1984 British League season

1984 British League season

League	British League
Champions	Ipswich Witches
Knockout Cup	Ipswich Witches
League Cup	Cradley Heath Heathens
Individual	Chris Morton
Pairs	Belle Vue Aces
Highest average	Hans Nielsen
Division/s below	1984 National League
← 1983 1985 →

The 1984 British League season was the 50th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 20th known as the British League.^[1]

Team changes[]

Three teams dropped out and four teams replaced them. Midland's clubs Birmingham Brummies and Leicester Lions both dropped out and Hackney Hawks dropped to the National League, becoming the Hackney Kestrels after taking over from the Crayford Kestrels. The new teams to the league were Oxford Cheetahs, Newcastle Diamonds, Exeter Falcons (all from the National League) and the returning Wolverhampton Wolves who did not ride in 1982 and 1983.

Summary[]

Oxford Cheetahs were financed by David Hawkins of Northern Sports. They bought Hans Nielsen from Birmingham for a record £30,000, Simon Wigg for £25,000 from Cradley Heath, Marvyn Cox for £15,000 from Rye House, Melvyn Taylor for £12,000 from King's Lynn and Jens Rasmussen.^[2] Defending champions Cradley Heath had a poor season after losing Wigg to Oxford and loaning Jan O. Pedersen to Sheffield Tigers in the National League.

The 50th season of British speedway saw Ipswich Witches win the league and cup double. The Suffolk team had a great season despite losing their leading rider Dennis Sigalos who rode for Wolverhampton Wolves during the season. Australian Billy Sanders remained one of the teams main scorers and he was supported by strong season scoring from American showman John Cook, Finn Kai Niemi and the English international pair of Jeremy Doncaster and Richard Knight. ^[3]

Final table[]

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Ipswich Witches	30	25	2	3	52
2	Belle Vue Aces	29	23	3	3	49
3	Cradley Heath Heathens	30	21	2	7	44
4	Reading Racers	30	17	1	12	35
5	Sheffield Tigers	30	15	0	15	30
6	King's Lynn Stars	30	15	0	15	30
7	Wimbledon Dons	30	15	0	15	30
8	Oxford Cheetahs	30	14	1	15	29
9	Swindon Robins	29	12	2	15	26
10	Wolverhampton Wolves	30	13	0	17	26
11	Eastbourne Eagles	30	12	1	17	25
12	Coventry Bees	30	11	2	17	24
13	Poole Pirates	30	10	1	19	21
14	Halifax Dukes	30	9	3	18	21
15	Exeter Falcons	30	8	2	20	18
16	Newcastle Diamonds	30	9	0	21	18

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

Leading averages[]

Rider	Team	Average
Hans Nielsen	Oxford	10.76
Chris Morton	Belle Vue	10.31
Jan Andersson	Reading	10.05
Phil Crump	Swindon	9.94
Dennis Sigalos	Wolverhampton	9.87
Shawn Moran	Sheffield	9.85
Simon Wigg	Oxford	9.69
Billy Sanders	Ipswich	9.69
Erik Gundersen	Cradley Heath	9.54
Mitch Shirra	Reading	9.26

British League Knockout Cup[]

The 1984 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 46th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Ipswich Witches were the winners.^[4]

First Round[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
15/07	Eastbourne	41-36	Poole
30/06	Swindon	36-42	Ipswich
29/06	Exeter	32-46	Wolverhampton
28/06	Wimbledon	46-32	Coventry
25/06	Reading	41-36	Cradley Heath
18/06	Wolverhampton	45-33	Exeter
16/06	Coventry	52-26	Wimbledon
09/06	Cradley Heath	46-32	Reading
09/06	Kings Lynn	49-29	Newcastle
07/06	Ipswich	45-33	Swindon
06/06	Poole	37-41	Eastbourne
12/05	Halifax	37-41	Sheffield
05/05	Belle Vue	53-25	Oxford
26/04	Sheffield	49-29	Halifax

Quarter Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
16/09	Eastbourne	42-34	Kings Lynn
06/09	Sheffield	40-38	Wolverhampton
01/09	Belle Vue	50-28	Coventry
27/08	Coventry	42-36	Belle Vue
25/08	Kings Lynn	57-21	Eastbourne
10/08	Wolverhampton	42-36	Sheffield
26/07	Ipswich	46-32	Cradley Heath
25/07	Cradley Heath	40-38	Ipswich

Semi Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
14/10	Belle Vue	56-22	Wolverhampton
05/10	Wolverhampton	40-38	Belle Vue
27/09	Ipswich	57-21	Kings Lynn
26/09	Kings Lynn	44-34	Ipswich

Final[]

First leg[]

Second leg[]

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

League Cup[]

The League Cup was split into North and South sections. The two-legged final was won by Cradley Heath Heathens beating Belle Vue Aces in the final 80-76 on aggregate.

South Group[]

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Reading Racers	16	11	0	5	22
2	Wimbledon Dons	14	11	0	5	22
3	Ipswich Witches	16	10	1	5	21
4	Eastbourne Eagles	16	9	1	6	19
5	Oxford Cheetahs	16	9	0	7	18
6	Poole Pirates	16	8	0	8	16
7	King's Lynn Stars	16	7	0	9	14
8	Swindon Robins	16	5	1	10	11
9	Exeter Falcons	16	0	1	15	1

North Group[]

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Belle Vue Aces	12	10	0	2	20
2	Cradley Heathens	12	6	0	6	12
3	Newcastle Diamonds	12	6	0	6	12
4	Coventry Bees	12	5	0	7	10
5	Sheffield Tigers	12	5	0	7	10
6	Wolverhampton Wolves	12	5	0	7	10
7	Halifax Dukes	12	5	0	7	10

Semi finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
21/07	Belle Vue	55–23	Wimbledon
04/08	Cradley Heath	52–26	Reading
09/08	Wimbledon	38–40	Belle Vue
13/08	Reading	42–36	Cradley Heath

Final[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
07/10	Cradley Heath	44–34	Belle Vue
14/10	Belle Vue	42–36	Cradley Heath

Teams[]

Belle Vue Aces[]

• 
• Peter Carr
• Peter Collins
• Mark Courtney
• Kenny McKinna
• Chris Morton
• Larry Ross
• Andy Smith

Coventry Bees[]

• Steve Bastable
• Gary Guglielmi
• 
• John Jørgensen
• 
• Tommy Knudsen
• Rick Miller
• 
• 
• Keith White

Cradley Heath[]

• 
• Billy Burton
• 
• Phil Collins
• Stephen Collins
• Simon Cross
• Paul Fry
• Alan Grahame
• 
• 
• Erik Gundersen
• Finn Jensen
• Lance King
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Eastbourne Eagles[]

• 
• Ian Barney
• 
• 
• Martin Goodwin
• Antonín Kasper Jr.
• 
• 
• Steve Lucero
• 
• Colin Richardson
• Bobby Schwartz
• Olli Tyrväinen
• 
• Paul Woods

Exeter Falcons[]

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Andy Campbell
• Louis Carr
• 
• Michael Coles
• 
• Martin Goodwin
• Ivan Mauger
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Sean Willmott

Halifax Dukes[]

• Steve Baker
• Kenny Carter
• 
• Neil Evitts
• 
• Kurt Hansen
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Doug Wyer

Ipswich Witches[]

• 
• Carl Blackbird
• 
• John Cook
• Jeremy Doncaster
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Richard Knight
• Kai Niemi
• 
• Billy Sanders
• 

King's Lynn Stars[]

• 
• 
• 
• Martin Dixon
• Richard Hellsen
• Dave Jessup
• Kevin Jolly
• John Louis
• 
• Steve Regeling

Newcastle Diamonds[]

• David Bargh
• Bobby Beaton
• 
• Mark Fiora
• Paul Fry
• Rod Hunter
• 
• 
• 
• Steve McDermott
• 
• Joe Owen
• 
• 
• 
• Reg Wilson

Oxford Cheetahs[]

• 
• Ian Clark
• Marvyn Cox
• Nigel De'ath
• Klaus Lausch
• Jimmy McMillan
• Hans Nielsen
• Jens Rasmussen
• Dave Perks
• Andrew Silver
• 
• 
• Melvyn Taylor
• 
• Simon Wigg
• Martin Yeates

Poole Pirates[]

• 
• 
• Colin Cook
• Sam Ermolenko
• 
• Bob Garrad
• 
• 
• Michael Lee
• Neil Middleditch
• Dave Mullett
• Bobby Ott
• Ashley Pullen
• Gerd Riss
• 
• Kevin Smith
• Finn Thomsen
• 

Reading Racers[]

• Jan Andersson
• Pierre Brannefors
• Bruce Cribb
• 
• Robert Henry
• Malcolm Holloway
• Tim Hunt
• Per Jonsson
• 
• 
• Mitch Shirra
• Barry Thomas
• 

Sheffield Tigers[]

• Les Collins
• Neil Collins
• Colin Cook
• Nigel Crabtree
• Martin Hagon
• 
• Shawn Moran
• Dave Morton
• 
• Jan O. Pedersen
• 
• 
• 
• David Walsh
• 
• Reg Wilson

Swindon Robins[]

• 
• Alf Busk
• Colin Cook
• Phil Crump
• 
• 
• Stev Lawson
• 
• Bo Petersen
• Alun Rossiter
• 
• Kevin Smith
• Per Sorensen
• Martin Yeates

Wimbledon Dons[]

• John Davis
• Mike Ferreira
• Andy Galvin
• 
• Roger Johns
• Gordon Kennett
• 
• 
• Malcolm Simmons
• Kelvin Tatum
• John Titman
• Phil Vance
• 

Wolverhampton Wolves[]

• Trevor Banks
• Louis Carr
• 
• Colin Cook
• Preben Eriksen
• Mark Fiora
• Andy Grahame
• 
• Steve Lucero
• Alan Mogridge
• 
• Tom Owen
• 
• 
• 
• Peter Ravn
• Dennis Sigalos
• Andrew Silver
• Steve Schofield
• 
• 
• 
• Paul Thorp
• 

See also[]

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

References[]