1979 British League season

1979 British League season

League	British League
Champions	Coventry Bees
No. of competitors	18
Knockout Cup	Cradley Heath Heathens
Individual	John Louis
Highest average	Scott Autrey
Division/s below	1979 National League
← 1978 1980 →

The 1979 Gulf British League season was the 45th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 15th season known as the British League.^[1][2]

Summary[]

The league was sponsored by Gulf Oil for a fifth season. It comprised 18 teams - one fewer than the previous season.^[3] White City Rebels had folded and their riders became Eastbourne Eagles assets as Eastbourne were promoted from the National League. Bristol Bulldogs also dropped out after only two seasons back in the top flight.^[4]

Coventry Bees won the league for the second year running. Hull Vikings' second place was their best ever finish. The Coventry Bees team was similar to the previous season with a young 18 year-old Danish newcomer Tommy Knudsen replacing Jiří Štancl from the previous season. Alan Molyneux once again backed up the Coventry overseas contingent with a solid average.^[5] Cradley Heath won the Knockout Cup mainly thanks to their USA superstar Bruce Penhall. The Cradley team also had their own young Danish newcomer in 20 year-old Erik Gundersen and 20 year-old Hans Nielsen posted a 10 plus average for the season riding for Wolves. The future looked extremely bright for Denmark.

During the new British League Fours tournament a horrific accident took place at Hackney Wick Stadium on Friday 8 June. In the final heat between Hackney and Eastbourne all four riders were competing when Hackney's Vic Harding and Eastbourne's Steve Weatherley touched and their bikes became locked together. They were both thrown from their bikes into the fence and the metal post supporting one of the track lights. Both riders were taken to hospital but Harding died later that night and Weatherley was left paralysed.^[6] Further bad news filtered though in December after the season had finished, when Poole Pirate's Christer Sjösten died following serious injuries sustained in a race in Australia.

Final table[]

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Coventry Bees	34	26	0	8	52
2	Hull Vikings	34	24	2	8	50
3	Cradley Heath Heathens	34	24	0	10	48
4	King's Lynn Stars	34	22	1	11	45
5	Exeter Falcons	33	20	0	13	40
6	Halifax Dukes	34	18	0	16	36
7	Reading Racers	34	17	0	17	34
8	Swindon Robins	33	15	3	15	33
9	Wimbledon Dons	34	16	1	17	33
10	Belle Vue Aces	34	14	4	16	32
11	Wolverhampton Wolves	34	15	1	18	31
12	Poole Pirates	34	14	3	17	31
13	Sheffield Tigers	34	14	2	18	30
14	Birmingham Brummies	34	13	2	19	28
15	Ipswich Witches	34	12	2	20	26
16	Eastbourne Eagles	34	10	2	22	22
17	Leicester Lions	34	10	0	24	20
18	Hackney Hawks	34	9	1	24	19

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

Top Ten Riders[]

The top ten averages recorded at the end of the season.^[7]

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Scott Autrey		Exeter Falcons	10.91
2	Ivan Mauger		Hull Vikings	10.54
3	Phil Crump		Swindon Robins	10.36
4	Michael Lee		King's Lynn Stars	10.29
5	John Davis		Reading Racers	10.22
6	Hans Nielsen		Wolverhampton Wolves	10.16
7	Gordon Kennett		Eastbourne Eagles	10.13
8	Ole Olsen		Coventry Bees	10.03
9	Bruce Penhall		Cradley Heathens	10.02
10	Dave Jessup		King's Lynn Stars	9.80

British League Knockout Cup[]

The 1979 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 41st edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Cradley Heath were the winners.^[8]

First Round[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
16/06	Cradley Heath	66-42	Leicester
29/05	Leicester	40-68	Cradley Heath
20/04	Eastbourne	65-43	Ipswich
19/04	Ipswich	53-54	Eastbourne

Second Round[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
10/09	Cradley Heath	78-29	Wimbledon
09/08	Wimbledon	54-53	Cradley Heath
06/07	Eastbourne	65-43	Reading
18/06	Birmingham	59-49	Swindon
16/06	Coventry	74-34	Poole
16/06	King's Lynn	53-55	Wolverhampton
16/06	Swindon	62-46	Birmingham
15/06	Poole	59-48	Coventry
15/06	Wolverhampton	56-52	King's Lynn
11/06	Reading	77-31	Eastbourne
02/06	Belle Vue	61-47	Exeter
01/06	Hull	81-25	Sheffield
31/05	Exeter	70-38	Belle Vue
31/05	Sheffield	60-48	Hull

Quarter Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
24/09	Cradley Heath	71-37	Wolverhampton
21/09	Wolverhampton	52-56	Cradley Heath
20/08	Reading	53-55	Halifax
14/07	Halifax	79-29	Reading
03/08	Exeter	56-52	Swindon
18/07	Hull	75-34	Coventry
14/07	Coventry	60-48	Hull
14/07	Swindon	46-62	Exeter

Semi Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
07/10	Halifax	49-59	Cradley Heath
06/10	Cradley Heath	43-23	Halifax
19/09	Hull	70-38	Exeter
17/09	Exeter	60-48	Hull

Final[]

First leg[]

Second leg[]

Cradley Heath were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 120-96.

Teams[]

Belle Vue Aces[]

• 
• 
• 
• Les Collins
• Peter Collins
• Arnold Haley
• 
• Rod Hunter
• Barney Kennett
• Karl Maier
• 
• Chris Morton
• 
• 
• 
• 

Birmingham Brummies[]

• 
• Steve Bastable
• 
• 
• Louis Carr
• Ian Clark
• 
• Alan Emerson
• Ian Gledhill
• Andy Grahame
• Richard Greer
• Phil Herne
• 
• Finn Jensen
• 
• Steve Lawson
• 
• Billy Sanders
• 
• 
• Ray Wilson

Coventry Bees[]

• Mick Bell
• Alf Busk
• 
• Louis Carr
• 
• 
• Gary Guglielmi
• 
• Barney Kennett
• Tommy Knudsen
• 
• Alan Molyneux
• Ole Olsen
• Mitch Shirra

Cradley Heath[]

• Carl Askew
• Steve Bastable
• Louis Carr
• 
• Phil Collins
• 
• Ian Gledhill
• Alan Grahame
• Erik Gundersen
• 
• Pip Lamb
• Bruce Penhall
• Dave Perks
• 
• Les Rumsey
• Bobby Schwartz
• Ila Teromaa
• 

Eastbourne Eagles[]

• Roger Abel
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Trevor Geer
• 
• Gordon Kennett
• Kai Niemi
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Steve Weatherley
• Paul Woods

Exeter Falcons[]

• Scott Autrey
• Nigel Boocock
• 
• Louis Carr
• Aleš Dryml Sr.
• Steve Koppe
• Zdeněk Kudrna
• 
• 
• 
• Jan Verner
• Václav Verner
• 

Hackney Hawks[]

• 
• 
• 
• Peter Carr
• 
• Laurie Etheridge
• Karl Fiala
• Ian Gledhill
• 
• Vic Harding
• 
• 
• Bo Petersen
• Zenon Plech
• Kevin Smith
• Barry Thomas
• Finn Thomsen
• 
• Sean Willmott
• Keith White

Halifax Dukes[]

• Kenny Carter
• Ian Cartwright
• 
• 
• 
• Mike Lohmann
• 
• Graham Plant
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Steve Wilcock

Hull Vikings[]

• Frank Auffret
• Bobby Beaton
• 
• Louis Carr
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Brian Havelock
• Rod Hunter
• Ivan Mauger
• Kelly Moran
• Joe Owen
• 
• Dennis Sigalos
• Graeme Stapleton
• 

Ipswich Witches[]

• 
• Colin Cook
• Tony Davey
• Preben Eriksen
• 
• Georg Hack
• 
• 
• Tim Hunt
• Kevin Jolly
• Mike Lanham
• John Louis
• Anders Michanek
• Billy Sanders
• Milan Špinka
• 
• 

King's Lynn Stars[]

• 
• 
• David Gagen
• Bob Garrad
• Derek Harrison
• Richard Hellsen
• 
• Dave Jessup
• Michael Lee
• 
• Kevin Smith
• Pete Smith
• Ian Turner
• 

Leicester Lions[]

• John Boulger
• 
• Colin Cook
• Mike Farrell
• Tom Godal
• 
• Robert Henry
• 
• 
• Ila Teromaa
• John Titman
• 
• Chris Turner

Poole Pirates[]

• 
• Louis Carr
• 
• Nigel Crabtree
• 
• 
• Barney Kennett
• Neil Middleditch
• Kelvin Mullarkey
• Ron Preston
• 
• Malcolm Simmons
• Christer Sjösten
• 
• 
• Andrzej Tkocz
• Martin Yeates

Reading Racers[]

• Jan Andersson
• Terry Betts
• 
• 
• John Davis
• Reidar Eide
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Ashley Pullen
• Malcolm Shakespeare
• Jiří Štancl
• Melvyn Taylor
• Doug Underwood
• Alois Wiesböck
• Brian Woodward

Sheffield Tigers[]

• 
• Eric Broadbelt
• Arthur Browning
• Neil Collins
• Laurie Etheridge
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Henny Kroeze
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Reg Wilson
• Doug Wyer

Swindon Robins[]

• Martin Ashby
• Geoff Bouchard
• Louis Carr
• Phil Crump
• Rolf Gramstad
• 
• 
• Malcolm Holloway
• Bob Kilby
• Steen Mastrup
• Milan Špinka

Wimbledon Dons[]

• 
• Ian Gledhill
• 
• Bert Harkins
• 
• Edward Jancarz
• Roger Johns
• Richard Knight
• 
• 
• 
• Colin Richardson
• Larry Ross
• 
• 

Wolverhampton Wolves[]

• Carl Askew
• 
• 
• Wayne Brown
• 
• Bruce Cribb
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Ian Gledhill
• 
• George Hunter
• Jimmy McMillan
• Dave Morton
• Hans Nielsen
• Trond Helge Skretting
• Edgar Stangeland
• 
• 

See also[]

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

References[]