1988 British League season

The 1988 British League season was the 54th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 24th known as the British League.[1][2]

1988 British League season
LeagueBritish League
ChampionsCoventry Bees
No. of competitors11
Knockout CupCradley Heath Heathens
IndividualJan O. Pedersen
Highest averageHans Nielsen
Division/s below1988 National League

Summary

Coventry Bees won the league for the second successive year and again by a 16 point margin. The Bees also reached the Knockout Cup final losing to Cradley Heath. Remarkably it was Cradley's seventh Cup win in 10 years. With the League Cup scrapped the Coventry team had less fixtures to ride and their pairing of Tommy Knudsen and Kelvin Tatum were once again the catalyst for the seasons success finishing 2nd and 4th respectively in the averages. Hans Nielsen topped the averages again for the sixth consecutive season.[3]

Final table
Pos Team PL W D L BP Pts
1 Coventry Bees 40 31 2 7 18 82
2 Belle Vue Aces 40 26 1 13 13 66
3 Cradley Heath Heathens 39 22 1 16 15 60
4 Oxford Cheetahs 40 20 6 14 13 59
5 Reading Racers 40 20 3 17 12 55
6 Sheffield Tigers 39 19 2 18 8 48
7 Swindon Robins 40 17 1 22 8 43
8 Wolverhampton Wolves 40 15 3 22 8 41
9 King's Lynn Stars 40 14 3 23 7 38
10 Ipswich Witches 39 13 0 26 4 30
11 Bradford Dukes 39 10 0 29 2 22

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

British League Knockout Cup

The 1988 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 50th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Cradley Heath Heathens were the winners for the third successive year if including the tied 1986 final.[4]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
09/07King's Lynn47-43Ipswich
08/07Ipswich34-55King's Lynn
23/06Sheffield43-47Cradley Heath
18/06Cradley Heath51-39Sheffield
03/06Belle Vue53-37Bradford
28/05Bradford36-54Belle Vue

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
13/08King's Lynn40-50Cradley Heath
10/08Cradley Heath53-37King's Lynn
19/07Coventry53-37Reading
15/07Belle Vue53-37Wolverhampton
14/07Oxford48-42Swindon
11/07Reading49-41Coventry
11/07Wolverhampton45-45Belle Vue

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
14/10Belle Vue48-42Cradley Heath
13/10Oxford38-49Coventry
08/10Coventry44-46Oxford
14/09Cradley Heath49-41Belle Vue

Final

First leg

Coventry Bees
Tommy Knudsen 11
Kelvin Tatum 11
Rick Miller 6
John Jørgensen 5
Andy Hackett 5
David Clarke 2
Neville Tatum 0		40 - 50Cradley Heath
Alan Grahame 13
Jan O. Pedersen 11
Simon Cross 9
Erik Gundersen 8
David Walsh 7
Gert Handberg 1
Wayne Garratt 1
[5]

Second leg

Cradley Heath
Alan Grahame 10
Gert Handberg 9
Simon Cross 8
Erik Gundersen 8
Jan O. Pedersen 7
David Walsh 5
Wayne Garratt 3		50 - 40Coventry Bees
Tommy Knudsen 13
John Jørgensen 9
Andy Hackett 6
David Clarke 6
Kelvin Tatum 5
Rick Miller 1
Neville Tatum 0
[5]

Cradley Heath were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 100-80.

Riders' Championship

Jan O. Pedersen won the British League Riders' Championship. It was the held at Belle Vue Stadium on 9 October.[6]

Pos.RiderHeat ScoresTotal
1Denmark Jan O. Pedersen3 2 3 3 314
2Denmark Erik Gundersen3 3 3 1 313
3Denmark Hans Nielsen0 3 3 3 312+3
4England Chris Morton2 2 3 2 312+2
5United States Shawn Moran1 3 2 2 210
6England Richard Knight2 3 1 2 19
7United States Ronnie Correy1 2 2 3 19
8England Simon Wigg2 1 0 3 28
9England Kelvin Tatum2 0 2 2 17
10Sweden Per Jonsson3 2 0 0 05
11England Gary Havelock1 1 0 1 25
12Sweden Jan Andersson1 1 1 1 15
13United States Kelly Moran0 0 2 1 25
14Denmark Brian Karger3 1 1 0 05
15Denmark Tommy Knudsen0 1 01
16England Paul Smith (res)0 00
17England Carl Stonehewer (res)0 00
18England Jeremy Doncaster0 0 00
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired

Leading final averages
Rider Team Average
Denmark Hans NielsenOxford11.03
Denmark Tommy KnudsenCoventry10.08
Denmark Erik GundersenCradley Heath10.06
England Kelvin TatumCoventry10.04
Denmark Jan O. PedersenCradley Heath9.88
United States Shawn MoranSheffield9.51
United States Sam ErmolenkoWolverhampton9.40
England Jeremy DoncasterIpswich9.34
England Chris MortonBelle Vue9.01
England Steve BastableBradford9.00

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Bradford

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Oxford

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

Wolverhampton

See also

References
  1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  3. "1988 league tables". Speedway GB.
  4. "1988 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  5. "Coventry Bees 1988 season" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  6. "Pedersen powers to title joy". Sandwell Evening Mail. 10 October 1988. Retrieved 5 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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