1982 British League season

1982 British League season

League	British League
Champions	Belle Vue Aces
No. of competitors	15
Knockout Cup	Cradley Heath Heathens
League Cup	Cradley Heath Heathens
Individual	Kenny Carter
Highest average	Kenny Carter
Division/s below	1982 National League
← 1981 1983 →

The 1982 British League season was the 48th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 18th known as the British League.^[1][2]

Summary[]

After a ten year drought Belle Vue Aces won the league pushing defending champions Cradley Heath into second place. A special performance was going to be needed to finish ahead of the star-studded Cradley Heath team and it was the consistency of the support riders which helped Belle Vue achieve this. England international Chris Morton was the heat leader but he was supported by a group of consistent scorers throughout the season that included Larry Ross (a former 5 times New Zealand champion), the former world champion Peter Collins, the Carr brothers Louis and Peter, Dane Peter Ravn and Scot Jim McMillan.^[3][4]Cradley Heath went on to win their third Knockout Cup in four years and the League Cup.

Hackney Wick Stadium was subject to a second fatal accident within two years when American Denny Pyeatt lost his life in a league match on 16 July. Pyeatt riding for Reading Racers crashed into a lamp standard.^[5][6]

Final table[]

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Belle Vue Aces	28	23	0	5	46
2	Cradley Heath Heathens	28	20	0	8	40
3	Ipswich Witches	28	16	2	10	34
4	Coventry Bees	28	16	2	10	34
5	Sheffield Tigers	28	14	3	11	31
6	Birmingham Brummies	28	13	1	14	27
7	Hackney Hawks	28	12	3	13	27
8	Swindon Robins	28	13	1	14	27
9	Reading Racers	28	12	2	14	26
10	Leicester Lions	28	13	0	15	26
11	Wimbledon Dons	28	12	2	14	26
12	Eastbourne Eagles	28	11	3	14	25
13	Halifax Dukes	28	10	1	17	21
14	King's Lynn Stars	28	9	3	16	21
15	Poole Pirates	28	3	3	22	9

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

Leading averages[]

Rider	Team	Average
Kenny Carter	Halifax	11.03
Bruce Penhall	Cradley Heath	10.74
Chris Morton	Belle Vue	10.18
Erik Gundersen	Cradley Heath	10.18
Dennis Sigalos	Ipswich	10.10
Jan Andersson	Reading	9.96
Hans Nielsen	Birmingham	9.89
Bobby Schwartz	Reading	9.83
Gordon Kennett	Eastbourne	9.72
Michael Lee	Kings Lynn	9.65
Kelly Moran	Eastbourne	9.62
Shawn Moran	Sheffield	9.55

British League Knockout Cup[]

The 1982 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 44th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Cradley Heath Heathens were the winners.^[7]

First Round[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
08/06	Leicester	45-33	Kings Lynn
06/06	Eastbourne	46-32	Swindon
05/06	Kings Lynn	48-30	Leicester
29/05	Halifax	45-33	Hackney
28/05	Hackney	38-40	Halifax
28/05	Ipswich	46-31	Coventry
27/05	Sheffield	42-36	Cradley Heath
22/05	Coventry	40-38	Ipswich
22/05	Cradley Heath	43-35	Sheffield
22/05	Swindon	38-40	Eastbourne
17/05	Reading	38-40	Belle Vue
15/05	Belle Vue	57-18	Reading
12/05	Poole	44-34	Birmingham
30/04	Birmingham	48-30	Poole

Quarter Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
19/08	Wimbledon	40-38	Eastbourne
09/08	Cradley Heath	41-37	Ipswich
01/08	Eastbourne	43-35	Wimbledon
29/07	Ipswich	38.5-39.5	Cradley Heath
19/07	Birmingham	43-35	Kings Lynn
17/07	Kings Lynn	43-35	Birmingham
11/07	Halifax	41-37	Belle Vue
10/07	Belle Vue	44-34	Halifax
25/09	Kings Lynn	42-36	Birmingham
13/09	Birmingham	40-38	Kings Lynn

Semi Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
03/10	Kings Lynn	36-42	Belle Vue
02/10	Belle Vue	49-29	Kings Lynn
19/09	Eastbourne	41-36	Cradley Heath
18/09	Cradley Heath	48-30	Eastbourne

Final[]

First leg[]

Second leg[]

Cradley were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 81-75.

League Cup[]

The League Cup was split into North and South sections. The two-legged final was won by Cradley Heath Heathens beating Ipswich Witches in the final 83-73 on aggregate.

South Group[]

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Ipswich Witches	14	12	0	2	24
2	Eastbourne Eagles	14	8	2	4	18
3	Wimbledon Dons	14	8	1	5	17
4	Poole Pirates	14	6	0	8	12
5	Hackney Hawks	14	6	0	8	12
6	Reading Racers	14	6	0	8	12
7	King's Lynn Stars	14	5	0	9	10
8	Swindon Robins	14	3	1	10	7

North Group[]

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Cradley Heathens	12	8	2	2	18
2	Coventry Bees	12	9	0	5	18
3	Belle Vue Aces	12	6	2	4	14
4	Halifax Dukes	11	6	1	4	13
5	Birmingham Brummies	12	3	1	8	7
6	Leicester Lions	11	3	1	7	7
7	Sheffield Tigers	12	2	1	9	5

Final[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
19/06	Cradley Heath	42–36	Ipswich
24/06	Ipswich	37–41	Cradley Heath

Teams[]

Belle Vue Aces[]

• Bobby Beaton
• 
• Louis Carr
• Peter Carr
• Peter Collins
• Rod Hunter
• 
• Jimmy McMillan
• Chris Morton
• Peter Ravn
• Larry Ross
• Andy Smith

Birmingham Brummies[]

• Bruce Cribb
• Armando Dal Chiele
• Aleš Dryml Sr.
• 
• Neil Evitts
• 
• Andy Grahame
• John Jørgensen
• 
• Zdeněk Kudrna
• Karl Maier
• Alan Molyneux
• Hans Nielsen
• 
• 
• Paul Thorp
• 

Coventry Bees[]

• Alf Busk
• David Gagen
• Gary Guglielmi
• 
• Tommy Knudsen
• 
• 
• Ole Olsen
• 
• Mitch Shirra
• Keith White
• Steve Wilcock

Cradley Heath[]

• 
• 
• Phil Collins
• Simon Cross
• 
• Ian Gledhill
• Alan Grahame
• Erik Gundersen
• 
• Lance King
• Steve Lawson
• Kenny McKinna
• Joe Owen
• Bruce Penhall
• 
• Jan Verner
• Simon Wigg

Eastbourne Eagles[]

• 
• Ian Barney
• 
• 
• 
• Lillebror Johansson
• Barney Kennett
• 
• Gordon Kennett
• Kenny McKinna
• Kelly Moran
• Ron Preston
• 
• 
• Barry Thomas
• Paul Woods
• 

Hackney Hawks[]

• Ian Clark
• Marvyn Cox
• Bob Garrad
• Martin Hagon
• Antonín Kasper Jr.
• Bo Petersen
• Jens Rasmussen
• 
• Barry Thomas
• Finn Thomsen
• John Titman
• Sean Willmott

Halifax Dukes[]

• 
• Steve Baker
• Kenny Carter
• Ian Cartwright
• Martin Dixon
• 
• John Louis
• 
• 
• 
• Doug Wyer
• 

Ipswich Witches[]

• 
• John Cook
• 
• Jeremy Doncaster
• Preben Eriksen
• 
• 
• Kevin Jolly
• Mike Lanham
• Dennis Sigalos
• 

King's Lynn Stars[]

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Richard Hellsen
• 
• 
• 
• Michael Lee
• 
• 
• 
• Colin Richardson
• Billy Sanders
• Melvyn Taylor

Leicester Lions[]

• Les Collins
• Neil Collins
• Colin Cook
• Mark Courtney
• Derek Harrison
• Phil Herne
• Finn Jensen
• Joe Owen
• Steve Regeling
• 

Poole Pirates[]

• 
• Scott Autrey
• 
• Mikael Blixt
• Andy Campbell
• John Davis
• 
• 
• 
• Neil Middleditch
• 
• 
• 
• Kevin Smith
• Václav Verner

Reading Racers[]

• 
• Jan Andersson
• Bob Garrad
• 
• 
• Derek Harrison
• Tim Hunt
• 
• 
• Ashley Pullen
• 
• 
• Steve Schofield
• Bobby Schwartz
• Jiří Štancl
• 

Sheffield Tigers[]

• David Bargh
• Wayne Brown
• 
• Mark Fiora
• 
• Shawn Moran
• Dave Morton
• Zenon Plech
• 
• Reg Wilson

Swindon Robins[]

• 
• Steve Bastable
• 
• Eric Broadbelt
• Phil Crump
• Mike Ferreira
• 
• 
• Malcolm Holloway
• 
• Steen Mastrup
• 
• Steve Schofield
• 
• Jan Verner
• Martin Yeates

Wimbledon Dons[]

• Trevor Banks
• 
• 
• Edward Jancarz
• Dave Jessup
• 
• Roger Johns
• Richard Knight
• 
• Alan Mogridge
• Kai Niemi
• Brad Oxley
• 
• Malcolm Simmons

See also[]

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

References[]