1970 British League season explained

Competition:	British League
Competitors:	19
Domesticcup1:	Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:	Belle Vue Aces
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:	Coventry Bees
Highest Average:	Ivan Mauger
Leagues Below:	British League (Div 2)
Prevseason:	1969
Nextseason:	1971

The 1970 British League season was the 36th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the sixth season known as the British League.^{[1] [2]}

Summary

Wembley Lions under the promotion of Trevor Redmond and Bernard Cottrel entered the British league having bought the licence - and inherited the riders - from the Coatbridge Monarchs.^[3] It was the first time since 1956 that Wembley would compete in the league.^[4]

Belle Vue Aces secured their first British League title. The Manchester team were once again led by the brilliant Ivan Mauger who would secure a third consecutive world champion title before the end of the season. He topped the averages with 11.18 as the team finished ten points ahead of their nearest rivals Wimbledon Dons. The Dons found some consolation when winning their third consecutive British League Knockout Cup.^[5]

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Belle Vue Aces	36	27	2	7	56
2	Wimbledon Dons	36	22	2	12	46
3	Coventry Bees	36	22	1	13	45
4	Leicester Lions	36	21	0	15	42
5	Poole Pirates	36	20	0	16	40
6	Halifax Dukes	36	19	1	16	39
7	Sheffield Tigers	36	18	3	15	39
8	Glasgow Tigers	36	18	1	17	37
9	Wolverhampton Wolves	36	16	2	18	34
10	Exeter Falcons	36	16	1	19	34
11	Hackney Hawks	36	15	2	19	33
12	King's Lynn Stars	36	16	0	20	32
13	Oxford Cheetahs	36	16	0	20	32
14	Wembley Lions	36	15	2	19	32
15	Cradley Heath Heathens	36	15	1	20	31
16	Swindon Robins	36	14	2	20	30
17	Newcastle Diamonds	36	15	0	21	30
18	West Ham Hammers	36	14	2	20	30
19	Newport Wasps	36	12	0	24	24

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		Belle Vue	11.23
2	Anders Michanek		Newcastle	10.91
3	Jim Airey		Sheffield	10.82
4	Ray Wilson		Leicester	10.77
5	Nigel Boocock		Coventry	10.67
6	Eric Boocock		Halifax	10.59
7	Barry Briggs		Swindon	10.56
8	Ole Olsen		Wolverhampton	10.27
9	Jim McMillan		Glasgow	10.26
10	Martin Ashby		Exeter	10.14

British League Knockout Cup

The 1970 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 32nd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Wimbledon Dons were the winners for the third consecutive year.^[6] It was the first time that the competition was sponsored by the Speedway Star.

First round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
23/04	Wimbledon	44-34	Hackney
21/04	Exeter	51-27	King's Lynn
21/04	West Ham	29-49	Belle Vue

Second round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
06/06	Halifax	43-35	Coventry
06/06	Swindon	44-34	Wolverhampton
05/06	Newport	35-43	Leicester
01/06	Newcastle	41-37	Wembley
28/05	Oxford	38-40	Poole
28/05	Sheffield	44-34	Glasgow
28/05	Wimbledon	49-29	Cradley Heath
23/05	Belle Vue	49-29	Exeter
07/05	Romford	48-30	Reading

Quarter-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
25/07	Belle Vue	56-22	Poole
22/07	Swindon	46-32	Leicester
02/07	Sheffield	41-37	Halifax
25/06	Wimbledon	46-32	Newcastle

Semi-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
24/09	Wimbledon	44-34	Swindon
23/09	Belle Vue	40-38	Sheffield

Final

First leg

Second leg

Wimbledon Dons were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 80-75.

Riders' Championship

Barry Briggs won the British League Riders' Championship for the sixth consecutive year, held at Hyde Road on 17 October. He won a three way run off for the title.^[7]

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=70px	Heat Scores	width=50px	Total
1		3 3 1 3 3	13+3
2		3 2 3 3 2	13+2
3		2 3 2 3 3	13+1
4		3 2 3 3 1	12
5		3 1 3 ex 3	10
6		2 3 1 2 2	10
7		2 3 2 1 1	9
8		0 1 1 2 3	7
9		2 1 2 1 1	7
10		0 2 0 2 1	5
11		1 1 0 1 2	5
12		1 2 2 0 0	5
13		0 0 0 2 2	4
14		1 0 3 0 0	4
15		0 0 1 0 0	1
16		1 0 0 0 0	1
17	Sándor Lévai (res)	1 - - - -	1

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

Final leading averages

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ivan Mauger		Belle Vue	11.18
2	Anders Michanek		Newcastle	10.88
3	Jim Airey		Sheffield	10.86
4	Ray Wilson		Leicester	10.80
5	Nigel Boocock		Coventry	10.66
6	Eric Boocock		Halifax	10.54
7	Barry Briggs		Swindon	10.53
8	Jim McMillan		Glasgow	10.27
9	Ole Olsen		Wolverhampton	10.25
10	Martin Ashby		Exeter	10.09
11	Trevor Hedge		Wimbledon	9.97
12	Ronnie Moore		Wimbledon	9.95
13	Bob Kilby		Swindon	9.68
14	Sören Sjösten		Belle Vue	9.66
15	Bengt Jansson		Hackney	9.49
16	Bruce Cribb		Exeter	9.47
17	Olle Nygren		West Ham	9.36
18	John Boulger		Leicester	9.34
19	Bernt Persson		Cradley Heath	9.29
20	Terry Betts		King's Lynn	922

London Cup

Wimbledon won the London Cup for the third consecutive year.^[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	178	133	6
2		4	2	0	2	174	138	4
3		4	1	0	3	129	182	2

Results

width=100	Team	width=70	Score	width=100	Team
Hackney	56–22	West Ham
Hackney	37–41	Wimbledon
West Ham	33–45	Hackney
West Ham	32–46	Wimbledon
Wimbledon	35–42	West Ham
Wimbledon	42–36	Hackney

Midland Cup

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

First round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Wolverhampton	Cradley	42–36, 35–43
Oxford	Swindon	37–41, 32–46

Semi final round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Cradley	Coventry	43–35, 29–49
Swindon	Leicester	36–41, 33–45

Final

First leg

Second leg

Coventry won on aggregate 83–73

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• 11.18
• 9.66
• 7.91
• 7.31
• 5.79
• 5.33
• 5.33
• 4.25
• 3.52

Coventry

• 10.66
• 8.50
• 7.78
• 6.08
• 5.91
• 5.90
• 5.66
• 1.58

Cradley Heath

• 9.29
• 8.45
• 7.75
• 7.51
• 4.38
• 4.09
• 3.50
• 2.65

Exeter

• 10.09
• 9.47
• 6.81
• 6.09
• 5.30
• 5.21
• 4.81
• 4.62

Glasgow

• 10.27
• 8.53
• 7.79
• 5.36
• 5.33
• 5.33
• 3.64
• 1.85
• 1.64

Hackney

• 9.49
• 8.20
• 6.08
• 6.01
• 5.96
• 4.83
• 4.71
• 3.59

Halifax

• 10.54
• 8.21
• 7.80
• 7.04
• 5.95
• 5.80
• 4.27

King's Lynn

• 9.22
• (Kid Bodie) 8.49
• 7.58
• 5.05
• 4.97
• 4.44
• 4.36
• 4.32
• 3.31

Leicester

• 10.80
• 9.34
• 6.72
• 5.71
• 5.04
• 4.76
• 4.51
• 3.43

Newcastle

• 10.88
• 7.88
• 6.62
• 5.15
• 4.30
• 4.06
• 3.91

Newport

• 8.45
• 7.78
• 6.38
• 4.57
• 4.34
• 4.09
• 3.91
• 3.77
• 2.24

Oxford

• 9.10
• 7.03
• 6.66
• 6.48
• 6.38
• 5.89
• 4.76
• 2.82

Poole

• 7.93
• 7.72
• 7.39
• 7.29
• 5.84
• 4.76
• 4.70
• 2.36

Sheffield

• 10.86
• 8.88
• 7.03
• 5.32
• 5.20
• 4.27
• 3.23
• 2.54

Swindon

• 10.53
• 9.68
• 5.58
• 5.26
• 4.57
• 4.34
• 3.45

Wembley

• 9.10
• 7.93
• 7.31
• 5.85
• 4.76
• 4.17
• 3.82
• 3.26
• 2.43

West Ham

• 9.36
• 7.82
• 7.45
• 5.62
• 5.38
• 4.63
• 4.61
• 4.25
• 4.15
• 3.56

Wimbledon

• 9.97
• 9.95
• 7.74
• 6.67
• 6.34
• 5.93
• 4.25
• 3.78
• 2.33

Wolverhampton

• 10.25
• 7.33
• 6.62
• 5.31
• 5.29
• 5.23
• 5.12
• 4.07

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. Jacobs, Norman (2001). Speedway in London.
5. Web site: HISTORY ARCHIVE. British Speedway. 30 June 2021.
6. Web site: 1970 British League Knockout Cup. Speedway archive.
7. News: Briggs keeps the Crown . Sunday Mirror . 18 October 1970 . 1 June 2023 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
8. Web site: Wimbledon 1970 . Speedway Researcher . 30 September 2023.
9. News: Boulger on form for Lions . Nottingham Evening Post . 14 October 1970 . British Newspaper Archive. 21 October 2023 . subscription .