1969 British League season

1969 British League season

League	British League
Champions	Poole Pirates
No. of competitors	19
Knockout Cup	Wimbledon Dons
Individual	Barry Briggs
Highest average	Ivan Mauger
Division/s below	British League (Div 2)
← 1968 1970 →

The 1969 British League season was the 35th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the fifth season known as the British League.^[1]

Summary[]

The 19 competitors were the same as the previous season.^[2]

Poole Pirates won their first title.^[3] The Pirates were extremely consistent and despite their riders not coming in the top 18 league averages they won the league by a clear 6 points. Pete Smith was their top rider with an average of 9.34 but aided by four other riders (Geoff Mudge (9.05), Odd Fossengen (7.73), Bruce Cribb (7.31) and Gordon Guasco (7.26)) they were able to claim the title.^[4] Wimbledon Dons had a much better season than the last, finishing third and managed to retain their British League Knockout Cup crown. Belle Vue Aces finished runner-up, mainly due to the performances of their outstanding World champion rider Ivan Mauger; the New Zealander finished with an average of 11.67 and would also seal his second world title before the end of the season.

Final table[]

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Poole Pirates	36	26	1	9	53
2	Belle Vue Aces	36	23	1	12	47
3	Wimbledon Dons	36	22	2	12	46
4	Halifax Dukes	36	22	2	12	46
5	Leicester Lions	36	21	2	13	44
6	Sheffield Tigers	36	19	1	16	39
7	Cradley Heath Heathens	36	18	2	16	38
8	Glasgow Tigers	36	17	3	16	37
9	King's Lynn Stars	36	18	0	18	36
10	Swindon Robins	36	18	0	18	36
11	Coatbridge Monarchs	36	17	1	18	35
12	Exeter Falcons	36	16	0	20	32
13	Newcastle Diamonds	36	15	2	19	32
14	Coventry Bees	36	14	3	19	31
15	Oxford Cheetahs	36	15	1	20	31
16	Wolverhampton Wolves	36	13	1	22	27
17	Newport Wasps	36	13	1	22	27
18	West Ham Hammers	36	11	3	22	25
19	Hackney Hawks	36	10	2	24	22

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

Leading Riders[]

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ivan Mauger		Belle Vue Aces	11.67
2	Barry Briggs		Swindon Robins	11.12
3	Eric Boocock		Halifax Dukes	11.08
4	Nigel Boocock		Coventry Bees	10.78
5	Ray Wilson		Leicester Lions	10.56
6	Ole Olsen		Newcastle Diamonds	10.39
7	Norman Hunter		Wolverhampton Wolves	10.35
8	Trevor Hedge		Wimbledon Dons	10.33
9	Sören Sjösten		Belle Vue Aces	10.09
10	Reidar Eide		Wolverhampton Wolves	10.01
11	Jim McMillan		Glasgow Tigers	10.01
12	Martin Ashby		Exeter Falcons	9.97
13	Jim Airey		Sheffield Tigers	9.90
14	Ronnie Moore		Wimbledon Dons	9.74
15	Charlie Monk		Glasgow Tigers	9.56
16	Reg Luckhurst		Wimbledon Dons	9.39
17	Dave Younghusband		Halifax Dukes	9.38
18	Terry Betts		King's Lynn Stars	9.35
19	Pete Smith		Poole Pirates	9.34
20	Roy Trigg		Cradley Heathens	9.27

British League Knockout Cup[]

The 1969 British League Knockout Cup was the 31st edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Wimbledon were the winners.^[5]

First Round[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
10/05	Coatbridge	53-25	Hackney
06/05	Leicester	54-24	Newport
06/05	West Ham	39-39	Kings Lynn
31/05	Kings Lynn	39-39	West Ham
17/06	West Ham	36-42	Kings Lynn

Second Round[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
10/07	Sheffield	52-26	Kings Lynn
17/06	West Ham	36-42	Oxford
14/06	Canterbury	51-26	Crayford
14/06	Coventry	46-32	Oxford
14/06	Cradley Heath	41-37	Glasgow
11/06	Poole	43-35	Coatbridge
09/06	Exeter	36-42	Wimbledon
09/06	Newcastle	36-42	Belle Vue
07/06	Halifax	43-35	Wolverhampton

Quarter Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
02/08	Belle Vue	38-40	Sheffield
31/07	Wimbledon	49-29	Poole
21/07	Cradley Heath	41-37	Swindon
05/07	Halifax	47-31	Coventry

Semi Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
27/09	Cradley Heath	36-42	Wimbledon
21/08	Sheffield	43.5-34.5	Halifax

Final[]

First leg[]

Second leg[]

Wimbledon Dons were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 94-62.

Teams[]

Belle Vue Aces[]

• 
• Eric Broadbelt
• Ken Eyre
• 
• 
• Ivan Mauger
• 
• 
• 
• Taffy Owen
• 
• Chris Pusey
• Tommy Roper
• Sören Sjösten
• 
• 
• 

Coatbridge Tigers[]

• 
• Wayne Briggs
• Brian Collins
• Reidar Eide
• Bert Harkins
• 
• George Hunter
• 
• 

Coventry Bees[]

• Nigel Boocock
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Rick France
• 
• 
• Antonín Kasper Sr.
• Tony Lomas
• Göte Nordin
• 
• 
• 
• 

Cradley Heath[]

• Bob Andrews
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Bernt Persson
• Roy Trigg
• 
• Reg Wilson
• 

Exeter Falcons[]

• Martin Ashby
• 
• 
• Mike Cake
• Alan Cowland
• 
• 
• Jan Holub I
• Des Lukehurst
• 
• 

Glasgow Tigers[]

• Bobby Beaton
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Jimmy McMillan
• Charlie Monk
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Hackney Hawks[]

• Jack Biggs
• Laurie Etheridge
• Jimmy Gooch
• 
• Brian Leonard
• Des Lukehurst
• 
• Garry Middleton
• Colin Pratt
• 
• 

Halifax Dukes[]

• Eric Boocock
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Arne Pander
• 
• 
• Dave Younghusband

King's Lynn Stars[]

• 
• Terry Betts
• 
• 
• Howard Cole+ (+ rode under the name of Kid Brodie)
• 
• 
• Malcolm Simmons

Leicester Lions[]

• Malcolm Brown
• John Boulger
• John Hart
• DeWayne Keeter
• Graham Plant
• Norman Storer
• Ray Wilson

Newcastle Diamonds[]

• 
• 
• Murray Burt
• 
• 
• 
• Dave Jessup
• 
• 
• 
• Tom Leadbitter
• Garry Middleton
• 
• Ole Olsen
• Gary Peterson
• 
• 
• 
• 

Newport Wasps[]

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Chris Julian
• Sándor Lévai
• 
• 
• 

Oxford Cheetahs[]

• Mick Bell
• 
• 
• 
• Colin Gooddy
• 
• George Major
• Leo McAuliffe
• 
• Conny Samuelsson
• 
• 
• Rick Timmo
• 

Poole Pirates[]

• Bruce Cribb
• 
• Gordon Guasco
• Geoff Mudge
• Odd Fossengen
• 
• Frank Shuter
• Pete Smith
• 

Sheffield Tigers[]

• Jim Airey
• 
• Billy Bales
• John Dews
• Arnold Haley
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Reg Wilson
• Doug Wyer

Swindon Robins[]

• 
• Barry Briggs
• Mike Broadbank
• 
• 
• Bob Kilby
• Des Lukehurst
• 
• 
• Jon Ødegaard
• 
• 

West Ham Hammers[]

• George Barclay
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Sverre Harrfeldt
• Dave Jessup
• Ken McKinlay
• 
• Brian Leonard
• 
• 
• Olle Nygren
• 
• 
• 

Wimbledon Dons[]

• Eric Broadbelt
• Bob Dugard
• 
• Ken Eyre
• Trevor Hedge
• Reg Luckhurst
• Cyril Maidment
• Ronnie Moore
• 
• 

Wolverhampton Wolves[]

• Geoff Ambrose
• 
• James Bond
• 
• 
• Mick Handley
• Norman Hunter
• 
• Des Lukehurst
• 
• Peter Vandenberg
• 
• 

See also[]

• List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
• Knockout Cup (speedway)

References[]