1966 British League season explained

Competition:	British League
Season:	1966
Competitors:	19
Domesticcup1:	Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:	Halifax Dukes
Domesticcup2:	Knockout Cup
Domesticcup2 Winners:	Halifax Dukes
Domesticcup3:	Individual
Domesticcup3 Winners:	Barry Briggs
Domesticcup4:	London Cup
Domesticcup4 Winners:	West Ham Hammers
Domesticcup5:	Midland Cup
Domesticcup5 Winners:	Coventry Bees
Highest Average:	Barry Briggs
Prevseason:	1965
Nextseason:	1967

The 1966 British League season was the 32nd season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the second season known as the British League.^[1] Halifax Dukes won the league and then secured the league and cup double.^[2]

Summary

The League expanded to 19, with a new team, the King's Lynn Stars.^[3] Halifax Dukes won the league after 36 games and finished three points clear of Coventry Bees. The Halifax team success was due to the consistency of their riders, in particular Eric Boocock, Eric Boothroyd, Dave Younghusband and Tommy Roper who all scored heavily throughout the season. Halifax also completed the double winning the British League Knockout Cup. In the final, they easily beat Wimbledon Dons.^[4]

The four times world champion Barry Briggs topped the averages for Swindon Robins during the same season in which he sealed his fourth world title. The dangers of speedway were highlighted once again however when Welshman Ivor Hughes was killed during the league match riding for Cradley Heath Heathens against Sheffield Tigers on 20 August.^[5]

Final table

			M	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Halifax Dukes	36	27	0	9	1574	1229	54
2	Coventry Bees	36	25	1	10	1548	1255	51
3	Swindon Robins	36	23	0	13	1553	1248	46
4	Wimbledon Dons	36	22	0	14	1485	1314	44
5	Newcastle Diamonds	36	20	0	16	1491.5	1304.5	40
6	Poole Pirates	36	19	2	15	1443	1356	40
7	West Ham Hammers	36	19	1	10	1499.5	1304.5	39
8	Glasgow Tigers	36	18	0	18	1395	1394	36
9	Wolverhampton Wolves	36	17	2	17	1340.5	1461.5	36
10	Exeter Falcons	36	17	1	18	1392.5	1403.5	35
11	Sheffield Tigers	36	17	0	19	1410	1394	34
12	Edinburgh Monarchs	35	17	0	18	1310.5	1413.5	34
13	Belle Vue Aces	36	16	0	20	1362	1443	32
14	Hackney Hawks	36	15	1	20	1347.5	1456.5	31
15	Oxford Cheetahs	36	14	2	20	1291	1510	30
16	King's Lynn Stars	36	15	0	21	1275	1524	30
17	Newport Wasps	36	12	1	23	1319	1486	25
18	Long Eaton Archers	36	12	1	23	1286	1516	25
19	Cradley Heath Heathens	35	10	0	25	1196	1506	20

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Barry Briggs		Swindon	11.08
2	Nigel Boocock		Coventry	10.67
3	Gote Nordin		Newport	10.53
4	Eric Boocock		Halifax	10.41
5	Olle Nygren		Wimbledon	10.32
6	Colin Pratt		Hackney	9.93
7	Ken McKinlay		West Ham	9.78
8	Mike Broadbank		Swindon	9.77
9	Sverre Harrfeldt		West Ham	9.76
10	Trevor Hedge		Wimbledon	9.64

Knockout Cup

Halifax Dukes won the cup and therefore secured the league and cup double.^[6]

See main article: article and British League Knockout Cup 1966.

Riders' Championship

Barry Briggs won the British League Riders' Championship for the second consecutive year, held at Hyde Road on 22 October.^[7]

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=70px	Heat Scores	width=50px	Total
1		3 3 3 3 3	15
2		2 3 3 3 3	14
3		3 2 3 2 2	12
4		3 2 0 3 3	11
5		3 3 2 2 exc	10
6		1 3 1 3 -	8
7		0 1 1 2 3	7
8		0 ef 3 1 2	6
9		1 1 2 1 1	6
10		1 1 ef 1 2	5
11		2 1 2 ef ef	5
12		2 F 2 1 ef	5
13		0 2 1 2 ef	5
14		2 0 ef 0 2	4
15		1 2 ef ef ef	3
16		0 0 1 0 1	2

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

London Cup

West Ham successfully defended their London Cup title but once again there were just three teams competing.^[8]

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	3	0	1	216	168	6
2		4	3	0	1	192.5	191.5	6
3		4	0	0	4	167.5	216.5	0

Results

width=100	Team	width=70	Score	width=100	Team
Hackney	47–49	Wimbledon
Wimbledon	49–47	West Ham
West Ham	53–43	Wimbledon
Hackney	43–53	West Ham
Wimbledon	52–44	Hackney
West Ham	63–33	Hackney
Hackney	47.5–48.5	Wimbledon

Final leading average

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Barry Briggs		Swindon	11.12
2	Nigel Boocock		Coventry	10.54
3	Eric Boocock		Halifax	10.46
4	Göte Nordin		Newport	10.44
5	Olle Nygren		Wimbledon	10.40
6	Colin Pratt		Hackney	10.00
7	Sverre Harrfeldt		West Ham	9.89
8	Ivan Mauger		Newcastle	9.82
9	Ken McKinlay		West Ham	9.67
10	Mike Broadbank		Swindon	9.60
11	Trevor Hedge		Wimbledon	9.39
12	Cyril Maidment		Belle Vue	9.55
13	Arne Pander		Oxford	9.53
14	Norman Hunter		West Ham	9.42
15	Terry Betts		King's Lynn	9.41
16	Trevor Hedge		Wimbledon	9.39
17	Eric Boothroyd		Halifax	9.29
18	Ron Mountford		Coventry	9.29
19	Charlie Monk		Glasgow	9.27
20	Rick France		Coventry	9.22

Midland Cup

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

First round group 1

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Wolverhampton	Cradley	44–34, 41–37
Wolverhampton	Swindon	43–35, 26–52
Cradley	Swindon	40–38, 17–61

First round group 2

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Long Eaton	Coventry	37–41, 31–47
Oxford	Coventry	40–37, 33–45
Long Eaton	Oxford	32–46, 28–50

Final

First leg

Second leg

Coventry won on aggregate 88–68

Riders and final averages

Belle Vue

• 9.55
• 7.79
• 7.54
• 5.86
• 5.35
• 5.01
• 4.27
• 0.36

Coventry

• 10.54
• 9.29
• 9.22
• 8.81
• 5.52
• 4.31
• 3.06
• 2.74
• 2.12

Cradley Heath

• 7.88
• 6.51
• 6.32
• 6.10
• 5.65
• (Kid Brodie) 5.48
• 3.64
• 3.58
• 2.40
• 2.33
• 2.00

Edinburgh

• 8.17
• 7.65
• 7.42
• 5.83
• 5.27
• 5.20
• 4.81
• 4.55

Exeter

• 9.11
• 8.23
• 7.32
• 6.61
• 6.23
• 5.37
• 4.80
• 4.77
• 2.40

Glasgow

• 9.27
• 7.47
• 7.06
• 6.75
• 6.35
• 5.30
• 4.95
• 3.54

Hackney

• 10.00
• 8.63
• 6.81
• 5.40
• 5.25
• 4.58
• 3.44
• 2.86
• 2.00

Halifax

• 10.46
• 9.29
• 8.82
• 7.54
• 6.00
• 5.38
• 4.98
• 4.00
• 2.33

King's Lynn

• 9.41
• 9.18
• 6.20
• 4.90
• 4.73
• 3.75
• 3.55
• 2.61
• 2.61
• 2.17

Long Eaton

• 9.64
• 8.63
• 7.68
• 6.72
• 5.14
• 4.97
• 4.96
• 4.44
• 4.12
• 4.00

Newcastle

• 9.82
• 8.05
• 7.74
• 6.37
• 6.11
• 5.82
• 4.57
• 5.20

Newport

• 10.44
• 7.23
• 6.03
• 5.54
• 5.43
• 5.34
• 4.75
• 3.68

Oxford

• 9.53
• 8.14
• 5.96
• 5.86
• 5.04
• 4.10
• 3.93
• 1.00

Poole

• 9.12
• 8.83
• 8.22
• 6.18
• 5.76
• 5.48
• 5.43
• 4.20

Sheffield

• 8.12
• 7.81
• 7.27
• 7.16
• 6.86
• 5.93
• 5.70
• 5.68
• 4.82

Swindon

• 11.12
• 9.60
• 9.01
• 5.88
• 5.67
• 5.29
• 4.48
• 2.48

West Ham

• 9.89
• 9.67
• 9.42
• 6.14
• 5.89
• 4.30
• 3.53
• 3.00
• 2.32

Wimbledon

• 10.40
• 9.39
• 8.68
• 6.95
• 3.97
• 3.23
• 3.20
• 2.88

Wolverhampton

• 8.67
• 7.77
• 6.57
• 5.47
• 5.46
• 5.46
• 5.31
• 5.14

See also

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: Historic league tables. Speedway Archive.
2. Book: Rogers, Martin. The Illustrated History of Speedway. 1978. 129-133. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-904584-45-3.
3. Book: Oakes, Peter. 1981 Speedway Yearbook. 1981. 100. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-86215-017-5.
4. Web site: HISTORY ARCHIVE. British Speedway. 29 June 2021.
5. Web site: Ivor Hughes. Cradley Speedway. 28 July 2021.
6. Web site: HALIFAX DUKES. Greyhound Derby.com. 25 June 2021.
7. News: Briggs keeps rider's title despite rain . Coventry Evening Telegraph . 24 October 1966 . 31 May 2023 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
8. Web site: West Ham Hammers 1966 . Speedway Researcher . 30 September 2023.
9. News: Coventry Win Midland Cup . Birmingham Daily Post . 20 September 1966 . British Newspaper Archive. 19 October 2023 . subscription .