1965 British League season explained

Competition:	British League
Season:	1965
Competitors:	18
Domesticcup1:	Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:	West Ham Hammers
Domesticcup2:	Knockout Cup
Domesticcup2 Winners:	West Ham Hammers
Domesticcup3:	Individual
Domesticcup3 Winners:	Barry Briggs^[1]
Domesticcup4:	London Cup
Domesticcup4 Winners:	West Ham Hammers
Highest Average:	Nigel Boocock
Prevseason:	1964
Nextseason:	1966

The 1965 British League season was the 31st season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom.^[2] It was also first known as the new British League which was formed in 1965, along with the British Speedway Promoters Association (BSPA). The league was an amalgamation of the National League and the Provincial League.^[3]

Summary

Middlesbrough Bears did not join the new league and Norwich Stars had closed for good. Halifax Dukes were new entrants.1929-1977^[4]

West Ham Hammers were the first ever British League winners. It was their first league success since 1937. The West Ham team included Scot Ken McKinlay who finished the season third with an average of 10.72 and the Norwegian champion Sverre Harrfeldt who finished fifth in the averages. They were supported well by British internationals Norman Hunter and Malcolm Simmons. The West Ham team completed the double winning the British League Knockout Cup. In the final they defeated Exeter Falcons 63-33.^[5] The season was not a complete success because during a challenge match at West Ham Stadium a junior rider called David John Wills was killed in a race after a crash.^[6] West Ham also won the London Cup but the competition only had three teams competing.^[7]

Wimbledon Dons headed by leading Swedish rider Olle Nygren fought West Ham throughout the season and only lost the league by a single point.

Final table

		M	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	West Ham Hammers	34	23	1	10	1430	1215	47
2	Wimbledon Dons	34	22	2	10	1396	1245	46
3	Coventry Bees	34	20	0	14	1384	1258	40
4	Oxford Cheetahs	34	19	2	13	1308	1340	40
5	Halifax Dukes	33	18	3	12	1322	1240	39
6	Newport Wasps	34	19	0	15	1360	1288	38
7	Wolverhampton Wolves	34	18	1	15	1429	1216	37
8	Hackney Hawks	34	18	1	15	1327.5	1319.5	37
9	Exeter Falcons	34	18	0	16	1325.5	1323.5	36
10	Poole Pirates	34	17	1	16	1378	1266	35
11	Sheffield Tigers	34	16	2	16	1300	1346	34
12	Newcastle Diamonds	34	16	1	17	1363	1282	33
13	Glasgow Tigers	34	15	1	18	1315	1329	31
14	Belle Vue Aces	34	15	0	19	1328	1312	30
15	Swindon Robins	34	13	2	19	1345	1300	28
16	Cradley Heathens	33	11	1	21	1132	1438	23
17	Edinburgh Monarchs	34	11	0	23	1173	1428	22
18	Long Eaton Archers	34	7	0	27	1107	1534	14

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

Top Ten Riders (League Average)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Nigel Boocock		Coventry Bees	11.09
2	Barry Briggs		Swindon Robins	10.91
3	Ken McKinlay		West Ham Hammers	10.72
4	Mike Broadbanks		Swindon Robins	10.54
5	Sverre Harrfeldt		West Ham Hammers	10.35
6	Olle Nygren		Wimbledon Dons	10.31
7	Charlie Monk		Glasgow Tigers	10.22
8	Ron How		Oxford Cheetahs	10.16
9	Arne Pander		Oxford Cheetahs	10.01
10	Jimmy Gooch		Oxford Cheetahs	9.97

Knockout Cup

West Ham Hammers won the Knockout Cup and completed the double of league and cup.

See main article: article and British League Knockout Cup 1965.

Riders' Championship

Barry Briggs won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 16 October.^[8]

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=70px	Heat Scores	width=50px	Total
1		3 3 3 2 3	14
2		2 2 3 3 3	13
3		3 3 3 ef 3	12
4		1 3 2 2 3	11
5		1 2 3 3 2	11
6		2 3 1 2 1	9
7		3 f 2 1 2	8
8		2 1 2 3 ef	8
9		2 2 1 1 1	7
10		1 0 1 2 2	6
11		1 1 ef 3 0	5
12		3 - 2 f -	5
13		0 2 0 0 1	3
14		0 1 ef 1 1	3
15		0 0 0 ef 2	2
16		0 1 1 0 0	2
17	Alf Wells (res)	1 - - - -	1
18	Kid Brodie (res)	0 - - - -	0

• ef=engine failure, f=fell, exc=excluded

Final leading averages

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Nigel Boocock		Coventry	11.12
2	Barry Briggs		Swindon	10.93
3	Ken McKinlay		West Ham	10.83
4	Mike Broadbanks		Swindon	10.48
5	Sverre Harrfeldt		West Ham	10.46
6	Charlie Monk		Glasgow	10.28
7	Olle Nygren		Wimbledon	10.22
8	Ron How		Oxford	10.16
9	Arne Pander		Oxford	10.03
10	Jimmy Gooch		Oxford	9.90
11	Cyril Maidment		Belle Vue	9.65
12	Ronnie Genz		Poole	9.45
13	Eric Boocock		Halifax	9.43
14	Norman Hunter		West Ham	9.42
15	George Hunter		Edinburgh	9.35
16	Ivor Brown		Cradley Heath	9.27
17	Colin Gooddy		Exeter	9.24
18	Reg Luckhurst		Wimbledon	9.14
19	Bill Andrew		Poole	9.07
20	Dave Younghusband		Halifax	9.06

London Cup

width=20	Pos	width=150	Team	width=20	P	width=20	W	width=20	D	width=20	L	width=20	F	width=20	A	width=20	Pts
1		4	2	1	1	196	188	5
2		4	2	0	2	189	194	4
3		4	1	1	2	190	193	3

Results

width=100	Team	width=50	Score	width=100	Team
Wimbledon	53–43	Hackney
Hackney	52–44	West Ham
West Ham	50–46	Hackney
Hackney	48–47	Wimbledon
Wimbledon	48–48	West Ham
West Ham	54–42	Wimbledon

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• 9.65
• 8.06
• 7.52
• 6.37
• 6.03
• 5.50
• 5.25
• 4.12
• 4.10
• 1.67

Coventry

• 11.12
• 8.74
• 8.65
• 6.30
• 6.00
• 4.27
• 3.08
• 2.12
• 0.64

Cradley Heath

• 9.27
• 7.78
• 7.63
• 6.29
• 5.87
• 5.10
• 5.09
• 4.79
• 3.35
• 3.31
• 2.89
• 1.65

Edinburgh

• 9.35
• 7.34
• 6.61
• 5.42
• 4.94
• 4.83
• 4.42
• 4.17
• 3.88
• 2.50

Exeter

• 9.24
• 7.72
• 7.62
• 7.37
• 6.05
• 6.00
• 6.00
• 5.78
• 4.36
• 3.61

Glasgow

• 10.28
• 7.61
• 7.16
• 6.58
• 6.12
• 5.23
• 4.76
• 4.12

Hackney

• 8.69
• 8.51
• 7.51
• 6.79
• 6.60
• 5.49
• 5.15
• 5.04
• 3.45

Halifax

• 9.43
• 9.06
• 8.00
• 7.29
• 6.30
• 4.91
• 4.07
• 4.00
• 3.75
• 2.93

Long Eaton

• 7.96
• (Kid Bodie) 6.84
• 6.64
• 6.55
• 5.19
• 5.08
• 4.77
• 3.45
• 2.61

Newcastle

• 8.76
• 8.75
• 7.35
• 7.30
• 6.23
• 5.92
• 5.77
• 5.44
• 2.92

Newport

• 9.00
• 7.90
• 7.78
• 7.74
• 5.88
• 5.77
• 5.41
• 4.88

Oxford

• 10.16
• 10.03
• 9.90
• 4.53
• 4.51
• 4.34
• 4.25
• 3.83
• 3.32
• 2.45
• 1.71

Poole

• 9.45
• 9.07
• 7.76
• 7.43
• 6.14
• 5.52
• 3.23
• 3.04
• 0.61

Sheffield

• 8.69
• 8.06
• 7.43
• 6.05
• 5.63
• 5.08
• 4.54

Swindon

• 10.93
• 10.48
• 8.83
• 4.29
• 4.00
• 3.93
• 3.24
• 2.00
• 1.47

West Ham

• 10.83
• 10.46
• 9.42
• 6.56
• 4.65
• 4.48
• 3.65
• 2.80
• 2.40

Wimbledon

• 10.22
• 9.14
• 8.55
• 6.77
• 6.01
• 4.91
• 2.60
• 1.44

Wolverhampton

• 8.70
• 8.33
• 8.19
• 7.39
• 7.20
• 6.98
• 5.64
• 4.62

See also

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: British League Riders Championship. Speedway.org. 23 July 2021.
2. Book: Oakes, Peter. 1981 Speedway Yearbook. 1981. 100. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-86215-017-5.
3. Web site: Historic league tables. Speedway Archive.
4. Book: Rogers, Martin. The Illustrated History of Speedway. 1978. 129-133. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-904584-45-3.
5. Web site: HISTORY ARCHIVE. British Speedway. 29 June 2021.
6. Web site: Custom House Years. customhousekid. 28 July 2021.
7. Web site: West Ham Hammers - The Final Match . Speedway Plus . 30 September 2023.
8. News: Speedway Champ . Sunday Mail (Glasgow) . 17 October 1965 . 31 May 2023 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .