1981 British League season

1981 British League season

League	British League
Champions	Cradley Heath Heathens
No. of competitors	16
Knockout Cup	Ipswich Witches
League Cup	Coventry Bees
Individual	Kenny Carter
Highest average	Bruce Penhall
Division/s below	1981 National League
← 1980 1982 →

The 1981 British League season was the 47th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 17th known as the British League.^[1]

Summary[]

The league comprised 16 teams - one fewer than the previous season. Wolverhampton Wolves had dropped down to the National League.^[2]

American Bruce Penhall (who would be crowned world champion by the end of the season) topped the averages and helped Cradley Heathens win their first title. The Cradley team included Penhall, rising Danish star Erik Gundersen and British internationals Alan Grahame and Phil Collins. The league runner-up Ipswich Witches gained some consolation by winning the Knockout Cup.^[3]

Final League table[]

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Cradley Heathens	30	26	1	3	53
2	Ipswich Witches	30	21	4	5	46
3	Swindon Robins	30	19	3	8	41
4	Belle Vue Aces	30	19	1	10	39
5	Coventry Bees	30	18	0	12	36
6	Birmingham Brummies	30	13	1	16	27
7	Halifax Dukes	30	13	1	16	27
8	Hackney Hawks	30	12	2	16	26
9	Poole Pirates	30	12	2	16	26
10	Sheffield Tigers	30	13	0	17	26
11	Reading Racers	30	9	7	14	25
12	Hull Vikings	30	10	4	16	24
13	Eastbourne Eagles	30	10	3	17	23
14	King's Lynn Stars	30	10	2	18	22
15	Leicester Lions	30	11	0	19	22
16	Wimbledon Dons	30	7	3	20	17

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

Top ten riders[]

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Bruce Penhall		Cradley Heathens	11.08
2	Kenny Carter		Halifax Dukes	10.50
3	Phil Crump		Swindon Robins	10.39
4	Michael Lee		King's Lynn Stars	10.34
5	Erik Gundersen		Cradley Heathens	10.26
6	Chris Morton		Belle Vue Aces	10.26
7	Jan Andersson		Reading Racers	10.02
8	Gordon Kennett		Eastbourne Eagles	9.95
9	Kelly Moran		Eastbourne Eagles	9.83
10	Hans Nielsen		Birmingham Brummies	9.83

British League Knockout Cup[]

The 1981 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 43rd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Ipswich Witches were the winners.^[4]

First Round[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
04/06	Middlesbrough	43-53	Eastbourne
23/05	Berwick	39-57	Wimbledon
08/05	Peterborough	50-46	Halifax
04/05	Newcastle	40-56	Leicester
08/05	Edinburgh	49-47	Sheffield
12/04	Mildenhall	38-58	Poole
31/05	Rye House	34-62	Birmingham
03/05	Boston	47-48	Hull

Second Round[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
08/07	Poole	49-47	Leicester
24/06	Hull	54-42	Belle Vue
23/06	Leicester	51-45	Poole
20/06	Cradley Heath	60-36	Eastbourne
14/06	Peterborough	38-58	Birmingham
13/06	Belle Vue	53-43	Hull
11/06	Wimbledon	40-56	Reading
08/06	Birmingham	63-33	Peterborough
08/06	Reading	55-41	Wimbledon
07/06	Eastbourne	49-47	Cradley Heath
30/05	Coventry	63-33	Hackney
30/05	Swindon	69-27	Edinburgh
29/05	Hackney	37-59	Coventry
01/05	Kings Lynn	47-49	Ipswich
21/05	Ipswich	53-43	Kings Lynn
12/06	Edinburgh	47-49	Swindon

Quarter Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
03/09	Swindon	74-22	Leicester
25/08	Leicester	45-51	Swindon
20/08	Ipswich	54-42	Cradley Heath
12/08	Cradley Heath	48-48	Ipswich
03/08	Reading	51-45	Coventry
24/07	Birmingham	52-44	Hull
22/07	Hull	49-47	Birmingham
11/07	Coventry	49-45	Reading

Semi Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
28/09	Reading	49-47	Birmingham
18/09	Birmingham	54-42	Reading
18/09	Swindon	46-50	Ipswich
10/09	Ipswich	57-39	Swindon

Final[]

First leg[]

Second leg[]

The Ipswich Witches were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 100-92.

League Cup[]

The League Cup was inaugurated in 1981 with the 16 teams split into North and South sections comprising 8 teams each that met each other home and away. The winners of each section qualified for the two-legged final with Coventry Bees beating King's Lynn Stars in the final 120-70 on aggregate.

North Group[]

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Coventry Bees	14	12	0	2	24
2	Cradley Heathens	14	11	0	3	22
3	Belle Vue Aces	14	7	0	7	14
4	Sheffield Tigers	14	7	0	7	14
5	Birmingham Brummies	14	6	0	8	12
6	Hull Vikings	14	5	0	9	10
7	Leicester Lions	14	4	0	10	8
8	Halifax Dukes	14	4	0	10	8

South Group[]

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	King's Lynn Stars	14	10	1	3	21
2	Reading Racers	14	10	0	4	20
3	Ipswich Witches	14	9	0	5	18
4	Poole Pirates	14	7	0	7	14
5	Swindon Robins	14	7	0	7	14
6	Hackney Hawks	14	5	1	8	11
7	Eastbourne Eagles	14	5	0	9	10
8	Wimbledon Dons	14	2	0	12	4

Final[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
10/10	Coventry	68–28	King's Lynn
11/10	King's Lynn	42–54	Coventry

Teams[]

Belle Vue Aces[]

• 
• 
• Louis Carr
• Peter Carr
• Neil Collins
• Peter Collins
• 
• 
• Mike Lohmann
• 
• Jimmy McMillan
• Chris Morton
• Peter Ravn
• Larry Ross

Birmingham Brummies[]

• 
• Arthur Browning
• Billy Burton
• 
• 
• Bruce Cribb
• 
• Martin Dixon
• 
• Neil Evitts
• Ian Gledhill
• Andy Grahame
• Finn Jensen
• 
• Hans Nielsen
• Kai Niemi
• 
• Les Rumsey
• Paul Thorp
• Simon Wigg
• 
• 

Coventry Bees[]

• 
• Alf Busk
• Laurie Etheridge
• Gary Guglielmi
• Brian Havelock
• 
• 
• Tommy Knudsen
• 
• Ole Olsen
• 
• Mitch Shirra
• Keith White
• Steve Wilcock

Cradley Heath[]

• 
• Phil Collins
• Alan Grahame
• Erik Gundersen
• Arnold Haley
• 
• Bruce Penhall
• Dave Perks
• 
• 
• Simon Wigg

Eastbourne Eagles[]

• 
• Trevor Geer
• Richard Greer
• 
• Barney Kennett
• 
• Gordon Kennett
• 
• 
• Kelly Moran
• Kai Niemi
• 
• 
• Robert Słaboń
• Olli Tyrväinen
• Paul Woods

Hackney Hawks[]

• 
• Ian Clark
• Bob Garrad
• Martin Hagon
• 
• Kelvin Mullarkey
• Roman Jankowski
• 
• Bo Petersen
• Zenon Plech
• Jens Rasmussen
• Barry Thomas
• Finn Thomsen
• Sean Willmott

Halifax Dukes[]

• 
• Steve Baker
• Billy Burton
• Kenny Carter
• Ian Cartwright
• Martin Dixon
• John Louis
• 
• 
• Trond Helge Skretting
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Doug Wyer

Hull Vikings[]

• Frank Auffret
• David Bargh
• Bobby Beaton
• 
• 
• 
• Alan Emerson
• 
• Rod Hunter
• Ivan Mauger
• 
• Joe Owen
• 
• Billy Sanders
• 
• 

Ipswich Witches[]

• John Cook
• Preben Eriksen
• 
• 
• Tim Hunt
• Kevin Jolly
• Mike Lanham
• Dennis Sigalos
• 

King's Lynn Stars[]

• Pierre Brannefors
• Wayne Brown
• Arthur Browning
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• David Gagen
• Richard Hellsen
• Dave Jessup
• Michael Lee
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Melvyn Taylor

Leicester Lions[]

• Ian Clark
• Les Collins
• Colin Cook
• Mark Courtney
• Finn Jensen
• Ian Gledhill
• Rolf Gramstad
• Phil Herne
• Andrzej Huszcza
• Rob Lightfoot
• Pete Smith
• Steve Regeling
• John Titman
• 

Poole Pirates[]

• 
• Scott Autrey
• 
• 
• Andy Campbell
• John Davis
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Neil Middleditch
• Ron Preston
• 
• Kevin Smith
• 

Reading Racers[]

• 
• 
• Jan Andersson
• 
• John Davis
• Ian Gledhill
• Andrzej Huszcza
• Richard Knight
• 
• 
• Steve McDermott
• 
• Anders Michanek
• Kelvin Mullarkey
• Ashley Pullen
• 
• 
• Bobby Schwartz
• 

Sheffield Tigers[]

• Eric Broadbelt
• Wayne Brown
• 
• Mark Fiora
• 
• Alan Molyneux
• Shawn Moran
• Dave Morton
• 
• Reg Wilson
• 

Swindon Robins[]

• 
• Steve Bastable
• 
• 
• 
• Phil Crump
• Mike Ferreira
• 
• Malcolm Holloway
• 
• 
• 
• Steve Lawson
• Steen Mastrup
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Martin Yeates

Wimbledon Dons[]

• 
• 
• 
• 
• Robert Henry
• 
• Edward Jancarz
• 
• Roger Johns
• 
• Alan Mogridge
• Brad Oxley
• 
• Jerzy Rembas
• Colin Richardson
• 
• Malcolm Simmons
• Simon Wigg
• 

See also[]

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

References[]