1976 British League season

1976 British League season
League	British League
Champions	Ipswich Witches
No. of competitors	19
Knockout Cup	Ipswich Witches
Individual	Ole Olsen
Pairs	Ipswich Witches
Highest average	John Louis
Division/s below	1976 National League
	← 1975; 1977 →;

The 1976 Gulf British League season was the 42nd season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom^[1] and the 12th season known as the British League.^[2]

Summary[]

The White City Rebels made their debut as did 1975 National League champions Birmingham Brummies.^[3] Oxford Cheetahs dropped down a division with White City inheriting both their riders and their nickname. The league was sponsored by Gulf Oil for a second season.

Ipswich Witches won their second consecutive title. The Witches team was once again headed by John Louis and Billy Sanders but this time Tony Davey also scored well with an average of 8.37, resulting in a comfortable league title success for the Suffolk team. The team then went on to claim the double on 28 October by winning the Knockout Cup.^[4]

Wimbledon Dons had the worst possible start to a season when their leading rider and the man touted to be a world champion Tommy Jansson died during a 1976 Individual Speedway World Championship meeting in Stockholm, on 20 May.^[5]

Final table[]

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Ipswich Witches	36	27	1	8	55
2	Belle Vue Aces	36	23	2	11	48
3	Exeter Falcons	36	23	2	11	48
4	Coventry Bees	36	21	2	13	44
5	Swindon Robins	36	19	4	13	42
6	Reading Racers	36	19	3	14	41
7	Hackney Hawks	36	20	0	16	40
8	Newport	36	19	1	16	39
9	Cradley United	36	19	1	16	39
10	Poole Pirates	36	18	1	17	37
11	Wolverhampton Wolves	36	18	1	17	37
12	Hull Vikings	36	18	0	18	36
13	White City Rebels	36	16	3	17	35
14	King's Lynn Stars	36	16	3	17	35
15	Halifax Dukes	36	14	1	21	29
16	Wimbledon Dons	36	12	3	21	27
17	Sheffield Tigers	36	13	1	22	27
18	Birmingham Brummies	36	7	0	29	14
19	Leicester Lions	36	5	1	30	11

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

Top Ten Riders[]

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	John Louis		Ipswich Witches	11.10
2=	Ivan Mauger		Exeter Falcons	11.00
2=	Ole Olsen		Coventry Bees	11.00
4	Peter Collins		Belle Vue Aces	10.98
5	Phil Crump		Newport	10.68
6	Dave Jessup		Reading Racers	10.42
7	Malcolm Simmons		Poole Pirates	10.30
8	Dave Morton		Hackney Hawks	10.28
9	John Boulger		Cradley United	9.93
10	Martin Ashby		Swindon Robins	9.89

British League Knockout Cup[]

The 1976 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 38th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Ipswich Witches were the winners.^[6]

First Round[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
04/05	Leicester	39-39	Halifax
29/04	Wimbledon	48-30	Birmingham
26/04	Birmingham	38-40	Wimbledon
10/04	Coventry	48-30	Wolverhampton
09/04	Wolverhampton	38-39	Coventry
27/03	Halifax	41-37	Leicester

Second Round[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
31/07	Belle Vue	49-29	Wimbledon
01/07	Coventry	46-32	White City
27/06	Halifax	46-32	Hull
24/06	Wimbledon	35-43	Belle Vue
21/06	Exeter	46-32	Newport
12/06	Cradley Heath	34-44	Ipswich
10/06	Ipswich	39-38	Cradley Heath
09/06	Hull	44.5-33.5	Halifax
04/06	Hackney	40-38	Reading
04/06	Newport	47-31	Exeter
03/06	Sheffield	36-42	Kings Lynn
02/06	Poole	42-36	Swindon
31/05	Reading	37-41	Hackney
29/05	Swindon	54-24	Poole
26/05	White City	49-29	Coventry
22/05	Kings Lynn	42-36	Sheffield

Quarter Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
18/09	Halifax	47-31	Hackney
03/09	Hackney	41-37	Halifax
26/08	Ipswich	45-33	Swindon
23/08	Belle Vue	45-33	Newport
18/08	White City	38-40	Kings Lynn
14/08	Kings Lynn	44-34	White City
13/08	Newport	40-38	Belle Vue
24/07	Swindon	44-34	Ipswich

Semi Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
03/10	Halifax	42-35	Kings Lynn
02/10	Belle Vue	41-37	Ipswich
30/09	Ipswich	43-35	Belle Vue
29/09	Kings Lynn	46-32	Halifax

Final[]

First leg[]

17 October 1976

King's Lynn Stars Michael Lee 12 Ian Turner 11 Terry Betts 7 David Gagen 3 Ray Bales 3 Richard Hellsen 1 Adi Funk 0	36 - 41	Ipswich Witches John Louis 11 8 Tony Davey 7 Billy Sanders 6 Mike Lanham 4 3 Kevin Jolly 2
	^[7]

King's Lynn Stadium

Second leg[]

28 October 1976

Ipswich Witches John Louis 12 Billy Sanders 10 Tony Davey 8 7 Mike Lanham 7 3 Kevin Jolly 3	50 - 27	King's Lynn Stars Terry Betts 10 Michael Lee 9 Ian Turner 5 Richard Hellsen 2 1 Pete Smith 0 David Gagen 0
	^[7]

Foxhall Stadium

Ipswich Witches were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 91-63.

Teams[]

Belle Vue Aces[]

Les Collins
Peter Collins
Steve Lawson
Chris Morton
Chris Turner
Alan Wilkinson

Birmingham Brummies[]

Carl Askew
Arthur Browning
Alan Grahame
Andy Grahame
Jan Terje Gravningen
Garry Middleton
Audun Ove Olsen
Lou Sansom
Sören Sjösten
Bob Valentine

Coventry Bees[]

Nigel Boocock
Ole Olsen
Alan Molyneux
Mitch Shirra
Jiří Štancl

Cradley United[]

Steve Bastable
John Boulger
Ian Clark
Colin Cook
Bruce Cribb
Dave Perks
Bernt Persson
Arthur Price

Exeter Falcons[]

Scott Autrey
Mike Farrell
Brian Havelock
Kevin Holden
Steve Koppe
Ivan Mauger
Geoff Mudge
Kelvin Mullarkey
Chris Robins
Les Rumsey
John Titman

Hackney Hawks[]

Laurie Etheridge
Karl Fiala
Trevor Hedge
Dave Morton
Zenon Plech
Barry Thomas
Keith White

Halifax Dukes[]

Ian Cartwright
Henny Kroeze
Mike Lohmann
Charlie Monk
Graham Plant
Chris Pusey

Hull Vikings[]

Frank Auffret
Bobby Beaton
Barry Briggs
Brian Havelock
Egon Müller
Joe Owen
Tom Owen

Ipswich Witches[]

Tony Davey
Colin Cook
Kevin Jolly
Mike Lanham
John Louis
Billy Sanders

Leicester Lions[]

Ernst Bøgh
Reidar Eide
Alan Emerson
Vic Harding
Tony Lomas
Hugh Saunders
Grzegorz Szczepanik
Ila Teromaa
Pepe Teromaa
Doug Underwood
Ray Wilson

Newport[]

Phil Crump
Phil Herne
Robert Henry
Barney Kennett
Neil Street
Kelvin Mullarkey
Brian Woodward

Poole Pirates[]

Eric Broadbelt
Vic Harding
Richard May
Neil Middleditch
Malcolm Simmons
Christer Sjösten
Pete Smith
Martin Yeates

Reading Racers[]

Mick Bell
John Davis
Ian Gledhill
Dave Jessup
Bolesław Proch

Sheffield Tigers[]

Ernst Bøgh
Louis Carr
Carl Glover
Arnold Haley
Taffy Owen
Reg Wilson
Doug Wyer

Swindon Robins[]

Jan Andersson
David Ashby
Martin Ashby
Geoff Bouchard
Ian Clark
Karl Fiala
Norman Hunter
Bob Kilby
Brian Leonard
Kelvin Mullarkey
Colin Richardson
Chris Robins

White City Rebels[]

Paul Gachet
Trevor Geer
Richard Greer
Richard Hellsen
Gordon Kennett
Steve Lawson
Dag Lövaas
Kai Niemi
Steve Weatherley

Wimbledon Dons[]

Tommy Jansson
Roger Johns
Colin Richardson
Larry Ross
Edgar Stangeland

Wolverhampton Wolves[]

George Hunter
John Jackson
Jimmy McMillan
Giuseppe Marzotto
Steve McDermott
Colin Meredith
Chris Robins
Malcolm Shakespeare
Finn Thomsen
Martin Yeates

References[]

^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
^ "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
^ "Legend Who Died Young". Retro Speedway. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
^ "1976 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
^ ^a ^b "Season 1976" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.

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

[2] "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.

[3] "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 2 July 2021.

[4] Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.

[5] "Legend Who Died Young". Retro Speedway. Retrieved 28 July 2021.

[6] "1976 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.

[S76-7] "Season 1976" (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
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