The 1988 British League season was the 54th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 24th known as the British League.
Summary Coventry Bees won the league for the second successive year and again by a 16-point margin. The Bees also reached the Knockout Cup final losing to Cradley Heath. Remarkably it was Cradley's seventh Cup win in 10 years. With the League Cup scrapped the Coventry team had less fixtures to ride and their pairing of Tommy Knudsen and Kelvin Tatum were once again the catalyst for the seasons success finishing 2nd and 4th respectively in the averages. Hans Nielsen topped the averages again for the sixth consecutive season.
Final table Pos Team PL W D L BP Pts1 Coventry Bees 40 31 2 7 18 822 Belle Vue Aces 40 26 1 13 13 663 Cradley Heath Heathens 39 22 1 16 15 604 Oxford Cheetahs 40 20 6 14 13 595 Reading Racers 40 20 3 17 12 556 Sheffield Tigers 39 19 2 18 8 487 Swindon Robins 40 17 1 22 8 438 Wolverhampton Wolves 40 15 3 22 8 419 King's Lynn Stars 40 14 3 23 7 3810 Ipswich Witches 39 13 0 26 4 3011 Bradford Dukes 39 10 0 29 2 22M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points
Fixtures and results A fixtures
B fixtures
British League Knockout Cup The 1988 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 50th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Cradley Heath Heathens were the winners for the third successive year if including the tied 1986 final.
First round Date Team one Score Team two09/07 King's Lynn 47-43 Ipswich08/07 Ipswich 34-55 King's Lynn23/06 Sheffield 43-47 Cradley Heath18/06 Cradley Heath 51-39 Sheffield03/06 Belle Vue 53-37 Bradford28/05 Bradford 36-54 Belle Vue
Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two13/08 King's Lynn 40-50 Cradley Heath10/08 Cradley Heath 53-37 King's Lynn19/07 Coventry 53-37 Reading15/07 Belle Vue 53-37 Wolverhampton14/07 Oxford 48-42 Swindon11/07 Reading 49-41 Coventry11/07 Wolverhampton 45-45 Belle Vue
Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two14/10 Belle Vue 48-42 Cradley Heath13/10 Oxford 38-49 Coventry08/10 Coventry 44-46 Oxford14/09 Cradley Heath 49-41 Belle Vue
Final
First leg
Second leg
Cradley Heath were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 100-80.
Riders' Championship Jan O. Pedersen won the British League Riders' Championship. It was the held at Belle Vue Stadium on 9 October.
Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total1 Jan O. Pedersen 3 2 3 3 3 142 Erik Gundersen 3 3 3 1 3 133 Hans Nielsen 0 3 3 3 3 12+34 Chris Morton 2 2 3 2 312+25 Shawn Moran 1 3 2 2 2 10 6 Richard Knight 2 3 1 2 1 9 7 Ronnie Correy 1 2 2 3 1 9 8 Simon Wigg 2 1 0 3 2 8 9 Kelvin Tatum 2 0 2 2 1 7 10 Per Jonsson 3 2 0 0 0 5 11 Gary Havelock 1 1 0 1 2 5 12 Jan Andersson 1 1 1 1 1 5 13 Kelly Moran 0 0 2 1 2 5 14 Brian Karger 3 1 1 0 0 515 Tommy Knudsen 0 1 0 116 Paul Smith (res) 0 0 0 17 Carl Stonehewer (res) 0 0 0 18 Jeremy Doncaster 0 0 0 0 ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired
Leading final averages Rider Team Average Hans Nielsen Oxford 11.03 Tommy Knudsen Coventry 10.08 Erik Gundersen Cradley Heath 10.06 Kelvin Tatum Coventry 10.04 Jan O. Pedersen Cradley Heath 9.88 Shawn Moran Sheffield 9.51 Sam Ermolenko Wolverhampton 9.40 Jeremy Doncaster Ipswich 9.34 Chris Morton Belle Vue 9.01 Steve Bastable Bradford 9.00
Riders & final averages Belle Vue
9.01 8.18 7.70 7.22 6.92 6.83 4.97 3.12
Bradford
8.30 7.44 6.02 5.67 5.29 5.15 4.64 3.57
Coventry
10.08 10.04 7.49 7.02 5.00 4.85 4.79
Cradley Heath
10.06 9.88 8.22 6.92 5.10 4.50 3.45
Ipswich
9.34 6.87 6.75 6.19 6.07 5.40 4.97 2.50 2.40 1.45
King's Lynn
7.75 7.69 7.45 7.26 6.33 6.24 6.00 3.90 1.28
Oxford
11.03 8.64 7.24 6.97 4.32 3.91 3.81 2.80 2.65
Reading
8.98 8.93 8.20 6.95 5.63 5.22 3.09 2.81
Sheffield
9.51 8.67 7.16 5.78 5.30 4.58 4.00 3.60 3.60 3.38
Swindon
7.68 (6 matches only) 7.48 7.23 7.22 6.56 5.94 5.87 5.41
Wolverhampton
9.40 7.67 7.24 6.11 5.94 5.73 5.51 5.46 4.42
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References