1968 British League Division Two season

The 1968 British League Division Two season was the inaugural season of a second tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.[1][2]

1968 British League Division Two season
LeagueBritish League Division Two
ChampionsBelle Vue Colts
No. of competitors10
Knockout CupCanterbury Crusaders
IndividualGraham Plant
Highest averageMick Handley
Division/s aboveBritish League (Div 1)

Summary

The formation of a new division 2 was a success and attracted five new clubs to league speedway, the Nelson Admirals from Nelson in Lancashire, the Crayford Highwaymen from east London, the Canterbury Crusaders from Kent, the Berwick Bandits from Scotland and the Reading Racers. Additionally three other clubs, Middlesbrough, Plymouth and Rayleigh returned to league action having previously competed in the old defunct Provincial League and Weymouth returned after a 13 year absence.[3][4]

Belle Vue Aces, members of the first division, fielded a reserve side known as Belle Vue Colts and won the first league title.[5] Colt's riders Taffy Owen, Ken Eyre, Eric Broadbelt and John Woodcock all scored heavily and ended with impressive averages.[6] Canterbury in their first season of existence won the division 2 Knockout Cup beating another new team Reading in the final.[4]

Final table
Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Belle Vue Colts 18 14 0 4 28
2 Nelson Admirals 18 11 0 7 22
3 Middlesbrough Teessiders 18 10 1 7 21
4 Plymouth Devils 18 10 0 8 20
5 Rayleigh Rockets 18 9 1 8 19
6 Crayford Highwaymen 18 8 1 9 17
7 Canterbury Crusaders 18 8 1 9 17
8 Reading Racers 18 6 2 10 14
9 Weymouth Eagles 18 5 2 11 12
10 Berwick Bandits 18 5 0 13 10

Top Five Riders (League Averages)
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1= Mick Handley England Crayford Highwaymen 10.22
1= Mike Cake England Plymouth Devils 10.22
3 Chris Bass Australia Plymouth Devils 9.91
4 Dave Schofield England Nelson Admirals 9.82
5 Taffy Owen Wales Belle Vue Colts 9.59

British League Division Two Knockout Cup

The 1968 British League Division Two Knockout Cup was the first edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams and coincided with the newly formed league.[7]

Previously the tier two and tier three teams had competed in the National Trophy until 1964, and although they held their own finals during some years it only served as qualification for the main competition. Canterbury Crusaders were the winners of the competition.[8]

First round
Date Team one Score Team two
26/08Reading52-44Rayleigh

Quarter-finals
Date Team one Score Team two
10/08Canterbury56-37Crayford
22/08Middlesbrough53-41Nelson
26/08Reading52-44Plymouth
24/08Berwick45-51Belle Vue

Semi-finals
Date Team one Score Team two
30/09Reading56-40Belle Vue
07/09Canterbury64-31Middlesbrough

Final

First leg

Canterbury Crusaders
Peter Murray 14
Barry Crowson 14
Martyn Piddock 13
John Hibben 10
Graham Miles 7
Ken Vale 2
Pat Flanagan 0		60 – 36Reading Racers
Vic White 11
John Poyser 8
Ian Champion 6
Stuart Wallace 4
Phil Pratt 3
Ted Spittles 2
Dene Davies 2
[9]

Second leg

Reading Racers
John Poyser 17
Vic White 11
Ted Spittles 9
Stuart Wallace 3
Dene Davies 2
Phil Pratt 1
Ian Champion 1		44 – 52Canterbury Crusaders
Peter Murray 14
Barry Crowson 12
John Hibben 8
Graham Miles 6
Ken Vale 6
Martyn Piddock 5
Dave Grimley (guest) 1
[9]

Canterbury were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 112–80.

Riders' Championship

Graham Plant aged just 19, won the Rider's Championship. The final was held at Hackney Wick Stadium on 27 September. Several riders were involved in a crash, which resulted in Chris Bailey (broken wrist) and Barry Crowson (fractured thigh bone) going to hospital.[10]

Pos.RiderPtsTotal
1England Graham Plant3 3 2 2 313
2England Ken Eyre2 3 3 3 112
3New Zealand Graeme Smith1 2 3 2 311
4England Mick Handleyex 3 2 3 311
5New Zealand Murray Burt3 f 3 2 311
6New Zealand Allan Brownex 2 3 3 210
7England Mike Cake3 1 1 3 210
8England Tony Lomas2 2 0 1 27
9England John Poyser2 r 1 2 16
10Australia John Woodcockf 2 2 ef 15
11England Dave Schofield1 1 1 1 15
12England Martyn Piddock0 0 2 1 25
13England Barry Crowson2 3 f5
14England Chris Bailey3 f f3
15England Barry Duke (res)1 1 ef2
16New Zealand Roy Williams1 1 0 0 02
17Wales Taffy Owen0 1 0 0 01
18England Mike Vernam (res)0 0 00
  • f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Leading final averages
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Mick Handley England Crayford Highwaymen 10.48
2 Mike Cake England Plymouth 10.22
3 Chris Bass Australia Plymouth 10.15
4 Peter Murray England Canterbury 10.05
5 Allan Brown New Zealand Middlesbrough 9.63

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue Colts

Berwick

  • Bill McMillan 9.12
  • Roy Williams 7.85
  • Brian Whaley 7.69
  • Brian Black 6.81
  • Mark Hall 6.59
  • Lex Milloy 5.89
  • Grieves Davidson 4.53
  • Alex Nichol 3.51
  • Tom Blackwood 3.37
  • Colin Robertson 2.71

Canterbury

  • Peter Murray 10.05
  • Barry Crowson 8.44
  • Ken Vale 8.00
  • Martyn Piddock 7.96
  • John Hibben 6.85
  • Tyburn Gallows 4.91
  • Pat Flanagan 4.61
  • Chris Raines 4.57
  • Frank Wendon 4.30
  • Barry Lee 3.15

Crayford

  • Mick Handley 10.48
  • Tony Childs 7.68
  • Derek Timms 6.54
  • Colin Clark 6.05
  • Dai Evans 5.88
  • Geoff Ambrose 5.87
  • Stuart Riley 5.12
  • Tony Armstrong 4.31

Middlesbrough

  • Allan Brown 9.63
  • Graham Plant 8.54
  • Graham Edmonds 8.31
  • Tom Leadbitter 6.82
  • Terry Lee 6.78
  • Paul O'Neal 6.07
  • Pete Reading 4.75
  • Alan Palmer 3.25
  • John Spilsbury 2.09

Nelson

  • Dave Schofield 9.54
  • Alan Paynter 9.10
  • Murray Burt 8.76
  • Gary Peterson 8.14
  • Terry Shearer 6.76
  • Dave Beacon 5.79
  • Jack Winstanley 5.51
  • Paul Sharples 4.15

Plymouth

  • Mike Cake 10.22
  • Chris Bass 10.15
  • Phil Woodcock 6.67
  • Tony George 6.13
  • Dave Whittaker 6.08
  • Keith Marks 5.69
  • Frank Payne 5.07
  • Chris Roynon 4.75
  • Ian Gills 3.23

Rayleigh

  • Graeme Smith 7.55
  • Mike Gardner 7.49
  • Dennis Mannion 7.44
  • Dingle Brown 6.48
  • Laurie Etheridge 6.20
  • Geoff Maloney 6.06
  • Terry Stone 6.03
  • Colin Tucker 3.09

Reading

  • John Poyser 9.29
  • Ian Champion 6.91
  • Joe Weichlbauer 6.88
  • Ted Spittles 6.68
  • Stuart Wallace 6.20
  • Dene Davies 5.39
  • Ian Bottomley 4.91
  • Phil Pratt 4.59

Weymouth

  • Tony Lomas 9.39
  • Mike Vernam 7.94
  • Barry Duke 7.71
  • Chris Yeatman 6.14
  • Mick Steel 5.08
  • Roy Carter 4.58
  • Adrian Degan 3.05
  • Phil Arnold 2.72

See also

References
  1. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  2. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  3. "Teams". wwosbackup. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  4. "Book Extract:Tears and Glory The Winged Wheel Story". Speedway Plus. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  5. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 101. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  6. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  7. "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  8. "1968 British League Division Two Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  9. "Season 1968" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  10. "Two in hospital after Big Speedway Pile-Up". Daily Mirror. 28 September 1968. Retrieved 13 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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