The 1968 British League Division Two season was the inaugural season of a second tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.
Summary The formation of a new division 2 was a success and attracted five new clubs to league speedway, the Nelson Admirals from Nelson in Lancashire, the Crayford Highwaymen from east London, the Canterbury Crusaders from Kent, the Berwick Bandits from Scotland and the Reading Racers. Additionally three other clubs, Middlesbrough, Plymouth and Rayleigh returned to league action having previously competed in the old defunct Provincial League and Weymouth returned after a 13-year absence.
Belle Vue Aces, members of the first division, fielded a reserve side known as Belle Vue Colts and won the first league title. Colt's riders Taffy Owen, Ken Eyre, Eric Broadbelt and John Woodcock all scored heavily and ended with impressive averages. Canterbury in their first season of existence won the division 2 Knockout Cup beating another new team Reading in the final.
Final table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Belle Vue Colts 18 14 0 4 282 Nelson Admirals 18 11 0 7 223 Middlesbrough Teessiders 18 10 1 7 214 Plymouth Devils 18 10 0 8 205 Rayleigh Rockets 18 9 1 8 196 Crayford Highwaymen 18 8 1 9 177 Canterbury Crusaders 18 8 1 9 178 Reading Racers 18 6 2 10 149 Weymouth Eagles 18 5 2 11 1210 Berwick Bandits 18 5 0 13 10
Fixtures and results
Top five riders (league averages) Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1= Mick Handley Crayford 10.22 1= Mike Cake Plymouth 10.22 3 Chris Bass Plymouth 9.91 4 Dave Schofield Nelson 9.82 5 Taffy Owen Belle Vue 9.59
British League Division Two Knockout Cup The 1968 British League Division Two Knockout Cup was the first edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams and coincided with the newly formed league.
Previously the tier two and tier three teams had competed in the National Trophy until 1964, and although they held their own finals during some years it only served as qualification for the main competition. Canterbury Crusaders were the winners of the competition.
First round Date Team one Score Team two26/08 Reading 52-44 Rayleigh Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two10/08 Canterbury 56-37 Crayford22/08 Middlesbrough 53-41 Nelson26/08 Reading 52-44 Plymouth24/08 Berwick 45-51 Belle Vue Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two30/09 Reading 56-40 Belle Vue07/09 Canterbury 64-31 Middlesbrough
Final
First leg
Second leg
Canterbury were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 112–80.
Riders' Championship Graham Plant aged just 19, won the Rider's Championship. The final was held at Hackney Wick Stadium on 27 September. Several riders were involved in a crash, which resulted in Chris Bailey (broken wrist) and Barry Crowson (suspected fractured thigh bone) going to hospital. However, Crowson after receiving an all-clear rode for his parent club West Ham Hammers the following evening.
Pos. Rider Pts Total1 Graham Plant 3 3 2 2 3132 Ken Eyre 2 3 3 3 1 123 Graeme Smith 1 2 3 2 3 114 Mick Handley ex 3 2 3 3 115 Murray Burt 3 f 3 2 3 116 Allan Brown ex 2 3 3 2 10 7 Mike Cake 3 1 1 3 2 108 Tony Lomas 2 2 0 1 2 79 John Poyser 2 r 1 2 1 610 John Woodcock f 2 2 ef 1 511 Dave Schofield 1 1 1 1 1 5 12 Martyn Piddock 0 0 2 1 2 5 13 Barry Crowson 2 3 f 5 14 Chris Bailey 3 f f 3 15 Barry Duke (res) 1 1 ef 216 Roy Williams 1 1 0 0 0 217 Taffy Owen 0 1 0 0 0 1 18 Mike Vernam (res) 0 0 0 0 f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure
Leading final averages Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Mick Handley Crayford Highwaymen 10.48 2 Mike Cake Plymouth 10.22 3 Chris Bass Plymouth 10.15 4 Peter Murray Canterbury 10.05 5 Allan Brown Middlesbrough 9.63
Riders & final averages Belle Vue Colts
Taffy Owen 9.35 Ken Eyre 8.94 Eric Broadbelt 8.15 John Woodcock 8.15 Chris Bailey 7.74 Ken Moss 6.33 Peter Thompson 5.93 Brian Bentley 5.49
Berwick
Bill McMillan 9.12 Roy Williams 7.85 Brian Whaley 7.69 Brian Black 6.81 Mark Hall 6.59 Lex Milloy 5.89 Grieves Davidson 4.53 Alex Nichol 3.51 Tom Blackwood 3.37 Colin Robertson 2.71
Canterbury
Peter Murray 10.05 Barry Crowson 8.44 Ken Vale 8.00 Martyn Piddock 7.96 John Hibben 6.85 Tyburn Gallows 4.91 Pat Flanagan 4.61 Chris Raines 4.57 Frank Wendon 4.30 Barry Lee 3.15
Crayford
Mick Handley 10.48 Tony Childs 7.68 Derek Timms 6.54 Colin Clark 6.05 Dai Evans 5.88 Geoff Ambrose 5.87 Stuart Riley 5.12 Tony Armstrong 4.31
Middlesbrough
Allan Brown 9.63 Graham Plant 8.54 Graham Edmonds 8.31 Tom Leadbitter 6.82 Terry Lee 6.78 Paul O'Neal 6.07 Pete Reading 4.75 Alan Palmer 3.25 John Spilsbury 2.09
Nelson
Dave Schofield 9.54 Alan Paynter 9.10 Murray Burt 8.76 Gary Peterson 8.14 Terry Shearer 6.76 Dave Beacon 5.79 Jack Winstanley 5.51 Paul Sharples 4.15
Plymouth
Mike Cake 10.22 Chris Bass 10.15 Phil Woodcock 6.67 Tony George 6.13 Dave Whittaker 6.08 Keith Marks 5.69 Frank Payne 5.07 Chris Roynon 4.75 Ian Gills 3.23
Rayleigh
Graeme Smith 7.55 Mike Gardner 7.49 Dennis Mannion 7.44 Dingle Brown 6.48 Laurie Etheridge 6.20 Geoff Maloney 6.06 Terry Stone 6.03 Colin Tucker 3.09
Reading
John Poyser 9.29 Ian Champion 6.91 Joe Weichlbauer 6.88 Ted Spittles 6.68 Stuart Wallace 6.20 Dene Davies 5.39 Ian Bottomley 4.91 Phil Pratt 4.59
Weymouth
Tony Lomas 9.39 Mike Vernam 7.94 Barry Duke 7.71 Chris Yeatman 6.14 Mick Steel 5.08 Roy Carter 4.58 Adrian Degan 3.05 Phil Arnold 2.72
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References