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1971 British League season

(Redirected from 1971 British Speedway League)

The 1971 British League season was the 37th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the seventh season known as the British League.[1][2]

1971 British League season
LeagueBritish League
No. of competitors19
ChampionsBelle Vue Aces
Knockout CupHackney Hawks
IndividualIvan Mauger
London CupHackney Hawks
Midland CupCoventry Bees
Highest averageIvan Mauger
Division/s belowBritish League (Div 2)

Summary

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Reading Racers moved up from Division 2 after taking the Newcastle Diamonds division 1 licence.[3][4] Belle Vue Aces retained their title to become the first team to win the title for the second time. The team included three time world champion Ivan Mauger, Swedish international Sören Sjösten, Tommy Roper, Eric Broadbelt, Chris Pusey and a 17 year old Peter Collins in his debut season.[5]

Final table

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Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Belle Vue Aces 36 25 1 10 51
2 Leicester Lions 36 22 3 11 47
3 Coventry Bees 36 23 0 13 46
4 Sheffield Tigers 36 21 1 14 43
5 Swindon Robins 36 19 3 14 40
6 Reading Racers 36 18 4 14 41
7 Hackney Hawks 36 17 4 15 38
8 Newport Wasps 36 19 0 17 37
9 Wembley Lions 36 17 3 16 37
10 Wimbledon Dons 36 18 1 17 36
11 Poole Pirates 36 17 2 17 35
12 Wolverhampton Wolves 36 17 1 18 34
13 King's Lynn Stars 36 16 2 18 34
14 Halifax Dukes 36 16 2 18 32
15 Exeter Falcons 36 16 0 20 31
16 Glasgow Tigers 36 15 1 20 25
17 Oxford Cheetahs 36 12 1 23 20
18 Cradley Heath Heathens 36 8 4 24 20
19 West Ham Hammers 36 9 1 26 19

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)

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Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Ivan Mauger   Belle Vue 11.42
2 Ray Wilson   Leicester 10.97
3 Ole Olsen   Wolverhampton 10.96
4 Jim Airey   Sheffield 10.70
5 Barry Briggs   Swindon 10.64
6 Bengt Jansson   Hackney 10.21
7 Eric Boocock   Halifax 10.14
8 Anders Michanek   Reading 10.03
9 Nigel Boocock   Coventry 9.95
10 Ronnie Moore   Wimbledon 9.93

British League Knockout Cup

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The 1971 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 33rd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Hackney were the winners.[6]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
08/05 Halifax 49-29 West Ham
08/05 Swindon 43-35 Wimbledon
06/05 Oxford 46-32 Poole

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
25/06 Wolverhampton 43-35 Belle Vue
21/06 Reading 38-40 Cradley Heath
17/06 Oxford 39-38 Exeter
12/06 King's Lynn 46-32 Newport
11/06 Glasgow 43-34 Leicester
10/06 Sheffield 48-30 Wembley
05/06 Halifax 42-36 Coventry
05/06 Swindon 36-42 Hackney

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
14/08 Halifax 43-35 Sheffield
06/08 Wolverhampton 45-32 Oxford
31/07 King's Lynn 39-39 Hackney
31/07 Cradley Heath 40-38 Glasgow
03/09 Hackney 49-29 King's Lynn

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
17/09 Hackney 50-27 Halifax
06/09 Cradley Heath 50-28 Wolverhampton

Final

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First leg

Cradley Heath
Bernt Persson 11
Bob Andrews 9
Mick Handley 7
Pete Jarman 6
John Hart 5
Roy Trigg 3
Cyril Francis 0		41 - 37Hackney Hawks
Bengt Jansson 10
Barry Thomas 8
Hugh Saunders 8
Garry Middleton 7
Laurie Etheridge 2
Geoff Maloney 1
Eddie Reeves 1
[7]

Second leg

Hackney Hawks
Bengt Jansson 12
Garry Middleton 10
Barry Thomas 9
Dave Kennett 9
Hugh Saunders 6
Eddie Reeves 3
Laurie Etheridge 2		51 - 27Cradley Heath
Howard Cole (guest) 13
Bob Andrews 5
Roy Trigg 3
John Hart 3
Pete Jarman 2
Mick Handley 1
Ralph Waller 0
[8]

Hackney Hawks were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 88-68.

Riders' Championship

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Ivan Mauger won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 16 October.[9]

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total
1   Ivan Mauger 3 3 3 3 2 14
2   Barry Briggs 2 2 3 2 3 12
3   Jim McMillan 1 3 2 3 3 12
4   Bob Kilby 3 0 2 2 3 10
5   Nigel Boocock 3 2 1 3 0 9
6   Eric Boocock 2 2 1 1 3 9
7   Ole Olsen 3 3 2 f fx 8
8   Christer Löfqvist 2 1 0 3 2 8
9   Jim Airey 1 1 3 1 1 7
10   Ray Wilson 1 3 1 1 f 6
11   Reidar Eide 0 2 3 0 1 6
12   Anders Michanek 2 1 0 0 2 5
13   Ronnie Moore 0 1 2 2 0 5
14   Sándor Lévai 0 0 1 2 1 4
15   Terry Betts 0 0 0 1 1 2
16   Bert Harkins (res) 2 - - - - 2
17   Bengt Jansson 1 0 0 0 0 1
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, exc=excluded

Final leading averages

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Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Ivan Mauger   Belle Vue 11.33
2 Ole Olsen   Wolverhampton 10.99
3 Ray Wilson   Leicester 10.94
4 Jim Airey   Sheffield 10.74
5 Barry Briggs   Swindon 10.67
6 Bengt Jansson   Hackney 10.26
7 Eric Boocock   Halifax 10.19
8 Anders Michanek   Reading 10.05
9 Nigel Boocock   Coventry 9.95
10 Ronnie Moore   Wimbledon 9.89
11 Martin Ashby   Swindon 9.76
12 Bernt Persson   Cradley Heath 9.68
13 Terry Betts   King's Lynn 9.62
14 Malcolm Simmons   King's Lynn 9.22
15 Trevor Hedge   Wimbledon 9.18
16 Jim McMillan   Glasgow 9.18
17 Sören Sjösten   Belle Vue 9.11
18 Reidar Eide   Poole 9.10
19 Göte Nordin   Wembley 9.04
20 John Boulger   Leicester 8.99

London Cup

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Hackney won the London Cup for only the second time, after previously winning it back in 1936.[10]

Pos Team P W D L F A Pts
1 Hackney Hawks 4 4 0 0 177 135 8
2 West Ham Hammers 4 1 0 3 156 156 2
3 Wimbledon Dons 4 1 0 3 135 177 2

Results

Team Score Team
Hackney 40–38 West Ham
West Ham 45–33 Wimbledon
Hackney 53–25 Wimbledon
Wimbledon 41–37 West Ham
West Ham 36–42 Hackney
Wimbledon 36–42 Hackney

Midland Cup

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Coventry won the Midland Cup for the third consecutive year. The competition consisted of six teams.[11]

First round

Team one Team two Score
Wolverhampton Swindon 41–36, 41–35
Oxford Cradley 38–40, 33–45

Semi final round

Team one Team two Score
Leicester Wolverhampton 41–37, 42–36
Cradley Coventry 33–45, 27–51

Final

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First leg

Coventry
Tony Lomas 11
Nigel Boocock 10
Ron Mountford 7
Jan Simensen 7
John Haarhy 5
Roger Hill 4
Les Owen 1		45–33Leicester
Ray Wilson 12
John Boulger 11
Alan Cowland 3
Graham Plant 2
Norman Storer 2
Tom Leadbitter 2
Malcolm Brown 1

Second leg

Leicester
John Boulger 12
Ray Wilson 8
Graham Plant 6
Malcolm Shakespeare 6
Norman Storer 5
Alan Cowland 4
Malcolm Brown 0		41–37Coventry
Tony Lomas 8
Ron Mountford 8
Jan Simensen 8
Nigel Boocock 5
Roger Hill 5
Les Owen 3
John Haarhy 0

Coventry won on aggregate 82–74

Riders & final averages

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Belle Vue

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Exeter

Glasgow

Hackney

Halifax

King's Lynn

Leicester

Newport

Oxford

Poole

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

Wembley

West Ham

Wimbledon

Wolverhampton

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  3. ^ "Reading switch". Western Daily Press. 6 January 1971. Retrieved 19 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  5. ^ "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  6. ^ "1971 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  7. ^ "Season 1971" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  8. ^ "Cradley crash at Hackney". Wolverhampton Express and Star. 9 October 1971. Retrieved 28 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ^ "Speedway". Sunday Mirror. 17 October 1971. Retrieved 2 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ^ "Hackney 1971" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  11. ^ "Fifth heat settles Lions". Leicester Daily Mercury. 13 October 1971. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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