1971 British League season

The 1971 British League season was the 37th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the seventh season known as the British League.[1][2]

1971 British League season
LeagueBritish League
ChampionsBelle Vue Aces
No. of competitors19
Knockout CupHackney Hawks
IndividualIvan Mauger
Highest averageIvan Mauger
Division/s belowBritish League (Div 2)

Summary

Reading Racers moved up from Division 2 and Newcastle Diamonds dropped out.[3] Belle Vue Aces retained their title to become the first team to win the title for the second time. The team included three time world champion Ivan Mauger, Swedish international Sören Sjösten, Tommy Roper, Eric Broadbelt, Chris Pusey and a 17 year old Peter Collins in his debut season.[4]

Final table
Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Belle Vue Aces 36 25 1 10 51
2 Leicester Lions 36 22 3 11 47
3 Coventry Bees 36 23 0 13 46
4 Sheffield Tigers 36 21 1 14 43
5 Swindon Robins 36 19 3 14 40
6 Reading Racers 36 18 4 14 41
7 Hackney Hawks 36 17 4 15 38
8 Newport Wasps 36 19 0 17 37
9 Wembley Lions 36 17 3 16 37
10 Wimbledon Dons 36 18 1 17 36
11 Poole Pirates 36 17 2 17 35
12 Wolverhampton Wolves 36 17 1 18 34
13 King's Lynn Stars 36 16 2 18 34
14 Halifax Dukes 36 16 2 18 32
15 Exeter Falcons 36 16 0 20 31
16 Glasgow Tigers 36 15 1 20 25
17 Oxford Cheetahs 36 12 1 23 20
18 Cradley Heath Heathens 36 8 4 24 20
19 West Ham Hammers 36 9 1 26 19

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Ivan Mauger New Zealand Belle Vue Aces 11.42
2 Ray Wilson England Leicester Lions 10.97
3 Ole Olsen Denmark Wolverhampton Wolves 10.96
4 Jim Airey Australia Sheffield Tigers 10.70
5 Barry Briggs New Zealand Swindon Robins 10.64
6 Bengt Jansson Sweden Hackney Hawks 10.21
7 Eric Boocock England Halifax Dukes 10.14
8 Anders Michanek Sweden Reading Racers 10.03
9 Nigel Boocock England Coventry Bees 9.95
10 Ronnie Moore New Zealand Wimbledon Dons 9.93

British League Knockout Cup

The 1971 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 33rd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Hackney were the winners.[5]

First round
Date Team one Score Team two
08/05Halifax49-29West Ham
08/05Swindon43-35Wimbledon
06/05Oxford46-32Poole

Second round
Date Team one Score Team two
25/06Wolverhampton43-35Belle Vue
21/06Reading38-40Cradley Heath
17/06Oxford39-38Exeter
12/06King's Lynn46-32Newport
11/06Glasgow43-34Leicester
10/06Sheffield48-30Wembley
05/06Halifax42-36Coventry
05/06Swindon36-42Hackney

Quarter-finals
Date Team one Score Team two
14/08Halifax43-35Sheffield
06/08Wolverhampton45-32Oxford
31/07King's Lynn39-39Hackney
31/07Cradley Heath40-38Glasgow
03/09Hackney49-29King's Lynn

Semi-finals
Date Team one Score Team two
17/09Hackney50-27Halifax
06/09Cradley Heath50-28Wolverhampton

Final

First leg

Cradley Heath
Bernt Persson 11
Bob Andrews 9
Mick Handley 7
Pete Jarman 6
John Hart 5
Roy Trigg 3
Cyril Francis 0		41 - 37Hackney Hawks
Bengt Jansson 10
Barry Thomas 8
Hugh Saunders 8
Garry Middleton 7
Laurie Etheridge 2
Geoff Maloney 1
Eddie Reeves 1
[6]

Second leg

Hackney Hawks
Bengt Jansson 12
Garry Middleton 10
Barry Thomas 9
Dave Kennett 9
Hugh Saunders 6
Eddie Reeves 3
Laurie Etheridge 2		51 - 27Cradley Heath
Howard Cole (guest) 13
Bob Andrews 5
Roy Trigg 3
John Hart 3
Pete Jarman 2
Mick Handley 1
Ralph Waller 0
[6]

Hackney Hawks were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 88-68.

Final leading averages
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Ivan Mauger New Zealand Belle Vue Aces 11.33
2 Ole Olsen Denmark Wolverhampton Wolves 10.99
3 Ray Wilson England Leicester Lions 10.94
4 Jim Airey Australia Sheffield Tigers 10.74
5 Barry Briggs New Zealand Swindon Robins 10.67
6 Bengt Jansson Sweden Hackney Hawks 10.26
7 Eric Boocock England Halifax Dukes 10.19
8 Anders Michanek Sweden Reading Racers 10.05
9 Nigel Boocock England Coventry Bees 9.95
10 Ronnie Moore New Zealand Wimbledon Dons 9.89
11 Martin Ashby England Swindon Robins 9.76
12 Bernt Persson Sweden Cradley Heathens 9.68
13 Terry Betts England King's Lynn Stars 9.62
14 Malcolm Simmons England King's Lynn Stars 9.22
15 Trevor Hedge England Wimbledon Dons 9.18
16 Jim McMillan Scotland Glasgow Tigers 9.18
17 Sören Sjösten Sweden Belle Vue Aces 9.11
18 Reidar Eide Norway Poole Pirates 9.10
19 Göte Nordin Sweden Wembley Lions 9.04
20 John Boulger Australia Leicester Lions 8.99

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Exeter

Glasgow

Hackney

Halifax

  • England Eric Boocock 10.19
  • England Dave Younghusband 8.80
  • England Alan Jay 6.11
  • Australia Greg Kentwell 6.09
  • New Zealand Paul O'Neal 5.01
  • England Malcolm MacKay 4.56
  • England Mike Hiftle 4.46
  • England Chris Bailey 4.24
  • England Terry Lee 3.75

King's Lynn

Leicester

Newport

Oxford

Poole

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

Wembley

West Ham

Wimbledon

Wolverhampton

See also

References
  1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  3. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  4. "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  5. "1971 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  6. "Season 1971" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
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