1968 British League season explained

Competition:	British League
Season:	1968
Competitors:	19
Domesticcup1:	Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:	Coventry Bees
Leagues Below:	British League (Div 2)
Domesticcup2:	Knockout Cup
Domesticcup2 Winners:	Wimbledon Dons
Domesticcup3:	Individual
Domesticcup3 Winners:	Barry Briggs
Domesticcup4:	London Cup
Domesticcup4 Winners:	Wimbledon Dons
Domesticcup5:	Midland Cup
Domesticcup5 Winners:	Swindon Robins
Highest Average:	Ivan Mauger
Prevseason:	1967
Nextseason:	1969

The 1968 British League season was the 34th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the fourth season known as the British League.^{[1] [2]}

Summary

Edinburgh relocated to become the Coatbridge Monarchs. The Long Eaton team closed its doors, but a new team in Leicester returned to Speedway to join the League.^[3]

Coventry Bees secured their first title on points difference and after they scored points in the last heat of their last match away at King's Lynn. The title win came after two consecutive years as being runner-up. Coventry's Nigel Boocock was again one of the league's leading riders with his average going well above ten for the fifth consecutive year. He was well supported by Ron Mountford and Czechoslovakian star Antonín Kasper Sr.^[4] Wimbledon Dons who could only manage a mid table finish went on to win the British League Knockout Cup.^[5]

Final table

			M	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Coventry Bees	36	22	0	14	1436	1369	44
2	Hackney Hawks	36	21	2	13	1421	1383	44
3	Exeter Falcons	36	20	1	15	1556.5	1248.5	41
4	Sheffield Tigers	36	20	1	15	1463.5	1337.5	41
5	Newcastle Diamonds	36	20	0	16	1454	1350	40
6	West Ham Hammers	36	19	1	16	1454	1348	39
7	Halifax Dukes	36	19	1	16	1424	1379	39
8	Coatbridge Monarchs	36	18	1	17	1404	1397	37
9	Wimbledon Dons	36	18	0	18	1411	1384	36
10	Belle Vue Aces	36	18	0	18	1387	1417	36
11	Swindon Robins	36	17	1	18	1448	1353	35
12	Leicester Lions	36	17	1	18	1373	1430	35
13	Newport Wasps	36	17	1	18	1348	1457	35
14	Cradley Heath Heathens	36	15	4	17	1373	1430	34
15	Oxford Cheetahs	36	17	0	19	1319	1487	34
16	Wolverhampton Wolves	36	16	0	20	1388	1413	32
17	Poole Pirates	36	13	2	21	1327	1478	28
18	King's Lynn Stars	36	13	1	22	1330	1473	27
19	Glasgow Tigers	36	13	1	22	1312	1495	27

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		Newcastle	11.40
2	Barry Briggs		Swindon	10.88
3	Nigel Boocock		Coventry	10.79
4	Martin Ashby		Exeter	10.68
5	Charlie Monk		Sheffield	10.14
6	Eric Boocock		Halifax	10.13
7	Anders Michanek		Leicester	10.07
8	Norman Hunter		West Ham	9.94
9	Sverre Harrfeldt		West Ham	9.88
10	Torbjörn Harrysson		Newport	9.82

British League Knockout Cup

The 1968 British League Knockout Cup was the 30th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Wimbledon were the winners.^[6]

First round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
27/04	Coatbridge	66-42	Glasgow
27/04	Halifax	57-51	Exeter
16/04	West Ham	55-52	Hackney

Second round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
01/06	Belle Vue	64-44	West Ham
14/05	Leicester	52-56	Coventry
20/05	Newcastle	77-30	Coatbridge
23/05	Sheffield	71-37	Cradley Heath
25/05	Swindon	58-50	Oxford
23/05	Wimbledon	60-48	Kings Lynn
22/05	Poole	56-52	Newport
17/05	Wolverhampton	60-47	Halifax

Third round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
17/08	Belle Vue	65-42	Sheffield
26/07	Poole	54-54	Swindon
27/06	Wimbledon	64-44	Newcastle
28/06	Wolverhampton	58-50	Coventry
23/08 replay	Swindon	60-47	Poole

Semi-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
20/09	Wolverhampton	67-40	Belle Vue
12/09	Wimbledon	80-28	Swindon

Final

First leg

Second leg

Wimbledon Dons were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 118-98.

Riders' Championship

Barry Briggs won the British League Riders' Championship for the fourth consecutive year, held at Hyde Road on 19 October. Briggs defeated Boocock in a run off for the title.^[7]

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

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

Final leading averages

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ivan Mauger		Newcastle	11.37
2	Barry Briggs		Swindon	10.87
3	Nigel Boocock		Coventry	10.74
4	Martin Ashby		Exeter	10.72
5	Anders Michanek		Leicester	10.19
6	Eric Boocock		Halifax	10.17
7	Charlie Monk		Sheffield	10.07
8	Sverre Harrfeldt		West Ham	9.78
9	Torbjörn Harrysson		Newport	9.82
10	Norman Hunter		West Ham	9.71
11	Ron Mountford		Coventry	9.62
12	Hasse Holmqvist		Wolverhampton	9.58
13	Colin Pratt		Hackney	9.58
14	Terry Betts		King's Lynn	9.45
15	Malcolm Simmons		King's Lynn	9.40
16	Ole Olsen		Newcastle	9.39
17	Ray Wilson		Leicester	9.37
18	Olle Nygren		Wimbledon	9.39
19	Bernt Persson		Edinburgh	9.28
20	Jim Airey		Wolverhampton	9.24

London Cup

Wimbledon won the London Cup.^[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	233	198	6
2		4	2	1	1	225	207	5
3		4	0	1	3	189	242	1

Results

width=100	Team	width=70	Score	width=100	Team
West Ham	59–49	Hackney
Wimbledon	56–22	West Ham
West Ham	60–48	Wimbledon
Wimbledon	63–44	Hackney
Hackney	42–66	Wimbledon
Hackney	54–54	West Ham

Midland Cup

Swindon won the Midland Cup for the second consecutive season. The competition consisted of six teams.^[9]

First round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Oxford	Wolverhampton	42–36, 41–37
Leicester	Cradley	45–32, 41–37

Semi final round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Leicester	Cradley	45–32, 36–42
Swindon	Oxford	46–32, 39–38

Final

First leg

Second leg

Swindon won on aggregate 78–77

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• 9.13
• 8.50
• 7.40
• 7.34
• 5.62
• 5.56
• 4.48
• 4.29
• 3.65
• 2.78

Coatbridge

• 9.28
• 9.02
• 6.48
• 6.36
• 6.05
• 4.39
• 3.62

Coventry

• 10.74
• 9.62
• 7.51
• 7.09
• 6.46
• 6.13
• 5.46
• 4.73
• 3.40
• 1.88

Cradley Heath

• 8.91
• 7.70
• 6.71
• 6.32
• 6.20
• 5.67
• 5.02
• 5.02
• 4.19
• 3.62
• 3.16

Exeter

• 10.72
• 7.70
• 7.51
• 7.46
• 7.31
• 6.37
• 5.71
• 4.64

Glasgow

• 8.31
• 7.91
• 7.43
• 6.79
• 5.78
• 5.68
• 4.92
• 4.79
• 4.17
• 2.37

Hackney

• 9.58
• 8.99
• 6.74
• 6.24
• 6.08
• 5.31
• 4.40
• 4.08
• 3.17

Halifax

• 10.17
• 8.83
• 7.95
• 6.27
• 5.94
• 5.43
• 3.88
• 3.75
• 3.69

King's Lynn

• 9.45
• 9.40
• 6.11
• (Kid Bodie) 5.94
• 5.24
• 5.10
• 4.34
• 4.29
• 4.00

Leicester

• 10.19
• 9.37
• 6.62
• 5.51
• 5.43
• 5.24
• 4.06
• 2.80
• 2.58

Newcastle'

• 11.37
• 9.39
• 6.86
• 6.08
• 5.76
• 5.48
• 5.09
• 5.05
• 3.67
• 3.56
• 2.24

Newport

• 9.73
• 7.97
• 6.56
• 6.47
• 6.26
• 5.69
• 5.72
• 2.00

Oxford

• 8.53
• 7.32
• 6.87
• 6.58
• 5.52
• 4.38
• 2.77

Poole

• 8.32
• 7.67
• 7.46
• 6.94
• 5.71
• 5.25
• 5.14
• 4.53
• 4.36

Sheffield

• 10.07
• 7.97
• 7.54
• 6.79
• 6.39
• 6.13
• 4.76
• 1.49

Swindon

• 10.87
• 8.51
• 8.20
• 6.18
• 5.99
• 5.25
• 4.94
• 4.29

West Ham

• 9.78
• 9.71
• 9.11
• 5.36
• 4.95
• 4.46
• 3.33
• 2.57

Wimbledon

• 9.31
• 9.15
• 7.93
• 5.87
• 5.61
• 5.49
• 5.18
• 3.54

Wolverhampton

• 9.58
• 9.24
• 7.68
• 6.82
• 5.97
• 4.86
• 4.30
• 2.86
• 2.35
• 2.29

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: Oakes, Peter. 1981 Speedway Yearbook. 1981. 100. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-86215-017-5.
3. Book: Rogers, Martin. The Illustrated History of Speedway. 1978. 129–133. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-904584-45-3.
4. Web site: HISTORY ARCHIVE. British Speedway. 29 June 2021.
5. Web site: Season 1968 . Speedway Researcher . 20 October 2023.
6. Web site: 1968 British League Knockout Cup. Speedway archive.
7. News: Briggs foils Boocock bid . Derby Daily Telegraph . 21 October 1968 . 1 June 2023 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
8. Web site: Wimbledon 1968 . Speedway Researcher . 30 September 2023.
9. News: Lions Lode By Point On Aggregate . Leicester Daily Mercury . 16 October 1968 . British Newspaper Archive. 19 October 2023 . subscription .