1987 British League season

1987 British League season

League	British League
Champions	Coventry Bees
No. of competitors	12
Knockout Cup	Cradley Heath Heathens
League Cup	Coventry Bees
Individual	Hans Nielsen
Pairs	Oxford Cheetahs
Highest average	Hans Nielsen
Division/s below	1987 National League
← 1986 1988 →

The 1987 British League season was the 53rd season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 23rd known as the British League.^[1]

Summary[]

Coventry Bees comfortably won the league finishing 16 points clear of Cradley Heath. The same five main riders who made up the 1986 team rode through the 1987 season but crucially four of them improved on their 1986 averages. Tommy Knudsen and Kelvin Tatum both hit over 10, while Rick Miller and David Bargh both improved by about 2 points on average. John Jørgensen also remained consistent for the Bees. Coventry also won the League Cup but lost to Cradley in the final of the Knockout Cup.^[2] The double defending champions Oxford Cheetahs were forced to release Simon Wigg to Hackney and Per Sorensen because of the 45 point limit. They finished second from bottom despite Hans Nielsen topping the averages once again.^[3]

Final table[]

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	BP	Pts
1	Coventry Bees	22	19	3	0	11	52
2	Cradley Heath Heathens	22	13	1	8	9	36
3	Swindon Robins	22	12	2	8	7	33
4	Sheffield Tigers	22	13	0	9	6	32
5	Bradford Dukes	22	10	3	9	7	30
6	Ipswich Witches	22	10	3	9	6	29
7	Reading Racers	22	11	2	9	4	28
8	Belle Vue Aces	22	10	1	11	5	26
9	Hackney Kestrels	22	7	3	12	3	20
10	Wolverhampton Wolves	22	6	2	14	3	17
11	Oxford Cheetahs	22	6	1	15	3	16
12	King's Lynn Stars	22	4	1	17	2	11

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

Leading averages[]

Rider	Team	Average
Hans Nielsen	Oxford	11.38
Erik Gundersen	Cradley Heath	10.44
Tommy Knudsen	Coventry	10.25
Kelvin Tatum	Coventry	10.06
Sam Ermolenko	Wolverhampton	9.86
Jeremy Doncaster	Ipswich	9.67
Jimmy Nilsen	Swindon	9.61
Jan O. Pedersen	Cradley Heath	9.60
Shawn Moran	Sheffield	9.47
Simon Wigg	Hackney	9.38

British League Knockout Cup[]

The 1987 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 49th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Cradley Heath Heathens were the winners for the second successive year if including the tied 1986 final.^[4]

First Round[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
10/07	Hackney	48-42	Bradford
10/07	Oxford	51-39	Belle Vue
04/07	Kings Lynn	41-49	Sheffield
13/06	Swindon	47-43	Wolverhampton
04/06	Sheffield	51-39	Kings Lynn
01/06	Wolverhampton	44-46	Swindon
30/05	Belle Vue	47-43	Oxford
30/05	Bradford	49-41	Hackney

Quarter Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
15/09	Bradford	41-49	Cradley Heath
15/08	Swindon	43-47	Reading
07/08	Oxford	48-42	Ipswich
06/08	Ipswich	47-43	Oxford
05/08	Cradley Heath	55-35	Bradford
27/07	Reading	48-41	Swindon
13/07	Sheffield	48-42	Coventry
11/07	Coventry	51-38	Sheffield

Semi Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
30/09	Coventry	48-42	Reading
30/09	Oxford	47-43	Cradley Heath
16/09	Cradley Heath	39-33 A	Oxford
07/09	Reading	47-43	Coventry

Final[]

First leg[]

Second leg[]

Cradley Heath were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 94-86.

League Cup[]

The League Cup was contested as a league format. Coventry Bees won the final over two legs defeating Belle Vue Aces 84-72 on aggregrate. It was the last time that the competition was contested.^[6]

Qualifying table[]

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Coventry Bees	22	16	1	5	43
2	Oxford Cheetahs	22	14	2	6	39
3	Belle Vue Aces	22	14	1	7	38
4	Cradley Heathens	22	14	0	8	36
5	Sheffield Tigers	22	13	2	7	33
6	Reading Racers	22	12	1	9	31
7	Swindon Robins	22	9	2	11	26
8	Wolverhampton Wolves	22	9	1	12	23
9	Bradford Dukes	22	8	2	12	22
10	Hackney Kestrels	22	6	2	14	17
11	King's Lynn Stars	22	5	1	16	12
11	Ipswich Witches	22	4	1	17	10

Semi finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
14/08	Oxford	42–36	Belle Vue
22/08	Belle Vue	44–34	Oxford
31/08	Coventry	45–33	Cradley Heath
31/08	Cradley Heath	36–42	Coventry

Final[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
15/09	Coventry	41–37	Belle Vue
18/10	Belle Vue	41–37	Coventry

Final replay[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
24/10	Coventry	46–32	Belle Vue
01/11	Belle Vue	40–38	Coventry

Teams[]

Belle Vue Aces[]

• Carl Blackbird
• David Blackburn
• 
• Glenn Doyle
• 
• Kenny McKinna
• Steve Lawson
• Chris Morton
• Peter Ravn
• 
• Andy Smith
• Paul Thorp
• 

Bradford Dukes[]

• Steve Bastable
• 
• Neil Evitts
• 
• 
• Gary Havelock
• 
• Lance King
• Sean Willmott

Coventry Bees[]

• David Bargh
• 
• 
• 
• 
• John Jørgensen
• Tommy Knudsen
• Rick Miller
• Neville Tatum
• 
• Kelvin Tatum

Cradley Heath[]

• Dean Barker
• 
• Simon Cross
• Martin Dugard
• Paul Fry
• Wayne Garratt
• Alan Grahame
• Erik Gundersen
• 
• 
• Jan O. Pedersen
• Alan Rivett
• Darren Sumner
• 
• David Walsh

Hackney Kestrels[]

• 
• 
• Andy Galvin
• 
• Mark Loram
• Alan Mogridge
• Malcolm Simmons
• Barry Thomas
• 
• 
• Simon Wigg

Ipswich Witches[]

• 
• David Blackburn
• Louis Carr
• Armando Castagna
• Jeremy Doncaster
• 
• 
• 
• Martin Hagon
• 
• 
• Kai Niemi
• 
• Gerd Riss
• 

King's Lynn Stars[]

• Ian Barney
• Andy Campbell
• John Cook
• 
• Martin Goodwin
• 
• Richard Knight
• Einar Kyllingstad
• Ray Morton
• Mick Poole
• Steve Regeling
• 
• Bobby Schwartz
• 
• 
• Glyn Taylor
• 

Oxford Cheetahs[]

• Troy Butler
• 
• Marvyn Cox
• Nigel De'ath
• Andy Grahame
• 
• 
• 
• Hans Nielsen
• Jens Rasmussen
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Reading Racers[]

• Jan Andersson
• Nigel Crabtree
• John Davis
• 
• 
• Malcolm Holloway
• 
• Per Jonsson
• Dave Mullett
• Tony Olsson
• 
• 
• 

Sheffield Tigers[]

• David Blackburn
• Peter Carr
• Neil Collins
• 
• Glenn Doyle
• 
• Kelly Moran
• Shawn Moran
• 
• 
• 
• Sean Wilson
• 

Swindon Robins[]

• 
• 
• 
• 
• Richard Hellsen
• Conny Ivarsson
• Brian Karger
• 
• Jimmy Nilsen
• 
• Alun Rossiter
• 
• Mitch Shirra
• Andrew Silver
• 

Wolverhampton Wolves[]

• David Blackburn
• 
• 
• Ronnie Correy
• Preben Eriksen
• Sam Ermolenko
• 
• 
• Torben Hansen
• Steve McDermott
• 
• 
• Andy Phillips
• 
• 
• 
• Jan Stæchmann
• 

See also[]

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

References[]