin Ashby England Exeter Falcons 10.14


British League Knockout Cup

The 1970 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 32nd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Wimbledon Dons were the winners for the third consecutive year.[6] It was the first time that the competition was sponsored by the Speedway Star.

First round
Date Team one Score Team two
23/04Wimbledon44-34Hackney
21/04Exeter51-27King's Lynn
21/04West Ham29-49Belle Vue

Second round
Date Team one Score Team two
06/06Halifax43-35Coventry
06/06Swindon44-34Wolverhampton
05/06Newport35-43Leicester
01/06Newcastle41-37Wembley
28/05Oxford38-40Poole
28/05Sheffield44-34Glasgow
28/05Wimbledon49-29Cradley Heath
23/05Belle Vue49-29Exeter
07/05Romford48-30Reading

Quarter-finals
Date Team one Score Team two
25/07Belle Vue56-22Poole
22/07Swindon46-32Leicester
02/07Sheffield41-37Halifax
25/06Wimbledon46-32Newcastle

Semi-finals
Date Team one Score Team two
24/09Wimbledon44-34Swindon
23/09Belle Vue40-38Sheffield

Final

First leg

Wimbledon Dons
Trevor Hedge 12
Ronnie Moore 11
Cyril Maidment 6
Jim Tebby 6
Reg Luckhurst 5
Bob Dugard 4
Peter Murray 4		46 - 31Belle Vue Aces
Tommy Roper 10
Ivan Mauger 8
Chris Pusey 6
Sören Sjösten 4
Ken Eyre 2
Steve Waplington 1
Mike Hiftle 0
[7]

Second leg

Belle Vue Aces
Ivan Mauger 12
Sören Sjösten 10
Tommy Roper 6
Mike Hiftle 6
Dave Hemus 4
Chris Pusey 3
Ken Eyre 3		44 - 34Wimbledon Dons
Ronnie Moore 13
Trevor Hedge 10
Reg Luckhurst 5
Cyril Maidment 2
Jim Tebby 2
Bob Dugard 1
Peter Murray 1
[7]

Wimbledon Dons were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 80-75.

Final leading averages
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Ivan Mauger New Zealand Belle Vue Aces 11.18
2 Anders Michanek Sweden Newcastle Diamonds 10.88
3 Jim Airey Australia Sheffield Tigers 10.86
4 Ray Wilson England Leicester Lions 10.80
5 Nigel Boocock England Coventry Bees 10.66
6 Eric Boocock England Halifax Dukes 10.54
7 Barry Briggs New Zealand Swindon Robins 10.53
8 Jim McMillan Scotland Glasgow Tigers 10.27
9 Ole Olsen Denmark Wolverhampton Wolves 10.25
10 Martin Ashby England Exeter Falcons 10.09
11 Trevor Hedge England Wimbledon Dons 9.97
12 Ronnie Moore New Zealand Wimbledon Dons 9.95
13 Bob Kilby England Swindon Robins 9.68
14 Sören Sjösten Sweden Belle Vue Aces 9.66
15 Bengt Jansson Sweden Hackney Hawks 9.49
16 Bruce Cribb New Zealand Exeter Falcons 9.47
17 Olle Nygren Sweden West Ham Hammers 9.36
18 John Boulger Australia Leicester Lions 9.34
19 Bernt Persson Sweden Cradley Heathens 9.29
20 Terry Betts England King's Lynn Stars 922

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Exeter

Glasgow

Hackney

Halifax

King's Lynn

Leicester

Newcastle

Newport

Oxford

Poole

Sheffield

Swindon

  • New Zealand Barry Briggs 10.53
  • England Bob Kilby 9.68
  • England Clive Hitch 5.58
  • England Barry Duke 5.26
  • England Pete Munday 4.57
  • England Mike Keen 4.34
  • England John Bishop 3.45

Wembley

West Ham

Wimbledon

Wolverhampton

See also

References
  1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  3. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  4. Jacobs, Norman (2001). Speedway in London. ISBN 0-7524-2221-9
  5. "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  6. "1970 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  7. "Season 1970" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
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