The 1993 British League season was the 59th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 29th known as the British League.
Summary Oxford Cheetahs dropped out of the first division resulting in their three time World Champion Hans Nielsen moving to Coventry Bees and Martin Dugard joining Eastbourne Eagles. Swindon Robins also dropped down to division 2 with their leading rider Leigh Adams going to the Arena Essex. Swindon's other leading riders also moved with Jimmy Nilsen switching to Bradford, Mitch Shirra to Ipswich and Kelly Moran retired.
Belle Vue Aces won their first title since 1982. The Manchester team relied on a group of consistent riders, with no rider exceeding a 9-point average but five riders ranging from 8.75 to 6.72. The team consisted of World Under-21 champion Joe Screen, Australian Jason Lyons, Americans Bobby Ott and Shawn Moran and Dane Frede Schött. The Championship was the closest in British League history with Belle Vue finishing on the same points as Wolverhampton Wolves and taking the title on heat points difference. It all came down to the last match when Belle Vue visited Wolves and pulled off a 54–53 victory. Wolves who were clear at the top of the table earlier in the season suffered a series of injuries and were missing four riders towards the end of the season.
Final table Pos Team PL W D L BP Pts1 Belle Vue Aces 40 24 1 15 14 632 Wolverhampton Wolves 40 23 0 17 17 633 Eastbourne Eagles 40 23 1 16 14 614 Arena Essex Hammers 40 21 1 18 10 535 Coventry Bees 40 18 3 19 13 526 Reading Racers 40 20 1 19 10 517 Bradford Dukes 40 19 3 18 7 488 Ipswich Witches 40 17 0 23 8 429 King's Lynn Stars 40 15 4 21 6 4010 Poole Pirates 40 17 0 23 6 4011 Cradley Heath Heathens 40 16 0 24 5 37M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points
Fixtures and results A Fixtures
B Fixtures
Speedway Star Knockout Cup The 1993 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 55th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Bradford Dukes were the winners for a third consecutive year.
First round Date Team one Score Team two08/07 Ipswich 55-53 Wolverhampton24/05 Wolverhampton 64-43 Ipswich22/05 Cradley Heath 59-49 Belle Vue21/05 Arena Essex 72-36 Kings Lynn21/05 Belle Vue 58-48 Cradley Heath08/05 Kings Lynn 54-54 Arena Essex16/07 Belle Vue 59-47 Cradley Heath30/06 Cradley Heath 59-49 Belle Vue Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two20/08 Belle Vue 60-47 Wolverhampton11/08 Wolverhampton 57-51 Belle Vue31/07 Coventry 64-44 Poole14/07 Poole 55-53 Coventry05/07 Reading 63-45 Arena Essex04/07 Bradford 66-42 Eastbourne27/06 Eastbourne 63-45 Bradford18/06 Arena Essex 67-41 Reading Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two10/10 Belle Vue 61-46 Arena Essex21/09 Arena Essex 67-41 Belle Vue18/09 Bradford 61-47 Coventry14/08 Coventry 54-54 Bradford
Final
First leg
Second leg
Bradford Dukes were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 111-105.
Fours Reading Racers won the fours championship final (sponsored by H.E.A.T) and held at the East of England Arena on 25 July.
Final Pos TeamPts Riders1 Reading27 Jonsson 8, Mullett 8, Castagna 7, Olsson 42 Wolves 25 Ermolenko 8, Karlsson P3 Belle Vue 11 Screen 64 Arena Essex 9 Larsen 3, Ravn 3
Riders' Championship Per Jonsson won the British League Riders' Championship. It was due to be run at Abbey Stadium in early October but was called off twice due to wet weather before finally taking place on 31 October.
Pos. Rider Total1 Per Jonsson 142 Henka Gustafsson 13+33 Chris Louis 13+24 Leigh Adams 115 Peter Karlsson 10 6 Hans Nielsen 107 Tony Rickardsson 88 Joe Screen 79 Craig Boyce 610 Simon Cross 611 Gary Allan 612 Jason Crump 513 Kelvin Tatum 5 14 Jason Lyons 315 David Norris 316 Glenn Cunningham (res) 217 Simon Wigg 118 Steve Camden (res) 0 ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired
Leading averages Rider Team Average Sam Ermolenko Wolverhampton11.12 Per JonssonReading10.34 Hans Nielsen Coventry10.05 Greg HancockCradley Heath9.85 Ronnie CorreyWolverhampton9.62 Leigh AdamsArena Essex9.49 Henrik GustafssonKings Lynn9.27 Tony RickardssonIpswich9.01 Billy HamillCradley Heath8.99 Martin DugardEastbourne8.98
Riders & final averages Arena Essex
9.49 8.42 8.34 7.16 7.12 6.84 6.07 5.78 4.31 3.16 1.23
Belle Vue
8.75 8.17 7.90 7.58 6.72 5.77 5.63 5.17 4.84 4.18 3.69 3.45
Bradford
8.89 8.86 7.60 7.21 6.75 5.34 4.80 4.76 4.32 3.46 0.67
Coventry
10.05 7.76 7.71 7.47 6.75 5.42 4.07 3.27 3.20 3.14 2.50
Cradley Heath
9.85 8.99 22 6.15 5.95 5.84 5.20 4.64 4.56 3.22
Eastbourne
8.98 8.02 7.33 7.04 6.91 6.53 5.73 5.48 3.80 3.04 1.52
Ipswich
9.01 8.36 6.85 6.62 6.00 5.98 5.91 4.99 4.63 4.32 3.51 1.57
King's Lynn
9.27 7.96 6.90 6.16 5.99 5.16 4.98 4.70 3.11 3.10 3.03
Poole
7.40 6.97 6.77 6.76 6.31 5.63 5.14 4.72 4.37 3.46
Reading
10.34 7.88 7.39 6.83 6.10 5.66 4.83 4.37 3.19
Wolverhampton
11.12 9.62 8.10 6.70 6.33 6.04 5.98 4.62 4.14 3.90 3.63 1.82
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References