The 1989 British League season (also known as the Sunbrite British League for sponsorship reasons) was the 55th season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom and the 25th known as the British League.
Summary The Coventry Bees were the defending champions from 1988. The league was once again run over a 15-heat formula, with 7 riders per team.
Oxford Cheetahs bounced back to winning ways claiming their third title in five years. The team was led by their double world champion Hans Nielsen who by the end of the season would be world champion for the third time and top the averages for an incredible seventh season running. He was backed up by Simon Wigg, Martin Dugard, Andy Grahame, Marvyn Cox and Troy Butler, all of whom averaged from about 6 to 8 points for the season. The defending champions Coventry could only finish 5th after losing Tommy Knudsen for the season. Cradley Heath won their 8th Knockout Cup in 11 years (it would also be their last).
Final table Pos Team PL W D L BP Pts1 Oxford Cheetahs 32 22 1 9 13 582 Wolverhampton Wolves 32 19 2 11 12 523 Cradley Heathens 32 19 3 10 10 514 Belle Vue Aces 32 19 2 11 10 505 Coventry Bees 32 15 3 14 8 416 Swindon Robins 32 12 1 19 8 337 Reading Racers 32 13 1 18 5 328 Bradford Dukes 32 9 2 21 3 239 King's Lynn Stars 32 8 1 23 3 20M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points
Fixtures and results A fixtures
B fixtures
British League Knockout Cup The 1989 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 51st edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Cradley Heath Heathens were the winners for the fourth successive year if including the tied 1986 final.
First round Date Team one Score Team two21/04 Belle Vue 57-33 King's Lynn08/04 King's Lynn 38-52 Belle Vue
Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two26/06 Reading 51-39 Belle Vue10/06 Cradley Heath 50-40 Oxford09/06 Belle Vue 45.5-44.5 Reading09/06 Oxford 45-45 Cradley Heath13/05 Coventry 45-45 Bradford06/05 Bradford 46-44 Coventry22/04 Swindon 45-45 Wolverhampton10/04 Wolverhampton 49-41 Swindon
Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two26/08 Bradford 57-33 Wolverhampton19/08 Cradley Heath 42-48 Reading07/08 Wolverhampton 60-30 Bradford31/07 Reading 40-50 Cradley Heath
Final
First leg
Second leg
Cradley Heath were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 95-85.
Riders' Championship Shawn Moran won the British League Riders' Championship. It was the held at Belle Vue Stadium on 1 October.
Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total1 Shawn Moran 3 3 3 3 3 152 Hans Nielsen 3 3 3 3 2 143 Brian Karger 2 3 2 2 3 124 Martin Dugard 1 2 1 2 3 9 5 Ronnie Correy 3 2 3 0 0 86 Jimmy Nilsen 0 1 3 1 3 8 7 Kelvin Tatum 2 0 1 3 2 8 8 Alan Grahame 0 2 2 2 2 89 Richard Knight 2 0 2 2 1 7 10 Rick Miller 3 1 1 1 1 7 11 Simon Wigg 1 1 2 3 0 712 Lance King 1 3 0 0 1 513 Jeremy Doncaster 1 2 0 1 1 514 Peter Ravn 2 0 0 1 2 5 15 Paul Thorp 0 1 1 0 0 216 Glenn Hornby (res) 0 0 0 17 Scott Smith (res) 0 0 0 18 Mitch Shirra 0 r(inj) 0 ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired
Leading final averages Rider Club Average Hans Nielsen Oxford 10.91 Jan O. Pedersen Cradley 10.22 Erik Gundersen Cradley 9.97 Sam Ermolenko Wolverhampton 9.85 Shawn Moran Belle Vue 9.68 Kelvin Tatum Coventry 9.49 Simon Cross Cradley 9.13 Jeremy Doncaster Reading 8.61 Jimmy Nilsen Swindon 8.41 Kelly Moran Belle Vue 8.29
Gold Cup
North Group Pos Team P W D L Pts1Cradley Heath 6 4 0 2 82 Bradford 6 3 0 3 63 Belle Vue 6 3 0 3 64 Wolverhampton 6 2 0 4 4
South Group Pos Team P W D L Pts1Oxford 8 6 1 1 132 Reading 8 5 0 3 103 Coventry 8 2 2 4 64 King's Lynn 6 2 2 4 65 Swindon 8 2 1 5 5
North Group
South Group
Final Team one Team two ScoreCradleyOxford42–48, 36–54
Riders and final averages Belle Vue
Shawn Moran 9.68 Kelly Moran 8.29 Peter Ravn 7.54 Gary Hicks 7.17 Chris Morton 6.75 Joe Screen 6.40 Carl Stonehewer 5.50 Gordon Whitaker 3.41 Paul Smith 2.09 Mike Lewthwaite 1.85
Bradford
Paul Thorp 7.79 Neil Evitts 7.51 Andy Smith 7.27 Bryan Larner 5.40 Henrik Kristensen 4.94 Glenn Doyle 4.76 Antal Kocso 4.60 Michael Graves 4.17
Coventry
Kelvin Tatum 9.49 Rick Miller 6.93 Sean Wilson 6.52 John Jørgensen 6.39 Andy Hackett 5.49 Roman Matoušek 5.27 Kai Niemi 4.69 Mike Bacon 2.95 Paul Smith 2.55
Cradley Heath
Jan O. Pedersen 10.22 Erik Gundersen 9.97 Simon Cross 9.13 Gert Handberg 6.52 Greg Hancock 6.06 Alan Grahame 5.78 John Bostin 3.00
Kings Lynn
Richard Knight 7.83 Lance King 7.67 John Davis 6.74 Allan Johansen 6.65 Armando Dal Chiele 5.03 Stephen Davies 4.93 Dennis Löfqvist 4.82 Adrian Stevens 3.56 Paul Smith 3.14 Roger Horspool 1.50
Oxford
Hans Nielsen 10.91 Simon Wigg 7.69 Martin Dugard 7.61 Andy Grahame 6.91 Marvyn Cox 6.80 Troy Butler 5.96 Paul Dugard 2.56 Kevin Pitts 1.64
Reading
Jeremy Doncaster 8.61 Mitch Shirra 7.62 Tony Olsson 6.49 Carl Blackbird 5.52 Armando Castagna 5.47 Dave Mullett 5.09 Malcolm Holloway 4.38 David Steen 2.56
Swindon
Jimmy Nilsen 8.41 Brian Karger 8.09 Andrew Silver 7.38 John Davis 6.67 Peter Nahlin 6.24 Bart Bast 5.05 Gary Chessell 4.88 Tom P. Knudsen 4.00 (2 matches only) David Smart 3.72
Wolverhampton
Sam Ermolenko 9.85 Ronnie Correy 7.86 Neil Collins 6.88 Robert Pfetzing 6.61 Graham Jones 6.60 Jan Staechmann 6.54 Andy Phillips 5.73
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References