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

Summary The White City Rebels made their debut as did 1975 National League champions Birmingham Brummies. 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.

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.

Final table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Ipswich Witches 36 27 1 8 552 Belle Vue Aces 36 23 2 11 483 Exeter Falcons 36 23 2 11 484 Coventry Bees 36 21 2 13 445 Swindon Robins 36 19 4 13 426 Reading Racers 36 19 3 14 417 Hackney Hawks 36 20 0 16 408 Newport 36 19 1 16 399 Cradley United 36 19 1 16 3910 Poole Pirates 36 18 1 17 3711 Wolverhampton Wolves 36 18 1 17 3712 Hull Vikings 36 18 0 18 3613 White City Rebels 36 16 3 17 3514 King's Lynn Stars 36 16 3 17 3515 Halifax Dukes 36 14 1 21 2916 Wimbledon Dons 36 12 3 21 2717 Sheffield Tigers 36 13 1 22 2718 Birmingham Brummies 36 7 0 29 1419 Leicester Lions 36 5 1 30 11M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points

Fixtures and results

Top ten riders (league averages) Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 John Louis Ipswich 11.10 2= Ivan Mauger Exeter 11.00 2= Ole Olsen Coventry 11.00 4 Peter Collins Belle Vue 10.98 5 Phil Crump Newport 10.68 6 Dave Jessup Reading 10.42 7 Malcolm Simmons Poole 10.30 8 Dave Morton Hackney 10.28 9 John Boulger Cradley 9.93 10 Martin Ashby 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.

First round Date Team one Score Team two04/05 Leicester 39–39 Halifax29/04 Wimbledon 48–30 Birmingham26/04 Birmingham 38–40 Wimbledon10/04 Coventry 48–30 Wolverhampton09/04 Wolverhampton 38–39 Coventry27/03 Halifax 41–37 Leicester Second round Date Team one Score Team two31/07 Belle Vue 49–29 Wimbledon01/07 Coventry 46–32 White City27/06 Halifax 46–32 Hull24/06 Wimbledon 35–43 Belle Vue21/06 Exeter 46–32 Newport12/06 Cradley Heath 34–44 Ipswich10/06 Ipswich 39–38 Cradley Heath09/06 Hull 44.5-33.5 Halifax04/06 Hackney 40–38 Reading04/06 Newport 47–31 Exeter03/06 Sheffield 36–42 Kings Lynn02/06 Poole 42–36 Swindon31/05 Reading 37–41 Hackney29/05 Swindon 54–24 Poole26/05 White City 49–29 Coventry22/05 Kings Lynn 42–36 Sheffield Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two18/09 Halifax 47–31 Hackney03/09 Hackney 41–37 Halifax26/08 Ipswich 45–33 Swindon23/08 Belle Vue 45–33 Newport18/08 White City 38–40 Kings Lynn14/08 Kings Lynn 44–34 White City13/08 Newport 40–38 Belle Vue24/07 Swindon 44–34 Ipswich Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two03/10 Halifax 42–35 Kings Lynn02/10 Belle Vue 41–37 Ipswich30/09 Ipswich 43–35 Belle Vue29/09 Kings Lynn 46–32 Halifax

Final

First leg

Second leg

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.

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total1 Ole Olsen 3 3 3 3 3 152 Peter Collins 3 2 3 3 3 143 John Louis 3 3 3 2 2 134 Martin Ashby 3 2 3 2 2 12 5 Dave Jessup 2 3 2 3 1 11 6 Phil Crump 0 3 1 1 3 87 Barry Briggs 0 2 2 2 0 6 8 Ila Teromaa 1 2 3 EF - 6 9 Chris Pusey EF 0 2 1 3 610 Doug Wyer 1 2 1 0 1 511 Gordon Kennett 1 1 1 EF 2 5 12 Ivan Mauger 2 1 EF 2 - 513 Dave Morton 2 EF 0 1 1 4 14 Mick Hines (res) 1 2 0 - - 3 15 Terry Betts 1 0 1 0 EF 2 16 Malcolm Simmons 2 F R - - 217 Jim McMillan 0 1 0 0 0 118 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.

Pos TeamPts Riders1 Ipswich Witches 22 John Louis 12, Billy Sanders 102 Coventry Bees 21 Ole Olsen 14, Mitch Shirra 72 Belle Vue Aces 21 Peter Collins 15, Chris Morton 62 Cradley United 21 John Boulger 11, Bruce Cribb 105 Poole Pirates 18 Malcolm Simmons 15, Eric Broadbelt 36 Hackney Hawks 12 Dave Morton 6, Zenon Plech 67 Sheffield Tigers 8 Doug Wyer 5, Reg Wilson 3

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

Spring Gold Cup

East Group Team PL W D L PtsIpswich 8 7 0 1 14 Reading 8 5 0 3 10 White City 8 4 0 4 8 Hackney 8 3 0 5 6 King's Lynn 8 1 0 7 2

West Group Team PL W D L Pts Wimbledon 6 4 0 2 8 Poole 6 4 0 2 8 Newport 6 3 0 3 6Exeter 6 1 0 5 2

East Group

West Group

Final Team one Team two ScoreWimbledonIpswich40–38, 62–42

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

First round Team one Team two ScoreSwindonLeicester 49–29, 44–34CradleyCoventry35–43, 28–50

Semi final round Team one Team two ScoreWolverhamptonSwindon44–34, 36–42 Birmingham Coventry31–47, 28–50

Final

First leg

Second leg

Coventry won on aggregate 87–67

Northern Trophy M W D L Pts 1Belle Vue 6 5 1 0 11 2 Sheffield 6 3 0 3 6 3 Halifax 6 2 2 2 6 4 Hull 6 0 1 5 0

Riders and final averages Belle Vue

11.06 9.53 7.56 6.34 5.75 5.37 5.18 4.41 3.83

Birmingham

8.00 6.71 6.69 6.07 5.23 4.99 4.72 4.37 1.78 1.00

Coventry

11.05 8.26 6.81 6.67 6.53 4.64 4.60 2.10

Cradley Heath

9.79 9.16 7.72 5.71 5.21 5.20 3.16

Exeter

10.86 9.24 6.99 6.45 5.16 4.86 3.54 3.48 2.23

Hackney

10.18 7.92 6.67 6.33 5.51 5.37 4.95 4.80 4.18

Halifax

8.74 7.69 7.49 5.98 5.87 4.95 4.46 4.00 3.29 3.14

Hull

8.94 8.86 8.75 7.55 7.50 6.17 6.07 5.88 5.69

Ipswich

11.08 9.44 8.37 6.21 5.87 5.71 4.21 3.87 3.70

King's Lynn

9.71 9.43 7.83 5.68 5.40 4.56 3.85 3.50 2.80

Leicester

9.28 7.89 7.86 5.08 4.53 3.86 3.08 2.37 0.76

Newport

10.67 9.70 7.41 6.15 5.00 4.90 4.71 4.62 4.17 3.92

Poole

10.17 7.14 6.67 6.16 5.05 5.04 4.32

Reading

10.35 9.33 6.75 6.42 5.37 5.16 3.67 2.32

Sheffield

9.62 8.51 5.80 5.36 5.23 3.72 3.21 3.08 3.03

Swindon

9.88 9.22 7.62 6.46 6.38 6.02 5.52 3.89 2.00

White City

9.69 7.76 7.07 6.67 6.00 5.34 5.05 4.85 3.41

Wimbledon

10.25 (only 8 matches) 7.32 7.27 7.24 4.14 4.10 4.05 3.91 2.13

Wolverhampton

8.97 7.58 7.55 4.95 4.89 3.84 3.22

See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)

References