1969 British League season

The 1969 British League season was the 35th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the fifth season known as the British League.[1]

1969 British League season
LeagueBritish League
ChampionsPoole Pirates
No. of competitors19
Knockout CupWimbledon Dons
IndividualBarry Briggs
London CupWimbledon Dons
Midland CupCoventry Bees
Highest averageIvan Mauger
Division/s belowBritish League (Div 2)

Summary

The 19 competitors were the same as the previous season.[2]

Poole Pirates won their first title.[3] The Pirates were extremely consistent and despite their riders not coming in the top 18 league averages they won the league by a clear 6 points. Pete Smith was their top rider with an average of 9.34 but aided by four other riders (Geoff Mudge (9.05), Odd Fossengen (7.73), Bruce Cribb (7.31) and Gordon Guasco (7.26)) they were able to claim the title.[4] Wimbledon Dons had a much better season than the last, finishing third and managed to retain their British League Knockout Cup crown. Belle Vue Aces finished runner-up, mainly due to the performances of their outstanding World champion rider Ivan Mauger; the New Zealander finished with an average of 11.67 and would also seal his second world title before the end of the season.

Final table
Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Poole Pirates 36 26 1 9 53
2 Belle Vue Aces 36 23 1 12 47
3 Wimbledon Dons 36 22 2 12 46
4 Halifax Dukes 36 22 2 12 46
5 Leicester Lions 36 21 2 13 44
6 Sheffield Tigers 36 19 1 16 39
7 Cradley Heath Heathens 36 18 2 16 38
8 Glasgow Tigers 36 17 3 16 37
9 King's Lynn Stars 36 18 0 18 36
10 Swindon Robins 36 18 0 18 36
11 Coatbridge Monarchs 36 17 1 18 35
12 Exeter Falcons 36 16 0 20 32
13 Newcastle Diamonds 36 15 2 19 32
14 Coventry Bees 36 14 3 19 31
15 Oxford Cheetahs 36 15 1 20 31
16 Wolverhampton Wolves 36 13 1 22 27
17 Newport Wasps 36 13 1 22 27
18 West Ham Hammers 36 11 3 22 25
19 Hackney Hawks 36 10 2 24 22

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 11.45
2 Barry Briggs New Zealand Swindon 11.09
3 Eric Boocock England Halifax 10.88
4 Nigel Boocock England Coventry 10.77
5 Ray Wilson England Leicester 10.48
6 Norman Hunter England Wolverhampton 10.44
7 Trevor Hedge England Wimbledon 10.17
8 Ole Olsen Denmark Newcastle 10.08
9 Jim McMillan Scotland Glasgow 9.97
10 Martin Ashby England Exeter 9.96

British League Knockout Cup

The 1969 British League Knockout Cup was the 31st edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Wimbledon were the winners.[5]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
10/05Coatbridge53-25Hackney
06/05Leicester54-24Newport
06/05West Ham39-39Kings Lynn
31/05Kings Lynn39-39West Ham
17/06West Ham36-42Kings Lynn

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
10/07Sheffield52-26Kings Lynn
17/06West Ham36-42Oxford
14/06Canterbury51-26Crayford
14/06Coventry46-32Oxford
14/06Cradley Heath41-37Glasgow
11/06Poole43-35Coatbridge
09/06Exeter36-42Wimbledon
09/06Newcastle36-42Belle Vue
07/06Halifax43-35Wolverhampton

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
02/08Belle Vue38-40Sheffield
31/07Wimbledon49-29Poole
21/07Cradley Heath41-37Swindon
05/07Halifax47-31Coventry

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
27/09Cradley Heath36-42Wimbledon
21/08Sheffield43.5-34.5Halifax

Final

First leg

Sheffield Tigers
Arnie Haley 11
Jim Airey 9
Billy Bales 9
John Dews 5
Dave Baugh 3
Bengt Larsson 2
Reg Wilson 1		40 - 38Wimbledon Dons
Trevor Hedge 12
Cyril Maidment 10
Reg Luckhurst 8
Ronnie Moore 4
Jim Tebby 3
Bob Dugard 1
Gary Everett 0
[6]

Second leg

Wimbledon Dons
Trevor Hedge 12
Ronnie Moore 12
Reg Luckhurst 9
Jim Tebby 7
Cyril Maidment 6
Bob Dugard 6
Gary Everett 4		56 - 22Sheffield Tigers
Arnie Haley 9
Jim Airey 9
Bengt Larsson 3
Billy Bales 1
John Dews 0
Dave Baugh 0
Reg Wilson 0
[6]

Wimbledon Dons were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 94-62.

Riders' Championship

Barry Briggs won the British League Riders' Championship for the fifth consecutive year, held at Hyde Road on 18 October.[7]

Pos.RiderHeat ScoresTotal
1New Zealand Barry Briggs3 3 3 3 214
2New Zealand Ivan Mauger3 3 3 ef 312
3England Jim Airey1 2 3 3 312
4England Martin Ashby1 3 2 3 211
5England Eric Boocock3 2 1 2 210
6England Roy Trigg2 2 2 2 19
7England Ray Wilson0 3 3 2 f8
8England Trevor Hedge2 1 2 2 18
9Hungary Sándor Lévai3 0 1 1 27
10England Tony Clarke2 2 0 1 16
11Denmark Ole Olsenex ef ef 3 36
12England Terry Betts0 0 1 1 35
13Norway Reidar Eide1 1 2 1 05
14Scotland Jim McMillan2 1 0 0 03
15England Colin Gooddy1 0 1 0 r2
16England Pete Smith0 1 0 0 12
17England James Bond00
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, exc=excluded

Final leading averages
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Ivan Mauger New Zealand Belle Vue 11.67
2 Barry Briggs New Zealand Swindon 11.12
3 Eric Boocock England Halifax 11.08
4 Nigel Boocock England Coventry 10.78
5 Ray Wilson England Leicester 10.56
6 Ole Olsen Denmark Newcastle 10.39
7 Norman Hunter England Wolverhampton 10.35
8 Trevor Hedge England Wimbledon 10.33
9 Sören Sjösten Sweden Belle Vue 10.09
10 Reidar Eide Norway Wolverhampton 10.01
11 Jim McMillan Scotland Glasgow 10.01
12 Martin Ashby England Exeter 9.97
13 Jim Airey England Sheffield 9.90
14 Ronnie Moore New Zealand Wimbledon 9.74
15 Charlie Monk Australia Glasgow 9.56
16 Reg Luckhurst England Wimbledon 9.39
17 Dave Younghusband England Halifax 9.38
18 Terry Betts England King's Lynn 9.35
19 Pete Smith England Poole 9.34
20 Roy Trigg England Cradley Heath 9.27

London Cup

Wimbledon retained the London Cup.[8]

Pos Team P W D L F A Pts
1Wimbledon Dons44001901218
2West Ham Hammers41031541572
3Hackney Hawks41031221882

Results

Team Score Team
Hackney40–37West Ham
Hackney30–47Wimbledon
West Ham48–30Hackney
West Ham35–43Wimbledon
Wimbledon44–34West Ham
Wimbledon56–22Hackney

Midland Cup

Coventry won the Midland Cup, which consisted of six teams.[9]

First round

Team one Team two Score
LeicesterWolverhampton43–35, 38–40
OxfordCradley39–39, 32–45

Semi final round

Team one Team two Score
CradleyCoventry37–41, 31–47
LeicesterSwindon44.5–33.5, 40–38

Final

First leg

Leicester
John Boulger 10
Ray Wilson 7
Graham Plant 7
John Hart 5
Norman Storer 5
Malcolm Brown 5
Dene Davies 1		40–38Coventry
Nigel Boocock 15
Rick France 12
Col Cottrell 6
Roger Hill 5
Les Owen 0
Tony Lomas 0
Antonin Kasper r/r

Second leg

Coventry
Rick France 12
Ken McKinlay (guest) 10
Col Cottrell 9
Tony Lomas 9
Les Owen 3
Roger Hill 1
Antonin Kasper r/r		44–34Leicester
Ray Wilson 10
Malcolm Brown 10
John Boulger 6
Graham Plant 3
John Hart 3
Dene Davies 2
Norman Storer 0
Attendance: 14,000

Coventry won on aggregate 82–74

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Coatbridge

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Exeter

Glasgow

Hackney

Halifax

King's Lynn

Leicester

Newcastle

Newport

Oxford

Poole

Sheffield

Swindon

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 30 June 2021.
  5. "1969 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  6. "Season 1969" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  7. "Speedway". Birmingham Daily Post. 20 October 1969. Retrieved 1 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. "Wimbledon 1969" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  9. "Big crowd at Speedway final". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 13 October 1969. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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