1978 British League season

1978 British League season

League	British League
Champions	Coventry Bees
No. of competitors	19
Knockout Cup	Ipswich Witches
Individual	Ole Olsen
Pairs	Cradley Heath & Coventry Bees
Highest average	Malcolm Simmons
Division/s below	1978 National League
← 1977 1979 →

The 1978 Gulf British League season was the 44th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 14th season known as the British League.^[1]

Summary[]

The list of nineteen teams that competed in the league was identical to the previous season. The league was sponsored by Gulf Oil for a fourth season.^[2]

Coventry Bees won their second title and their first for ten years. Belle Vue Aces were runners-up for the fourth time in five seasons and would receive a double blow when losing in the final of the Knockout Cup. Two time world champion Ole Olsen was in sensational form for Coventry and made the difference throughout the season. Olsen would also seal his third world individual crown by the end of the season. The Coventry side consisted of an array of overseas riders including Olsen and fellow Dane Alf Busk, New Zealander Mitch Shirra, Australian Gary Guglielmi and Jiří Štancl from Czechoslovakia.^[3]

League table[]

Pos	Team	M	W	D	L	Pts
1	Coventry Bees	36	27	0	9	54
2	Belle Vue Aces	36	26	0	10	52
3	Hull Vikings	36	22	2	12	46
4	Wimbledon Dons	36	22	1	13	45
5	Cradley Heathens	36	21	1	14	43
6	Ipswich Witches	36	21	1	14	43
7	Exeter Falcons	36	20	1	15	41
8	Sheffield Tigers	36	19	2	15	40
9	Bristol Bulldogs	36	19	0	17	38
10	Poole Pirates	36	17	3	16	37
11	Leicester Lions	36	17	0	19	34
12	Halifax Dukes	36	14	3	19	31
13	King's Lynn Stars	36	14	2	20	30
14	Reading Racers	36	13	3	20	29
15	White City Rebels	36	12	3	21	27
16	Swindon Robins	36	12	3	21	27
17	Wolverhampton Wolves	36	11	1	24	23
18	Birmingham Brummies	36	11	1	24	23
19	Hackney Hawks	36	10	1	25	21

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

Top Ten Riders[]

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Malcolm Simmons		Poole Pirates	10.78
2	Ole Olsen		Coventry Bees	10.71
3	Scott Autrey		Exeter Falcons	10.45
4	Peter Collins		Belle Vue Aces	10.44
5	Michael Lee		King's Lynn Stars	10.40
6	Chris Morton		Belle Vue Aces	10.31
7	Dave Jessup		Reading Racers	10.24
8	Billy Sanders		Ipswich Witches	10.23
9	Phil Crump		Bristol Bulldogs	9.99
10	Ivan Mauger		Hull Vikings	9.91

British League Knockout Cup[]

The 1978 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 40th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Ipswich Witches were the winners.^[4]

First Round[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
29/04	Kings Lynn	40-38	Hull
26/04	Hull	39-39	Kings Lynn
10/04	Exeter	44-34	Coventry
08/04	Coventry	44-34	Exeter
17/04	Birmingham	37-41	Poole
12/04	Poole	48-30	Birmingham
15/06	Coventry	37.5-40.5	Exeter
01/06	Exeter	48-30	Coventry

Second Round[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
19/07	Poole	49-29	Swindon
15/07	Swindon	37-41	Poole
09/06	Hackney	51-26	Kings Lynn
03/06	Kings Lynn	31-46	Hackney
06/07	Sheffield	45-33	Exeter#
	Exeter	52-26	Sheffield
10/06	Swindon	36-42	Poole
21/06	Poole	36-42	Swindon
03/06	Belle Vue	44-34	Wimbledon
08/06	Wimbledon	41-37	Belle Vue
23/06	Bristol	35-43	Leicester
06/06	Leicester	39-39	Bristol
10/06	Cradley Heath	38-40	Reading
05/06	Reading	37-41	Cradley Heath
13/06	White City	52-26	Halifax
10/06	Halifax	43-34	White City
09/06	Wolverhampton	40-38	Ipswich
08/06	Ipswich	43-34	Wolverhampton

Quarter Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
09/08	White City	23-54	Ipswich
05/08	Belle Vue	44-34	Poole
04/08	Poole	34-43	Belle Vue
29/07	Cradley Heath	48-30	Leicester
27/07	Ipswich	52-26	White City
21/07	Hackney	34-44	Exeter
11/07	Leicester	39-39	Cradley Heath
17/07	Exeter	58-20	Hackney

Semi Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
14/09	Ipswich	44-34	Cradley Heath
13/09	Cradley Heath	40-38	Ipswich
26/08	Belle Vue	57-21	Exeter
25/08	Exeter	51-27	Belle Vue

Final[]

First leg[]

Second leg[]

Ipswich were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 92-64.

Teams[]

Belle Vue Aces[]

1978

• 
• 
• 
• Les Collins
• Peter Collins
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Chris Morton
• 
• 
• Chris Turner
• Steve Wilcock
• Alan Wilkinson
• Sean Willmott
• Paul Woods

Birmingham Brummies[]

• 
• Phil Collins
• Alan Emerson
• Andy Grahame
• Richard Greer
• Phil Herne
• 
• Bengt Jansson
• Finn Jensen
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Malcolm Shakespeare
• Ray Wilson

Bristol Bulldogs[]

• 
• Nigel Boocock
• Phil Collins
• Bruce Cribb
• Phil Crump
• 
• Mike Ferreira
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Henny Kroeze
• 
• Sören Sjösten
• 
• 

Coventry Bees[]

• Mick Bell
• Alf Busk
• 
• Gary Guglielmi
• 
• Pip Lamb
• Alan Molyneux
• 
• Ole Olsen
• Mitch Shirra
• 
• Jiří Štancl

Cradley Heath[]

• Carl Askew
• Steve Bastable
• Phil Collins
• Bruce Cribb
• Alan Grahame
• 
• 
• Pip Lamb
• 
• Bruce Penhall
• Dave Perks
• 
• Arthur Price
• 
• 
• 
• 

Exeter Falcons[]

• 
• Scott Autrey
• 
• Ian Clark
• Phil Collins
• Aleš Dryml Sr.
• Reidar Eide
• Mike Farrell
• 
• Graham Jones
• Steve Lawson
• 
• Steve Koppe
• Pip Lamb
• 
• 
• 
• Les Rumsey
• 
• Jan Verner
• Václav Verner
• 
• Sean Willmott
• Paul Woods

Hackney Hawks[]

• Laurie Etheridge
• 
• Karl Fiala
• Bob Garrad
• Gary Guglielmi
• Vic Harding
• 
• 
• Bo Petersen
• 
• Malcolm Shakespeare
• 
• Barry Thomas
• Finn Thomsen
• Keith White
• Sean Willmott

Halifax Dukes[]

• 
• 
• 
• 
• Eric Broadbelt
• Kenny Carter
• Ian Cartwright
• Phil Collins
• 
• 
• Tom Godal
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Mike Lohmann
• 
• Chris Pusey
• 
• 
• 

Hull Vikings[]

• Frank Auffret
• Bobby Beaton
• 
• 
• Phil Collins
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Rod Hunter
• John Jackson
• 
• Ivan Mauger
• Joe Owen
• Kelly Moran
• Tom Owen
• 

Ipswich Witches[]

• Colin Cook
• Tony Davey
• 
• Georg Hack
• 
• 
• 
• Tim Hunt
• Kevin Jolly
• Mike Lanham
• John Louis
• Billy Sanders
• 
• 

King's Lynn Stars[]

• Terry Betts
• 
• Phil Collins
• David Gagen
• Carl Glover
• Derek Harrison
• Richard Hellsen
• 
• Michael Lee
• 
• 
• Pete Smith
• 
• Melvyn Taylor
• Ian Turner

Leicester Lions[]

• Ray Bales
• 
• John Boulger
• 
• Phil Collins
• 
• Lars Ericsson
• 
• Tom Godal
• 
• Neil Leeks
• 
• Colin Meredith
• Jerzy Rembas
• 
• 
• Malcolm Shakespeare
• Ila Teromaa
• John Titman
• Steve Wilcock

Poole Pirates[]

• 
• 
• 
• 
• Colin Gooddy
• 
• 
• Neil Middleditch
• Kelvin Mullarkey
• Malcolm Simmons
• Christer Sjösten
• Andrzej Tkocz
• Sean Willmott
• Martin Yeates

Reading Racers[]

• Roger Abel
• 
• 
• 
• Phil Collins
• John Davis
• Ian Gledhill
• Henryk Glücklich
• 
• Dave Jessup
• 
• Ashley Pullen
• Melvyn Taylor
• Doug Underwood
• Hans Wassermann

Sheffield Tigers[]

• 
• 
• 
• Billy Burton
• Ian Clark
• 
• Mike Ferreira
• Arnold Haley
• 
• Barney Kennett
• 
• 
• 
• Bernt Persson
• 
• Sean Willmott
• Reg Wilson
• 
• Doug Wyer

Swindon Robins[]

• Jan Andersson
• David Ashby
• Martin Ashby
• 
• Geoff Bouchard
• 
• Rolf Gramstad
• Robert Henry
• Malcolm Holloway
• 
• Bob Kilby
• Steen Mastrup
• 
• 
• 
• Jerzy Trzeszkowski

White City Rebels[]

• 
• Marek Cieślak
• Ian Clark
• 
• Paul Gachet
• Trevor Geer
• 
• 
• 
• Gordon Kennett
• Kai Niemi
• 
• Mike Sampson
• 
• 
• Steve Weatherley
• Sean Willmott
• Paul Woods

Wimbledon Dons[]

• 
• David Bargh
• 
• 
• 
• Trevor Geer
• 
• Edward Jancarz
• Roger Johns
• 
• 
• Colin Richardson
• Larry Ross
• 
• 
• Graeme Stapleton
• Steve Weatherley
• Ian Williams
• Paul Woods

Wolverhampton Wolves[]

• 
• Carl Askew
• 
• 
• Arthur Browning
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Jimmy McMillan
• Dave Morton
• Hans Nielsen
• Steve McDermott
• 
• Edgar Stangeland
• 
• 
• Steve Wilcock
• Sean Willmott
• Brian Woodward

See also[]

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

References[]

• British League Seasons