The 1984 British League season was the 50th season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom and the 20th known as the British League.
Team changes Three teams dropped out and four teams replaced them. Midland's clubs Birmingham Brummies and Leicester Lions both dropped out and Hackney Hawks dropped to the National League, becoming the Hackney Kestrels after taking over from the Crayford Kestrels. The new teams to the league were Oxford Cheetahs, Newcastle Diamonds, Exeter Falcons (all from the National League) and the returning Wolverhampton Wolves who did not ride in 1982 and 1983. Exeter took over the Leicester licence.
Summary Oxford Cheetahs returned to the league, financed by David Hawkins of Northern Sports, and spent heavily over the off-season. They bought Hans Nielsen from Birmingham for a record £30,000, Simon Wigg for £25,000 from Cradley Heath, Marvyn Cox for £15,000 from Rye House, Melvyn Taylor for £12,000 from King's Lynn and Jens Rasmussen. Defending champions Cradley Heath couldn't hold onto their title after losing Simon Wigg to Oxford and loaning Jan O. Pedersen to Sheffield Tigers because of their huge combined c.m.a. being over the limit.
The 50th season of British speedway saw a close fight between Ipswich Witches, Belle Vue Aces and Cradley Heathens. A resounding home win over Ipswich and a string of away wins meant Belle Vue looked favourites to win the league, but in October Ipswich took 3 points from Cradley home and away to end the midlanders hopes and clinched the title with a win at previously unbeaten at home Reading. They made it a cup double by beating Belle Vue home and away in the final with Belle Vue also missing out in the League Cup final to Cradley Heath. The Suffolk team had a great season despite losing their leading rider Dennis Sigalos who rode for Wolverhampton Wolves until breaking his leg early in the league season. Australian Billy Sanders remained one of the team's main scorers and he was supported by strong season scoring from American showman John Cook, Finn Kai Niemi and the English international pair of Jeremy Doncaster and Richard Knight.
The league season saw some notable absentees. Kenny Carter made no league appearances after breaking his leg and aggravating the injury in attempting to qualify for the World Final. Remarkably he won the British Final despite being barely able to walk. Michael Lee was judged to have endangered the safety of other riders when storming off the track in the wrong direction and received a season long ban (reduced from 3 years after appeal) and made no league appearances for Poole
Draconian measures were brought in to exclude any rider pushing the tapes, as opposed to breaking them. The aforementioned Lee walked out of an England / USA test match after falling foul of the rule strictly applied by the referee. Erik Gundersen scored heavily in the league but his high average was hampered by a string of exclusions for tape infringements so much that he finished outside the top 10 rider averages. In the World Championship, the FIM didn't apply the same strictness and he went on to win his first individual World Title.
A scandal broke in September when the Sunday People newspaper published a story about race fixing and riders being paid to forfeit their place in the British Final. Riders named were Simon Wigg, Malcolm Simmons, John Louis, Mark Courtney, Kelly Moran and Alan Grahame. Specifically Simmons dropping out for Wigg in the British Final and rides by Wigg's opponents in that final came under scrutiny. Wigg was disqualified from the 1985 World Championship.
Final table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Ipswich Witches 30 25 2 3 522 Belle Vue Aces 29 23 3 3 493 Cradley Heath Heathens 30 21 2 7 444 Reading Racers 30 17 1 12 355 Sheffield Tigers 30 15 0 15 306 King's Lynn Stars 30 15 0 15 307 Wimbledon Dons 30 15 0 15 308 Oxford Cheetahs 30 14 1 15 299 Swindon Robins 29 12 2 15 2610 Wolverhampton Wolves 30 13 0 17 2611 Eastbourne Eagles 30 12 1 17 2512 Coventry Bees 30 11 2 17 2413 Poole Pirates 30 10 1 19 2114 Halifax Dukes 30 9 3 18 2115 Exeter Falcons 30 8 2 20 1816 Newcastle Diamonds 30 9 0 21 18M = 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 Hans Nielsen Oxford 10.78 2 Chris Morton Belle Vue 10.72 3 Jan Andersson Reading 10.36 4 Simon Wigg Oxford 9.98 5 Phil Crump Swindon 9.96 6 Bobby Schwartz Eastbourne 9.82 7 Billy Sanders Ipswich 9.73 8 Peter Collins Belle Vue 9.68 9 Shawn Moran Sheffield 9.66 10 John Cook Ipswich 9.36
British League Knockout Cup The 1984 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 46th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Ipswich Witches were the winners.
First round Date Team one Score Team two15/07 Eastbourne 41-36 Poole30/06 Swindon 36-42 Ipswich29/06 Exeter 32-46 Wolverhampton28/06 Wimbledon 46-32 Coventry25/06 Reading 41-36 Cradley Heath18/06 Wolverhampton 45-33 Exeter16/06 Coventry 52-26 Wimbledon09/06 Cradley Heath 46-32 Reading09/06 Kings Lynn 49-29 Newcastle07/06 Ipswich 45-33 Swindon06/06 Poole 37-41 Eastbourne12/05 Halifax 37-41 Sheffield05/05 Belle Vue 53-25 Oxford26/04 Sheffield 49-29 Halifax Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two16/09 Eastbourne 42-34 Kings Lynn06/09 Sheffield 40-38 Wolverhampton01/09 Belle Vue 50-28 Coventry27/08Coventry 42-36 Belle Vue25/08 Kings Lynn 57-21 Eastbourne10/08 Wolverhampton 42-36 Sheffield26/07 Ipswich 46-32 Cradley Heath25/07 Cradley Heath 40-38 Ipswich Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two14/10 Belle Vue 56-22 Wolverhampton05/10 Wolverhampton 40-38 Belle Vue27/09 Ipswich 57-21 Kings Lynn26/09 Kings Lynn 44-34 Ipswich
Final
First leg
Second leg
Ipswich Witches were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 92-64.
League Cup The League Cup was split into North and South sections. The two-legged final was won by Cradley Heath Heathens beating Belle Vue Aces in the final 80–76 on aggregate.
North Group Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Belle Vue Aces 12 10 0 2 202 Cradley Heathens 12 6 0 6 123 Newcastle Diamonds 12 6 0 6 124 Coventry Bees 12 5 0 7 105 Sheffield Tigers 12 5 0 7 106 Wolverhampton Wolves 12 5 0 7 107 Halifax Dukes 12 5 0 7 10
South Group Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Reading Racers 16 11 0 5 222 Wimbledon Dons 16 11 0 5 223 Ipswich Witches 16 10 1 5 214 Eastbourne Eagles 16 9 1 6 195 Oxford Cheetahs 16 9 0 7 186 Poole Pirates 16 8 0 8 167 King's Lynn Stars 16 7 0 9 148 Swindon Robins 16 5 1 10 119 Exeter Falcons 16 0 1 15 1
North Group
South Group
Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two21/07 Belle Vue 55–23 Wimbledon04/08 Cradley Heath 52–26 Reading09/08 Wimbledon 38–40 Belle Vue13/08 Reading 42–36 Cradley Heath
Final
First leg
Second leg
Cradley won on aggregate 80-76.
Riders' Championship Chris Morton won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 20 October.
Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total1 Chris Morton 3 1 3 3 3 13+32 Hans Nielsen 3 2 2 3 3 13+23 Erik Gundersen 3 3 2 3 2 13+14 Peter Ravn 2 3 3 2 2 12 5 Shawn Moran 2 2 2 2 3 11 6 Tommy Knudsen 0 3 3 3 1 10 7 Billy Sanders 3 3 1 X 1 88 Malcolm Simmons 2 2 1 1 1 79 Sam Ermolenko 0 1 3 0 2 6 10 Jan Andersson 2 2 0 0 2 611 Bobby Schwartz 0 0 0 2 3 5 12 Phil Crump 1 1 1 2 X 5 13 Neil Evitts 0 1 2 1 0 4 14 Martin Scarisbrick 1 0 1 1 1 4 15 John Louis 1 0 0 - - 1 16 Andy Campbell 1 0 0 1 0 217 Lee Edwards (res)0 0 - - - 0 18 Glenn Hornby (res) 0 0 - - - 0 ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired
Pairs The British League Pairs Championship was held at Monmore Green Stadium on 11 September and was won by Belle Vue.
Group APosTeamPtsScorers1Belle Vue17Morton & Collins2King's Lynn14Louis & Jessup3Exeter14Campbell & Robinson4Ipswich8Sanders & Cook
Group BPosTeamPtsScorers1Reading18Shirra & Hunt2Halifax14Evitts & Baker3Cradley13Gundersen & Collins4Poole9Ermolenko & Middleditch
Group CPosTeamPtsScorers1Coventry17Knudsen & Guglielmi2Eastbourne15Schwartz & Woods3Oxford14Wigg & Cox4Newcastle8Owen J & Ingels
Group DPosTeamPtsScorers1Wimbledon16Simmons & Davis2Sheffield16Moran S & Collins N3Wolves14Ravn & Grahame4Swindon8Crump & Petersen
Semi finals Belle Vue beat Coventry 7–2 Reading beat Wimbledon 7–2
Final Belle Vue beat Reading 5–4
Midland Cup Cradley Heath won the Midland Cup for the second consecutive year. The competition consisted of five teams and was sponsored by Marlboro.
First round Team one Team two ScoreWolverhampton Oxford 43–35, 45–33
Semi final round Team one Team two ScoreCoventrySwindon 45–33, 33–45 CoventrySwindon 46–32, 32–46 CoventrySwindon 40–38, 34–43 CradleyWolverhampton 40–38, 39–39
Final
First leg
Second leg
Cradley Heath won on aggregate 83–72
Riders & final averages Belle Vue
10.31 9.10 7.75 7.25 7.14 6.66 6.39 2.00
Coventry
7.87 7.79 6.89 6.64 6.18 5.31 5.19 2.62
Cradley Heath
9.54 8.65 8.40 7.87 7.27 5.08 1.96 1.49
Eastbourne
9.42 8.07 8.05 6.76 6.01 4.91 4.37 4.18 4.00 3.81
Exeter
8.08 6.90 6.01 5.29 5.27 5.05 4.98 4.15 2.59 2.08 2.00 1.00
Halifax
9.21 7.44 6.08 5.16 4.95 4.64 4.58 3.52
Ipswich
9.69 8.83 8.16 7.98 7.43 5.29 4.97 3.53
King's Lynn
8.29 7.42 6.72 6.61 6.38 6.05 4.00
Newcastle
8.04 7.01 6.68 5.84 5.18 4.82 4.62 4.13 3.92
Oxford
10.76 9.69 6.29 6.06 5.57 4.59 4.48 4.15 2.00 1.93
Poole
9.24 6.71 6.32 6.15 5.85 5.77 5.62 4.57 3.54
Reading
10.05 9.26 6.52 5.75 5.43 5.41 4.87
Sheffield
9.85 8.03 7.83 6.00 6.00 5.18 4.77 3.59 2.94
Swindon
9.94 8.33 6.15 5.73 5.33 5.01 4.95 4.65 3.78
Wimbledon
8.38 8.38 7.18 6.04 5.82 5.69 5.45 2.95
Wolverhampton
9.87 8.45 7.47 7.23 4.61 4.52 4.51 3.69 3.23 3.00 2.90
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References