1986 British League season
LeagueBritish League
ChampionsOxford Cheetahs
Knockout CupOxford & Cradley (shared)
League CupOxford & Cradley (shared)
IndividualHans Nielsen
PairsOxford Cheetahs
Midland CupOxford Cheetahs
Highest averageHans Nielsen
Division/s below1986 National League

The 1986 British League season was the 52nd season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 22nd known as the British League.[1]

Summary

Oxford Cheetahs won the league for the second consecutive year and the treble by sharing both the Speedway Star Knockout Cup and League Cup with Cradley Heath Heathens. Despite the easy manner of their 1985 league success Oxford made critical changes which ensured domination for a second consecutive season. They were forced to make changes due to the averages points limit that applied to all teams. Hans Nielsen and Simon Wigg were retained, as were Andy Grahame and Marvyn Cox but Jens Ramussen was replaced with Per Sorensen and Nigel De'ath was brought in as full time reserve. Both Sorensen and De'ath maintained good form throughout the season and combined with the heavy scores of the heat leaders the team were able to win the league again.[2][3] Cradley returned to form and provided Oxford with their main challenge, the rivalry between the Nielsen of Oxford and Erik Gundersen of Cradley was memorable. Nielsen also replaced Gundersen as the world champion by the end of the season and the pair were World Pairs and World Cup winners.

One of the Danish pairs main rivals was Englishman Kenny Carter, regarded as a potential world champion and who at the age of just 21 nearly won the 1982 world title. He was riding for Bradford Dukes and ten matches into the season, on the morning of 21 May the speedway world was subject to another shock. Following on from the Billy Sanders tragedy the season before Carter shot his wife dead and then killed himself.[4]

Final table

Pos Team PL W D L BP Pts
1 Oxford Cheetahs 18 18 0 0 8 44
2 Cradley Heath Heathens 20 13 3 4 9 38
3 Wolverhampton Wolves 19 13 0 6 6 32
4 Sheffield Tigers 19 10 2 7 6 28
5 Coventry Bees 20 10 1 9 6 27
6 Bradford Dukes 20 8 1 11 4 21
7 Reading Racers 20 7 3 10 4 21
8 Swindon Robins 19 8 1 10 4 21
9 Ipswich Witches 20 7 1 12 3 18
10 Belle Vue Aces 19 5 0 14 2 12
11 King's Lynn Stars 20 2 0 18 0 4

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


British League Knockout Cup

The 1986 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 48th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Oxford Cheetahs and Cradley Heath Heathens were declared joint winners because the second leg of the final was not held and the first leg had ended 39-39.[5]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
21/07Reading53-25Kings Lynn
19/07Swindon47-31Ipswich
17/07Ipswich38-40Swindon
05/07Kings Lynn43-35Reading
21/05Cradley Heath46-32Belle Vue
03/05Belle Vue45-33Cradley Heath

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
29/09Reading45-33Cradley Heath
24/09Cradley Heath50-28Reading
17/09Coventry43-34Sheffield
17/09Oxford48-30Swindon
07/09Swindon37-41Oxford
26/06Sheffield44-34Coventry
24/06Bradford45-33Wolverhampton
02/06Wolverhampton38-40Bradford

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
16/10Sheffield33-45Oxford
15/10Cradley Heath50-28Bradford
10/10Oxford45-33Sheffield
13/07Braford39-39Cradley Heath

Final The title was shared after two failed attempts to hold the second leg due to rain.[6][3]

First and only leg

Cradley Heath
Jan O. Pedersen 8
Phil Collins 8
Erik Gundersen 7
Nigel Leaver 6
Steve Bastable 4
Paul Fry 3
Simon Cross 3		39 - 39Oxford Cheetahs
Hans Nielsen 14
Simon Wigg 9
Marvyn Cox 9
Nigel De'ath 4
Per Sorensen 1
Andy Grahame 1
Jon Surman 1
[7]

League Cup

The League Cup was contested as a league format. The cup was shared following two failed attempts to stage the second leg of the final at Oxford due to rain. Oxford had won the first leg at Cradley Heath 40-38.[3]

Qualifying table

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Coventry Bees 20 14 1 5 37
2 Oxford Cheetahs 20 13 1 6 36
3 Ipswich Witches 20 12 1 7 30
4 Cradley Heathens 20 10 2 8 29
5 Swindon Robins 20 9 3 8 27
6 Sheffield Tigers 20 10 2 8 27
7 Bradford Dukes 20 9 3 8 26
8 Reading Racers 20 10 0 10 24
9 Belle Vue Aces 20 6 2 12 17
10 Wolverhampton Wolves 20 6 1 13 16
11 King's Lynn Stars 20 2 2 16 6

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
03/09Coventry39–39Cradley Heath
03/09Oxford40–38Ipswich
10/09Cradley Heath41–37Coventry
21/09Ipswich34–42Oxford

Final (First and only leg)

Cradley Heath
Erik Gundersen 11
Phil Collins 7
Simon Cross 6
Jan O. Pedersen 5
Steve Bastable 5
Nigel Leaver 2
Paul Fry 2		38 - 40Oxford Cheetahs
Hans Nielsen 11
Marvyn Cox 10
Simon Wigg 9
Per Sorensen 4
Nigel De'ath 4
Andy Grahame 2
Jon Surman 0
[8]

Riders' Championship

Hans Nielsen won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 12 October.[9]

Pos.RiderHeat ScoresTotal
1Denmark Hans Nielsen3 3 3 3 315
2Denmark Erik Gundersen2 3 3 2 111+3
3United States Shawn Moran3 3 1 2 211+2
4England Chris Morton3 2 3 0 311+1
5Sweden Jan Andersson2 3 3 1 211
6England Simon Wigg1 0 2 3 39
7Denmark Tommy Knudsen0 2 2 3 18
8Denmark Jan O. Pedersen2 2 0 1 38
9Denmark John Jørgensen3 2 2 1 08
10England Jeremy Doncaster0 1 2 3 28
11England Alan Grahame1 0 1 2 26
12England John Davis2 1 1 0 15
13Denmark Preben Eriksen1 1 0 0 13
14England Andy Campbell0 1 1 1 03
15England Neil Evitts1 0 0 2 03
16Finland Kai Niemi0 0 0 0 -0
17England Lee Edwards (res)0 - - - -0
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired

Pairs

The British League Pairs Championship was held at Owlerton Stadium on 24 August and was won by Oxford for the second consecutive year.[10]

PosTeamPtsRiders
1Oxford25Wigg 15, Nielsen 10
2Coventry22Tatum 13, Jorgensen 9
3Sheffield18Moran S 11, Collins N 7
4Belle Vue18Morton 17, Collins P 1
5Bradford16King 9, Evitts 7
6Cradley Heath16Gundersen 14, Pedersen 2
7Ipswich11Niemi 8, Doncaster 3

Leading final averages

Rider Team Average
Denmark Hans NielsenOxford11.57
Denmark Erik GundersenCradley Heath11.03
England Jeremy DoncasterIpswich10.38
England Simon WiggOxford10.20
England Kenny Carter+Bradford10.05
United States Sam ErmolenkoWolverhampton9.72
Denmark Tommy KnudsenCoventry9.68
United States Shawn MoranSheffield9.65
England Chris MortonBelle Vue9.34
Sweden Jan AnderssonReading9.34
England Neil EvittsBradford9.32
United States Bobby SchwartzKings Lynn9.06

+rode 10 matches before his death

Midland Cup

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

First round

Team one Team two Score
SwindonWolverhampton39–39, 27–51
ReadingCoventry40–38, 26–52

Semi final round

Team one Team two Score
OxfordWolverhampton42–36, 39–39
CradleyCoventry41–37, 35–43

Final

First leg

Coventry
Tommy Knudsen 11
John Jorgensen 10
Kelvin Tatum 8
Alun Rossiter 6
Rick Miller 5
David Bargh 3
David Clarke 1		44–34Oxford
Simon Wigg 13
Jeremy Doncaster (guest) 7
Per Sorensen 6
Marvyn Cox 5
Nigel De'ath 2
Andy Grahame 1
Jon Surman 0

Second leg

Oxford
Hans Nielsen 11
Simon Wigg 10
Marvyn Cox 10
Per Sorensen 6
Nigel De'ath 4
Andy Grahame 3
Jon Surman 2		46–32Coventry
Rick Miller 14
Alun Rossiter 9
Kelvin Tatum 6
David Bargh 1
Tommy Knudsen 1 (ill)
David Clarke 1
John Jorgensen r/r

Oxford won on aggregate 80–76

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Bradford

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Oxford

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

Wolverhampton

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ↑ "1986 league tables". Speedway GB.
  3. 1 2 3 Bamford/Shailes, Robert/Glynn (2007). The Story of Oxford Speedway. Tempus Publishing Ltd. pp. 134–136. ISBN 978-0-7524-4161-0.
  4. ↑ "The tragic life and horrific death of troubled Yorkshire speedway legend 'King Kenny' Carter". Examiner Live. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  5. ↑ "1986 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  6. ↑ "Cradley Speedway 1986 season". Cradley Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  7. ↑ "Speedway". Birmingham Mail. 3 November 1986. Retrieved 18 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ↑ "Speedway". Birmingham Mail. 20 October 1986. Retrieved 18 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ↑ "Speedway". Western Daily Press. 13 October 1986. Retrieved 5 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ↑ "Chris's final warning". Manchester Evening News. 26 August 1986. Retrieved 18 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. ↑ "Bees:We had fight". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 30 October 1986. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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