1987 British League season
LeagueBritish League
ChampionsCoventry Bees
No. of competitors12
Knockout CupCradley Heathens
League CupCoventry Bees
IndividualHans Nielsen
PairsOxford Cheetahs
Midland CupCradley Heathens
Highest averageHans Nielsen
Division/s below1987 National League

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.[1]

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.[2] 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.[3]

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 Pts
1 Coventry Bees 22 19 3 0 11 52
2 Cradley Heath Heathens 22 13 1 8 9 36
3 Swindon Robins 22 12 2 8 7 33
4 Sheffield Tigers 22 13 0 9 6 32
5 Bradford Dukes 22 10 3 9 7 30
6 Ipswich Witches 22 10 3 9 6 29
7 Reading Racers 22 11 2 9 4 28
8 Belle Vue Aces 22 10 1 11 5 26
9 Hackney Kestrels 22 7 3 12 3 20
10 Wolverhampton Wolves 22 6 2 14 3 17
11 Oxford Cheetahs 22 6 1 15 3 16
12 King's Lynn Stars 22 4 1 17 2 11

M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points

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.[4]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
10/07Hackney48-42Bradford
10/07Oxford51-39Belle Vue
04/07Kings Lynn41-49Sheffield
13/06Swindon47-43Wolverhampton
04/06Sheffield51-39Kings Lynn
01/06Wolverhampton44-46Swindon
30/05Belle Vue47-43Oxford
30/05Bradford49-41Hackney

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
15/09Bradford41-49Cradley Heath
15/08Swindon43-47Reading
07/08Oxford48-42Ipswich
06/08Ipswich47-43Oxford
05/08Cradley Heath55-35Bradford
27/07Reading48-41Swindon
13/07Sheffield48-42Coventry
11/07Coventry51-38Sheffield

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
30/09Coventry48-42Reading
30/09Oxford47-43Cradley Heath
16/09Cradley Heath39-33 AOxford
07/09Reading47-43Coventry

Final

First leg

Coventry Bees
Tommy Knudsen 17
John Jørgensen 8
David Bargh 8
David Clarke 6
Wayne Broadhurst 3
Rick Miller 3
Kelvin Tatum 0 (inj)		45 - 45Cradley Heath
David Walsh 12
Erik Gundersen 11
Jan O. Pedersen 11
Simon Cross 8
Jan Jakobsen 2
Paul Fry 1
Nigel Leaver 0
[5]

Second leg

Cradley Heath
Erik Gundersen 11
Jan O. Pedersen 11
David Walsh 11
Simon Cross 9
Paul Fry 4
Jan Jakobsen 2
Nigel Leaver 1		49 - 41Coventry Bees
Tommy Knudsen 16
Kelly Moran (guest) 7
David Bargh 7
John Jørgensen 5
David Clarke 3
Rick Miller 3
Wayne Broadhurst 3
[5]

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 aggregrate. It was the last time that the competition was contested.[6]

Qualifying table

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Coventry Bees 22 16 1 5 43
2 Oxford Cheetahs 22 14 2 6 39
3 Belle Vue Aces 22 14 1 7 38
4 Cradley Heathens 22 14 0 8 36
5 Sheffield Tigers 22 13 2 7 33
6 Reading Racers 22 12 1 9 31
7 Swindon Robins 22 9 2 11 26
8 Wolverhampton Wolves 22 9 1 12 23
9 Bradford Dukes 22 8 2 12 22
10 Hackney Kestrels 22 6 2 14 17
11 King's Lynn Stars 22 5 1 16 12
11 Ipswich Witches 22 4 1 17 10

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
14/08Oxford42–36Belle Vue
22/08Belle Vue44–34Oxford
31/08Coventry45–33Cradley Heath
31/08Cradley Heath36–42Coventry

Final

Date Team one Score Team two
15/09Coventry41–37Belle Vue
18/10Belle Vue41–37Coventry

Replay first leg

Coventry Bees
Tommy Knudsen 11
Kelvin Tatum 11
Rick Miller 8
David Bargh 7
John Jørgensen 6
David Clarke 3
Wayne Broadhurst 0		46 - 32Belle Vue
Peter Ravn 11
Paul Thorp 7
Andy Smith 5
Chris Morton 4
Kenny McKinna 4
Glen Hornby 1
David Blackburn 0

Replay second leg

Belle Vue
Chris Morton 14
Peter Ravn 11
Kenny McKinna 8
Richard Knight 4
Glen Hornby 2
David Blackburn 1
Bernie Collier 0		40 - 38Coventry Bees
David Bargh 10
Tommy Knudsen 8
Kelvin Tatum 8
Rick Miller 5
John Jørgensen 4
David Clarke 3
Wayne Broadhurst 0

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.[7]

Pos.RiderHeat ScoresTotal
1Denmark Hans Nielsen3 2 3 3 314
2England Chris Morton3 3 1 3 313
3United States Kelly Moran2 2 2 2 311+3
4England Kelvin Tatum2 3 2 2 211+2
5Denmark Tommy KnudsenTX 2 3 3 210
6England Richard Knight3 1 1 3 210
7Sweden Jan Andersson1 1 3 2 310
8New Zealand Mitch Shirra1 3 3 0 18
9England Simon Wigg1 2 2 1 17
10Denmark Jan O. Pedersen2 3 0 1 06
11England Sean Willmott2 1 1 1 16
12Sweden Jimmy Nilsen0 TX 0 2 24
13Denmark Preben Eriksen1 0 2 1 04
14Denmark Erik Gundersen3 0 0 0 14
15England Bernie Collier (res)0 0 1 1 0 02
16England Louis Carr0 - - - - -0
17United States Shawn Moran0 0 0 0 00
  • 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.[8]

Semi Final
Pos Team Pts Riders
1 Swindon16Shirra 8, Nilsen 8
2 Oxford14Nielsen 12 Grahame 2
3 Cradley13Pedersen 7, Gundersen 6
4 Wolverhampton11Ermolenko 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
Denmark Hans NielsenOxford11.38
Denmark Erik GundersenCradley Heath10.44
Denmark Tommy KnudsenCoventry10.25
England Kelvin TatumCoventry10.06
United States Sam ErmolenkoWolverhampton9.86
England Jeremy DoncasterIpswich9.67
Sweden Jimmy NilsenSwindon9.61
Denmark Jan O. PedersenCradley Heath9.60
United States Shawn MoranSheffield9.47
England Simon WiggHackney9.38

Midland Cup

Cradley Heath won the Midland Cup. The competition consisted of six teams.[9]

First round

Team one Team two Score
ReadingSwindon38–39, 37–41
WolverhamptonCradley38–39, 31–47

Semi final round

Team one Team two Score
CoventrySwindon48–30, 36–42
CradleyOxford43–35, 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).[9]

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Bradford

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Hackney

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Oxford

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

Wolverhampton

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ↑ "1987 league tables". Speedway GB.
  3. ↑ Bamford/Shailes, Robert/Glynn (2007). The Story of Oxford Speedway. Tempus Publishing Ltd. pp. 137–138. ISBN 978-0-7524-4161-0.
  4. ↑ "1987 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  5. 1 2 "Coventry Bees 1987 season" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  6. ↑ "Coventry Bees results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  7. ↑ "Nielsen retains title after scare". Sandwell Evening Mail. 12 October 1987. Retrieved 5 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ↑ "Oxford Wins Hans Down". Reading Evening Post. 13 July 1987. Retrieved 18 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. 1 2 "Speedway". Daily Mirror. 22 October 1987. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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