The 1997 Speedway Conference League (also called the Amateur League), was the third tier/division of British speedway. It reverted to being the third tier because during the previous season it was inadvertently the second-tier competition while the British League ran as a single merged division.
Summary The title was won by Peterborough Thundercats the junior side belonging to Peterborough Panthers.
The majority of the clubs were the junior sides belonging to their respective senior side or a collaboration ran by their senior sides. The Raven Sprockets were a combination of the Reading Ravens and Swindon Sprockets, the Western Warriors were a combination of the Exeter Falcons and Newport Wasps, the Shuttle Cubs were Wolverhampton Wolves and Long Eaton Speedway and finally the Anglian Angels were the Ipswich Witches and Rye House Rockets.
Final league table
Pos Team Played W D L F A Pts1 Peterborough Thundercats 24 22 1 1 1064 729 452 Berwick Border Raiders 24 17 2 5 999 767 363 Ryde Wight Wizards 24 15 1 8 987 857 314 Buxton Hitmen 24 15 0 9 948 901 305 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 24 13 2 9 961 874 286 St Austell Gulls 24 13 0 11 963 871 267 Raven Sprockets+ (Reading and Swindon) 24 10 3 11 820 848 238 Western Warriors+ (Exeter and Newport) 24 10 0 14 909 946 209 Oxford Cubs 24 9 0 15 901 909 1810 Shuttle Cubs+ (Wolverhampton and Long Eaton) 24 9 0 15 799 969 1811 Lathallan Lightning 24 7 0 17 798 967 1412 Belle Vue Colts 24 7 0 17 819 1024 1413 Anglian Angels+ (Ipswich and King's Lynn) 24 4 1 19 725 1031 9 + combined team
Fixtures & results
Riders' Championship Jon Armstrong won the Riders' Championship. The final was held on 7 September at Long Eaton Stadium.
Pos. Rider Team Total1 Jon Armstrong Buxton 13 2 Bobby Eldridge Ryde 13 3 David Howe Peterborough 12 4 Blair Scott Lathallan 11 5 Roger Lobb Western Warriors 10 6 David Meldrum Berwick 9 7 Mark Blackwell Ryde 9 8 Simon Stead Peterborough 8 9Dean Garrod Mildenhall 7 10 Rob Clarence Shuttle Cubs 6 11 Mark Thompson Anglian Angels 512 Philip Ambrose Oxford 413 Lee Dixon Belle Vue 414 Paul Lee Shuttle Cubs 3 15 Ian Clarke Raven Sprockets 3 16 Stephen Read Buxton 1 17 Nathan McDonald (res) Shuttle Cubs 0
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References