1987 British League season

The 1987 British League season was the 53rd season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 23rd known as the British League.

Summary Coventry Bees comfortably won the league finishing 16 points clear of Cradley Heath. The same five main riders who made up the 1986 team rode through the 1987 season but crucially four of them improved on their 1986 averages. Tommy Knudsen and Kelvin Tatum both hit over 10, while Rick Miller and David Bargh both improved by about 2 points on average. John Jørgensen also remained consistent for the Bees. Coventry also won the League Cup but lost to Cradley in the final of the Knockout Cup. The double defending champions Oxford Cheetahs were forced to release Simon Wigg to Hackney and Per Sorensen because of the 45 point limit. They finished second from bottom despite Hans Nielsen topping the averages once again.

The second leg replay of the League Cup final was the last ever meeting held at Hyde Road.

Final table Pos Team PL W D L BP Pts1 Coventry Bees 22 19 3 0 11 522 Cradley Heath Heathens 22 13 1 8 9 363 Swindon Robins 22 12 2 8 7 334 Sheffield Tigers 22 13 0 9 6 325 Bradford Dukes 22 10 3 9 7 306 Ipswich Witches 22 10 3 9 6 297 Reading Racers 22 11 2 9 4 288 Belle Vue Aces 22 10 1 11 5 269 Hackney Kestrels 22 7 3 12 3 2010 Wolverhampton Wolves 22 6 2 14 3 1711 Oxford Cheetahs 22 6 1 15 3 1612 King's Lynn Stars 22 4 1 17 2 11M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points

Fixtures and results

British League Knockout Cup The 1987 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 49th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Cradley Heath Heathens were the winners for the second successive year if including the tied 1986 final.

First round Date Team one Score Team two10/07 Hackney 48-42 Bradford10/07 Oxford 51-39 Belle Vue04/07 Kings Lynn 41-49 Sheffield13/06 Swindon 47-43 Wolverhampton04/06 Sheffield 51-39 Kings Lynn01/06 Wolverhampton 44-46 Swindon30/05 Belle Vue 47-43 Oxford30/05 Bradford 49-41 Hackney

Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two15/09 Bradford 41-49 Cradley Heath15/08 Swindon 43-47 Reading07/08 Oxford 48-42 Ipswich06/08 Ipswich 47-43 Oxford05/08 Cradley Heath 55-35 Bradford27/07 Reading 48-41 Swindon13/07 Sheffield 48-42 Coventry11/07 Coventry 51-38 Sheffield

Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two30/09 Coventry 48-42 Reading30/09 Oxford 47-43 Cradley Heath16/09 Cradley Heath 39-33 A Oxford07/09 Reading 47-43 Coventry

Final

First leg

Second leg

Cradley Heath were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 94-86.

League Cup The League Cup was contested as a league format. Coventry Bees won the final over two legs defeating Belle Vue Aces 84–72 on aggregate. It was the last time that the competition was contested.

Qualifying table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Coventry Bees 22 16 1 5 432 Oxford Cheetahs 22 14 2 6 393 Belle Vue Aces 22 14 1 7 384 Cradley Heathens 22 14 0 8 365 Sheffield Tigers 22 13 2 7 336 Reading Racers 22 12 1 9 317 Swindon Robins 22 9 2 11 268 Wolverhampton Wolves 22 9 1 12 239 Bradford Dukes 22 8 2 12 2210 Hackney Kestrels 22 6 2 14 1711 King's Lynn Stars 22 5 1 16 1211 Ipswich Witches 22 4 1 17 10

Results

Semi-finals Team one Team two ScoresOxford Belle Vue42–36, 34–44 CoventryCradley Heath45–33, 42–36

Final Date Team one Score Team two15/09Coventry41–37 Belle Vue18/10Belle Vue41–37 Coventry

Replay first leg

Replay second leg

Coventry were declared League Cup winners, winning on aggregate 84-72.

Riders' Championship Hans Nielsen won the British League Riders' Championship for the second successive year. It was the held at Hyde Road on 12 October, shortly before the venue closed for good.

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total1 Hans Nielsen 3 2 3 3 3 142 Chris Morton 3 3 1 3 3 133 Kelly Moran 2 2 2 2 3 11+34 Kelvin Tatum 2 3 2 2 2 11+25 Tommy Knudsen TX 2 3 3 2 106 Richard Knight 3 1 1 3 2 10 7 Jan Andersson 1 1 3 2 3 108 Mitch Shirra 1 3 3 0 1 89 Simon Wigg 1 2 2 1 1 710 Jan O. Pedersen 2 3 0 1 0 611 Sean Willmott 2 1 1 1 1 612 Jimmy Nilsen 0 TX 0 2 2 413 Preben Eriksen 1 0 2 1 0 414 Erik Gundersen 3 0 0 0 1 4 15 Bernie Collier (res) 0 0 1 1 0 0 216 Louis Carr 0 - - - - - 0 17 Shawn Moran 0 0 0 0 0 0 ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired

Pairs The British League Pairs Championship was held at Smallmead Stadium on 12 July and was won by Oxford for the third consecutive year.

Group APosTeamPtsRiders1Cradley 17 Pedersen 9Gundersen 82Belle Vue 14 Thorp 10Morton 43Sheffield 12 Moran S 12Carr 04King's Lynn11Knight 6Regeling 5

Group BPosTeamPtsRiders1Oxford 17Nielsen 12Grahame 52Swindon16Shirra 9Nilsen 73Hackney 14Galvin 8Wigg 64Bradford 5 King 3Evitts 2

Group CPosTeamPtsRiders1Wolves14Eriksen 9Ermolenko 52Coventry 14Tatum 8 Knudsen 63Reading 13Jonsson 7Andersson 64Ipswich 13Doncaster 8Niemi 5

Semi FinalPosTeamPtsRiders1Swindon16Shirra 8, Nilsen 82Oxford 14Nielsen 12 Grahame 23Cradley 13Pedersen 7, Gundersen 64Wolverhampton 11Ermolenko 11, Eriksen 0

Final

In the final Nilsen fell and was excluded and Shirra touched the tapes and was excluded, leaving Nielsen and Grahame to complete a 7-0 (pts) uncontested heat.

Leading final averages Rider Team Average Hans Nielsen Oxford 11.38 Erik Gundersen Cradley Heath 10.44 Tommy Knudsen Coventry 10.25 Kelvin Tatum Coventry 10.06 Sam Ermolenko Wolverhampton 9.86 Jeremy Doncaster Ipswich 9.67 Jimmy Nilsen Swindon 9.61 Jan O. Pedersen Cradley Heath 9.60 Shawn Moran Sheffield 9.47 Simon Wigg Hackney 9.38

Midland Cup Cradley Heath won the Midland Cup. The competition consisted of six teams.

First round Team one Team two ScoreReading Swindon 38–39, 37–41WolverhamptonCradley38–39, 31–47

Semi final round Team one Team two ScoreCoventrySwindon 48–30, 36–42CradleyOxford 43–35, 40–38

Final Because of cancellations due to bad weather the final of the competition doubled up as the Knockout Cup final (see above for details).

Riders & final averages Belle Vue

8.92 8.41 8.38 6.35 5.82 5.55 3.92 2.65

Bradford

8.58 8.47 7.35 7.31 5.73 5.71 4.97 1.48

Coventry

10.25 10.06 8.20 7.80 7.46 3.44 2.58 2.18 2.13

Cradley Heath

10.44 9.60 9.33 5.10 4.94 3.94 3.79 3.47 1.18

Hackney

9.38 7.03 6.10 5.60 5.40 5.22 5.20 5.08

Ipswich

9.67 8.00 7.61 6.39 5.03 4.58 4.05 3.97 2.20

King's Lynn

8.35 6.67 6.42 6.25 5.34 5.27 4.94 4.93 4.39

Oxford

11.38 8.53 7.87 5.68 4.39 3.72 3.63 3.04

Reading

9.34 8.99 6.95 6.60 6.45 6.02 2.57 1.33

Sheffield

9.47 9.23 7.59 7.26 5.50 4.72 3.88

Swindon

9.61 9.36 7.35 6.73 6.55 6.37 5.73 1.54 0.63

Wolverhampton

9.86 7.28 6.33 6.01 5.48 4.74 3.20 1.26 0.40

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

References