1979 British League season

1979 British League season

League	British League
No. of competitors	18
Champions	Coventry Bees
Knockout Cup	Cradley Heath Heathens
Individual	John Louis
Midland Cup	Coventry Bees
London Cup	Hackney Hawks
Highest average	Scott Autrey
Division/s below	1979 National League

The 1979 Gulf British League season was the 45th season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom and the 15th season known as the British League.^[1][2]

Summary

The league was sponsored by Gulf Oil for a fifth season. It comprised 18 teams - one fewer than the previous season.^[3] White City Rebels had folded and their riders became Eastbourne Eagles assets as Eastbourne were promoted from the National League. Bristol Bulldogs also dropped out after only two seasons back in the top flight.^[4]

Coventry Bees won the league for the second year running. Hull Vikings' second place was their best ever finish. The Coventry Bees team was similar to the previous season with a young 18 year-old Danish newcomer Tommy Knudsen replacing Jiří Štancl from the previous season. Alan Molyneux once again backed up the Coventry overseas contingent with a solid average.^[5] Cradley Heath won the Knockout Cup mainly thanks to their USA superstar Bruce Penhall. The Cradley team also had their own young Danish newcomer in 20 year-old Erik Gundersen and 20 year-old Hans Nielsen posted a 10 plus average for the season riding for Wolves. The future looked extremely bright for Denmark.

During the new British League Fours tournament a horrific accident took place at Hackney Wick Stadium on Friday 8 June. In the final heat between Hackney and Eastbourne all four riders were competing when Hackney's Vic Harding and Eastbourne's Steve Weatherley touched and their bikes became locked together. They were both thrown from their bikes into the fence and the metal post supporting one of the track lights. Both riders were taken to hospital but Harding died later that night and Weatherley was left paralysed.^[6][7] Further bad news filtered though in December after the season had finished, when Poole Pirate's Christer Sjösten died following serious injuries sustained in a race in Australia.

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Coventry Bees	34	26	0	8	52
2	Hull Vikings	34	24	2	8	50
3	Cradley Heath Heathens	34	24	0	10	48
4	King's Lynn Stars	34	22	1	11	45
5	Exeter Falcons	33	20	0	13	40
6	Halifax Dukes	34	18	0	16	36
7	Reading Racers	34	17	0	17	34
8	Swindon Robins	33	15	3	15	33
9	Wimbledon Dons	34	16	1	17	33
10	Belle Vue Aces	34	14	4	16	32
11	Wolverhampton Wolves	34	15	1	18	31
12	Poole Pirates	34	14	3	17	31
13	Sheffield Tigers	34	14	2	18	30
14	Birmingham Brummies	34	13	2	19	28
15	Ipswich Witches	34	12	2	20	26
16	Eastbourne Eagles	34	10	2	22	22
17	Leicester Lions	34	10	0	24	20
18	Hackney Hawks	34	9	1	24	19

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Scott Autrey		Exeter	10.91
2	Ivan Mauger		Hull	10.54
3	Phil Crump		Swindon	10.36
4	Michael Lee		King's Lynn	10.29
5	John Davis		Reading	10.22
6	Hans Nielsen		Wolverhampton	10.16
7	Gordon Kennett		Eastbourne	10.13
8	Ole Olsen		Coventry	10.03
9	Bruce Penhall		Cradley	10.02
10	Dave Jessup		King's Lynn	9.80

British League Knockout Cup

The 1979 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 41st edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Cradley Heath were the winners.^[8]

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
16/06	Cradley Heath	66-42	Leicester
29/05	Leicester	40-68	Cradley Heath
20/04	Eastbourne	65-43	Ipswich
19/04	Ipswich	53-54	Eastbourne

Second round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
10/09	Cradley Heath	78-29	Wimbledon
09/08	Wimbledon	54-53	Cradley Heath
06/07	Eastbourne	65-43	Reading
18/06	Birmingham	59-49	Swindon
16/06	Coventry	74-34	Poole
16/06	King's Lynn	53-55	Wolverhampton
16/06	Swindon	62-46	Birmingham
15/06	Poole	59-48	Coventry
15/06	Wolverhampton	56-52	King's Lynn
11/06	Reading	77-31	Eastbourne
02/06	Belle Vue	61-47	Exeter
01/06	Hull	81-25	Sheffield
31/05	Exeter	70-38	Belle Vue
31/05	Sheffield	60-48	Hull

Quarter-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
24/09	Cradley Heath	71-37	Wolverhampton
21/09	Wolverhampton	52-56	Cradley Heath
20/08	Reading	53-55	Halifax
14/07	Halifax	79-29	Reading
03/08	Exeter	56-52	Swindon
18/07	Hull	75-34	Coventry
14/07	Coventry	60-48	Hull
14/07	Swindon	46-62	Exeter

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
07/10	Halifax	49-59	Cradley Heath
06/10	Cradley Heath	43-23	Halifax
19/09	Hull	70-38	Exeter
17/09	Exeter	60-48	Hull

Final

First leg

15 October 1979

Cradley Heath Bruce Penhall 11 Alan Grahame 11 Phil Collins 9 Erik Gundersen 9 Dave Perks 9 Bobby Schwartz 6 Kristian Praestbro 4 John Hack 3	62 - 46	Hull Vikings Ivan Mauger 14 Bobby Beaton 13 Joe Owen 6 Dennis Sigalos 6 Frank Auffret 6 Nigel Close 1 Brian Havelock 0 Graham Drury 0

Second leg

31 October 1979

Hull Vikings Dennis Sigalos 13 Kelly Moran 8 Louis Carr 7 Bobby Beaton 6 Joe Owen 5 Frank Auffret 4 Nigel Close 4 Ivan Mauger 3	50 - 58	Cradley Heath Bruce Penhall 13 Bobby Schwartz 11 Kristian Praestbro 9 Phil Collins 9 Alan Grahame 6 Erik Gundersen 5 John Hack 5 Dave Perks 0

Cradley Heath were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 120-96.

Riders' Championship

John Louis won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 20 October and sponsored by Gauntlet (Leyland Used Cars).^[9]

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	John Louis	2 3 3 3 3	14
2	Bruce Penhall	3 2 3 3 2	13
3	Michael Lee	3 3 2 1 3	12
4	Peter Collins	2 3 2 3 1	11
5	Larry Ross	3 2 1 1 3	10
6	Phil Crump	0 3 3 3 0	9
7	Hans Nielsen	2 2 1 2 2	9
8	Scott Autrey	1 1 3 1 2	8
9	Ole Olsen	2 2 0 2 1	7
10	Ivan Mauger	1 R 2 0 1	6
11	Malcolm Simmons	3 0 0 1 1	5
12	John Titman	0 1 0 2 2	5
13	Ian Cartright	1 1 1 2 0	5
14	John Davis	0 1 2 0 1	4
15	Andy Grahame	0 0 1 0 0	1
16	Gordon Kennett	1 0 0 0 0	1

• ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired

Final leading averages

The top ten averages recorded at the end of the season.^[10]

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Scott Autrey		Exeter	10.83
2	Ivan Mauger		Hull	10.38
3	Phil Crump		Swindon	10.34
4	John Davis		Reading	10.32
5	Hans Nielsen		Wolverhampton	10.29
6	Michael Lee		King's Lynn	10.21
7	Ole Olsen		Coventry	9.92
8	Gordon Kennett		Eastbourne	9.91
9	Bruce Penhall		Cradley	9.88
10	Dave Jessup		King's Lynn	9.72

Midland Cup

Coventry won the Midland Cup for the fourth consecutive year. The competition consisted of six teams and was sponsored by the Trustee Savings Bank.^[11]

First round

Team one	Team two	Score
Birmingham	Swindon	32–46, 31–47
Wolverhampton	Cradley	39–38, 32–46

Semi final round

Team one	Team two	Score
Leicester	Swindon	44.5–33.5, 38–40
Coventry	Cradley	46–32, 34–44

Final

First leg

9 October 1979

Leicester Mike Farrell 12 John Boulger 8 John Titman 7 Chris Turner 4 Dave Gooderham 2 Tom Godal 2 Colin Cook 0	35–43	Coventry Ole Olsen 12 Alf Busk 12 Tommy Knudsen 7 Gary Guglielmi 7 Mick Bell 4 Mitch Shirra 1 Kevin Hawkins 0 Alan Molyneux r/r

Leicester Stadium

Second leg

13 October 1979

Coventry Ole Olsen 13 Mitch Shirra 8 Alf Busk 8 Tommy Knudsen 8 Gary Guglielmi 5 Mick Bell 5 Kevin Hawkins 3 Alan Molyneux r/r	50–28	Leicester John Titman 9 Colin Cook 7 John Boulger 6 Rob Henry 4 Ian Clark 1 Tom Godal 1 Mike Farrell 0

Brandon Stadium

Coventry won on aggregate 93–63

London Cup

Hackney won the London Cup but the competition consisted of just Wimbledon and Hackney.^[12]

Results

Team	Score	Team
Hackney	44–34	Wimbledon
Wimbledon	43–35	Hackney

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• Peter Collins 9.76
• Chris Morton 9.06
• Les Collins 7.60
• Dave Allen 6.00
• Karl Maier 5.56
• Pekka Hautamaki 5.17
• Emil Sova 4.81
• Rob Maxfield 4.25
• Derek Richardson 4.21
• Arnold Haley 3.08
• Keith Bloxsome 0.86

Birmingham

• Billy Sanders 9.15
• Phil Herne 7.91
• Andy Grahame 7.60
• Finn Jensen 6.14
• Alan Emerson 5.90
• Ari Koponen 5.05
• Ray Wilson 5.05
• Ted Howgego 4.33
• Stuart Mountford 2.72

Coventry

• Ole Olsen 9.92
• Mitch Shirra 9.13
• Alan Molyneux 8.00
• Alf Busk 6.62
• Tommy Knudsen 6.41
• Gary Guglielmi 5.93
• Kevin Hawkins 5.73
• Mick Bell 4.95

Cradley Heath

• Bruce Penhall 9.88
• Alan Grahame 8.34
• Phil Collins 7.85
• Bobby Schwartz 7.83
• Steve Bastable 7.71
• Kristian Praestbro 7.54
• Erik Gundersen 7.35
• Dave Perks 6.84
• John Hack 4.77
• Les Rumsey 4.76

Eastbourne

• Gordon Kennett 9.91
• Kai Niemi 8.76
• Steve Weatherley 6.98
• Dave Kennett 5.59
• Trevor Geer 5.09
• Eric Dugard 4.27
• Roger Abel 3.91
• Steve Naylor 3.75
• Paul Woods 3.41
• John Barker 3.09
• Veijo Tuoriniemi 2.96

Exeter

• Scott Autrey 10.83
• Václav Verner 8.49
• Peter Prinsloo 6.94
• Aleš Dryml Sr. 6.47
• Jan Verner 6.40
• Steve Koppe 6.17
• Nigel Boocock 6.06
• Zdeněk Kudrna 6.05

Hackney

• Zenon Plech 7.78
• Bo Petersen 7.74
• Finn Thomsen 7.70
• Barry Thomas 5.09
• Vic Harding 4.33
• Bobby McNeil 4.00
• Sean Willmott 3.80
• Keith White 3.63

Halifax

• Ian Cartwright 8.95
• Kenny Carter 8.13
• Mike Lohmann 7.59
• Tormod Langli 6.93
• Mick McKeon 6.87
• Klaus Lohmann 5.18
• Merv Janke 4.84
• Steve Wilcock 4.24

Hull

• Ivan Mauger 10.38
• Bobby Beaton 8.62
• Kelly Moran 8.47
• Joe Owen 8.40
• Dennis Sigalos 7.46
• Graham Drury 6.75
• Frank Auffret 6.01

Ipswich

• John Louis 9.32
• Billy Sanders 9.21
• Tony Davey 7.51
• Kevin Jolly 7.43
• Anders Michanek 7.33
• Mike Lanham 6.43
• Tim Hunt 4.95
• Preben Eriksen 4.45
• Colin Cook 4.00
• Milan Spinka 3.76
• Andy Hines 3.41
• Nigel Flatman 3.27
• Kevin Teager 2.10

King's Lynn

• Michael Lee 10.21
• Dave Jessup 9.72
• Richard Hellsen 8.58
• Ian Turner 5.98
• Bent Rasmussen 5.24
• David Gagen 5.00
• Pete Smith 4.97
• Derek Harrison 4.26
• Bob Garrad 3.87
• Rob Hollingworth 2.27

Leicester

• John Titman 8.47
• Ila Teromaa 6.28
• Mike Farrell 5.99
• John Boulger 5.88
• Colin Cook 5.40
• Tom Godal 4.75
• John McNeill 4.14
• Chris Turner 3.49
• Robert Henry 3.47

Poole

• Malcolm Simmons 9.04
• Ron Preston 8.58
• Christer Sjösten 6.49
• Neil Middleditch 6.48
• Danny Kennedy 6.06
• Andrzej Tkocz 5.82
• Martin Yeates 4.33
• Kelvin Mullarkey 2.57

Reading

• John Davis 10.32
• Jan Andersson 8.64
• Terry Betts 7.75
• Bernie Leigh 6.31
• Melvyn Taylor 5.65
• Reidar Eide 5.23
• Bob Humphreys 5.16
• Jiří Štancl 5.12
• Ashley Pullen 3.75

Sheffield

• Reg Wilson 8.74
• Doug Wyer 7.57
• Craig Pendlebury 6.47
• Eric Broadbelt 6.03
• Henny Kroeze 4.92
• Nicky Allott 4.84
• Steve Finch 4.52
• Phil White 4.37
• Keith Evans 4.17
• Tommy Morley 3.61
• Neil Collins 3.33

Swindon

• Phil Crump 10.34
• Bob Kilby 7.65
• Steve Gresham 6.98
• Geoff Bouchard 6.30
• Martin Ashby 6.06
• Steen Mastrup 5.92
• Rolf Gramstad 4.66
• Malcolm Holloway 3.52

Wimbledon

• Edward Jancarz 9.26
• Larry Ross 8.97
• Roger Johns 7.89
• Stefan Salomonsso 7.38
• Rudy Muts 6.91
• Mick Hines 5.47
• Colin Richardson 5.39
• Richard Knight 4.35
• Pat Pawson 1.86
• Dave Brewer 1.38

Wolverhampton

• Hans Nielsen 10.29
• Jimmy McMillan 7.93
• Dave Morton 6.81
• George Hunter 6.73
• Hasse Danielsson 6.39
• Bruce Cribb 5.84
• Edgar Stangeland 5.44
• Dave Trownson 5.23
• Trond Helge Skretting 3.52

See also

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

References

1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
2. Bott, Richard (1980). The Peter Collins Speedway Book No.4. Stanley Paul & Co Ltd. p. 94. ISBN 0-09-141751-1.
3. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 80. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
4. "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
5. "1979 league tables". Speedway GB.
6. "Vic Harding killed". Reading Evening Post. 9 June 1979. Retrieved 28 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "Vic Harding". Speedway Museum Online. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
8. "1979 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
9. "Speedway". The People. 21 October 1979. Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
10. Bott, Richard (1980). The Peter Collins Speedway Book No.4. Stanley Paul & Co Ltd. p. 96. ISBN 0-09-141751-1.
11. "...and they're cup kings, too!". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 15 October 1979. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
12. "1979 fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 1 October 2023.