1971 British League season

1971 British League season
League	British League
Champions	Belle Vue Aces
No. of competitors	19
Knockout Cup	Hackney Hawks
Individual	Ivan Mauger
Highest average	Ivan Mauger
Division/s below	British League (Div 2)
	← 1970; 1972 →;

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]

Summary[]

Reading Racers moved up from Division 2 and Newcastle Diamonds dropped out.^[3] 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.^[4]

Final table[]

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

Leading riders[]

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

British League Knockout Cup[]

The 1971 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 33rd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Hackney were the winners.^[5]

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[]

First leg[]

4 October 1971

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

Dudley Wood Stadium

Second leg[]

8 October 1971

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

Hackney Wick Stadium

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

Teams[]

Belle Vue Aces[]

Eric Broadbelt
Peter Collins
Ken Eyre
George Major
Ivan Mauger
Chris Pusey
Tommy Roper
Sören Sjösten
Alan Wilkinson

Coventry Bees[]

Nigel Boocock
Rick France
Tony Lomas
Ron Mountford
Jan Simensen

Cradley Heath[]

Bob Andrews
Malcolm Ballard
Geoff Bouchard
John Hart
Gordon Kennett
Mick Handley
John Jackson
Bernt Persson
Roy Trigg

Exeter Falcons[]

Wayne Briggs
Bruce Cribb
Kjell Gimre
Kevin Holden
Chris Julian
Bob Kilby
Taffy Owen

Glasgow Tigers[]

Bobby Beaton
George Hunter
Jimmy McMillan
Charlie Monk

Hackney Hawks[]

Malcolm Ballard
George Barclay
Phil Crump
Laurie Etheridge
Bengt Jansson
Gordon Kennett
Garry Middleton
Taffy Owen
Roger Mills
Hugh Saunders
Barry Thomas

Halifax Dukes[]

Eric Boocock
Reg Wilson
Dave Younghusband

Leicester Lions[]

Malcolm Brown
John Boulger
Alan Cowland
Bruce Forrester
Gordon Kennett
Tom Leadbitter
Graham Plant
Malcolm Shakespeare
Norman Storer
Ray Wilson

Newport Wasps[]

Bill Andrew
Malcolm Ballard
Phil Crump
Ronnie Genz
Tommy Johansson
Sándor Lévai
Edgar Stangeland

Oxford Cheetahs[]

Phil Crump
John Davis
Ronnie Genz
Colin Gooddy
Richard Greer
John Jackson
John Louis
Ken McKinlay
Arthur Price
Tommy Roper
Rick Timmo

Poole Pirates[]

Mike Cake
John Davis
Reidar Eide
Odd Fossengen
Pete Smith

Reading Racers[]

Josef Angermüller
Mick Bell
Geoff Curtis
Dag Lövaas
Richard May
Anders Michanek
Geoff Mudge

Sheffield Tigers[]

Jim Airey
Arnold Haley
George Major
Taffy Owen
Bob Valentine
Reg Wilson
Doug Wyer

Swindon Robins[]

Martin Ashby
James Bond
Barry Briggs
Mike Broadbank

Wembley Lions[]

Trevor Geer
Bert Harkins
Sverre Harrfeldt
Tommy Jansson
Dave Jessup
Roger Johns
Brian Leonard
John Louis
Göte Nordin
Christer Sjösten

West Ham Hammers[]

John Davis
Carl Glover
Mick Handley
Christer Löfqvist
Reg Luckhurst
Olle Nygren
Alan Wilkinson

Wimbledon Dons[]

John Dews
Trevor Hedge
Cyril Maidment
Ronnie Moore
Graeme Stapleton

Wolverhampton Wolves[]

Geoff Ambrose
Geoff Bouchard
James Bond
Phil Crump
Norman Hunter
Roger Johns
Ole Olsen
Gary Peterson

References[]

^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
^ "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
^ "1971 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
^ ^a ^b "Season 1971" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.

[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] Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.

[4] "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 1 July 2021.

[5] "1971 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.

[S71-6] "Season 1971" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.

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v t Speedway in the United Kingdom
Current leagues	SGB Premiership SGB Championship National League List of United Kingdom speedway league champions
Former leagues	Elite League Premier League National League (1932–1964) Provincial League British League British League Division Two/National League Conference League National League Division Two National League Division Three English Dirt Track League/Northern League Southern League (1929–1931) Southern League (1952–1953) Provincial League (1936–1937) Southern Area League
See also	Knockout Cups League Riders' champions League Pairs champions League Fours champions British Speedway Championship British U-21 British U-19 Craven and Young Shields Elite Shield
See also	Speedway British Speedway Promoters' Association Speedway Control Bureau

v t United Kingdom Speedway Seasons
Tier One League Top division	1929 1929 1930 1930 1931 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Tier Two League Second division	1934 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Tier Three League Third division	1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1994 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Champions	League champions Cup winners