1971 British League season explained

Competition:	British League
Competitors:	19
Domesticcup1:	Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:	Belle Vue Aces
Domesticcup2:	Knockout Cup
Domesticcup2 Winners:	Hackney Hawks
Domesticcup3:	Individual
Domesticcup3 Winners:	Ivan Mauger
Domesticcup4:	London Cup
Domesticcup4 Winners:	Hackney Hawks
Domesticcup5:	Midland Cup
Domesticcup5 Winners:	Coventry Bees
Highest Average:	Ivan Mauger
Leagues Below:	British League (Div 2)
Prevseason:	1970
Nextseason:	1972

The 1971 British League season was the 37th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the seventh season known as the British League.^{[1] [2]}

Summary

Reading Racers moved up from Division 2 after taking the Newcastle Diamonds division 1 licence.^{[3] [4]} Belle Vue Aces retained their title to become the first team to win the title for the second time. The team included three time world champion Ivan Mauger, Swedish international Sören Sjösten, Tommy Roper, Eric Broadbelt, Chris Pusey and a 17 year old Peter Collins in his debut season.^[5]

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Belle Vue Aces	36	25	1	10	51
2	Leicester Lions	36	22	3	11	47
3	Coventry Bees	36	23	0	13	46
4	Sheffield Tigers	36	21	1	14	43
5	Swindon Robins	36	19	3	14	40
6	Reading Racers	36	18	4	14	41
7	Hackney Hawks	36	17	4	15	38
8	Newport Wasps	36	19	0	17	37
9	Wembley Lions	36	17	3	16	37
10	Wimbledon Dons	36	18	1	17	36
11	Poole Pirates	36	17	2	17	35
12	Wolverhampton Wolves	36	17	1	18	34
13	King's Lynn Stars	36	16	2	18	34
14	Halifax Dukes	36	16	2	18	32
15	Exeter Falcons	36	16	0	20	31
16	Glasgow Tigers	36	15	1	20	25
17	Oxford Cheetahs	36	12	1	23	20
18	Cradley Heath Heathens	36	8	4	24	20
19	West Ham Hammers	36	9	1	26	19

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	11.42
2	Ray Wilson		Leicester	10.97
3	Ole Olsen		Wolverhampton	10.96
4	Jim Airey		Sheffield	10.70
5	Barry Briggs		Swindon	10.64
6	Bengt Jansson		Hackney	10.21
7	Eric Boocock		Halifax	10.14
8	Anders Michanek		Reading	10.03
9	Nigel Boocock		Coventry	9.95
10	Ronnie Moore		Wimbledon	9.93

British League Knockout Cup

The 1971 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 33rd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Hackney were the winners.^[6]

First round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
08/05	Halifax	49–29	West Ham
08/05	Swindon	43–35	Wimbledon
06/05	Oxford	46–32	Poole

Second round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
25/06	Wolverhampton	43–35	Belle Vue
21/06	Reading	38–40	Cradley Heath
17/06	Oxford	39–38	Exeter
12/06	King's Lynn	46–32	Newport
11/06	Glasgow	43–34	Leicester
10/06	Sheffield	48–30	Wembley
05/06	Halifax	42–36	Coventry
05/06	Swindon	36–42	Hackney

Quarter-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
14/08	Halifax	43–35	Sheffield
06/08	Wolverhampton	45–32	Oxford
31/07	King's Lynn	39–39	Hackney
31/07	Cradley Heath	40–38	Glasgow
03/09	Hackney	49–29	King's Lynn

Semi-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
17/09	Hackney	50–27	Halifax
06/09	Cradley Heath	50–28	Wolverhampton

Final

First leg

Second leg

Hackney Hawks were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 88-68.

Riders' Championship

Ivan Mauger won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 16 October.^[7]

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

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

Final leading averages

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ivan Mauger		Belle Vue	11.33
2	Ole Olsen		Wolverhampton	10.99
3	Ray Wilson		Leicester	10.94
4	Jim Airey		Sheffield	10.74
5	Barry Briggs		Swindon	10.67
6	Bengt Jansson		Hackney	10.26
7	Eric Boocock		Halifax	10.19
8	Anders Michanek		Reading	10.05
9	Nigel Boocock		Coventry	9.95
10	Ronnie Moore		Wimbledon	9.89
11	Martin Ashby		Swindon	9.76
12	Bernt Persson		Cradley Heath	9.68
13	Terry Betts		King's Lynn	9.62
14	Malcolm Simmons		King's Lynn	9.22
15	Trevor Hedge		Wimbledon	9.18
16	Jim McMillan		Glasgow	9.18
17	Sören Sjösten		Belle Vue	9.11
18	Reidar Eide		Poole	9.10
19	Göte Nordin		Wembley	9.04
20	John Boulger		Leicester	8.99

London Cup

Hackney won the London Cup for only the second time, after previously winning it back in 1936.^[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	4	0	0	177	135	8
2		4	1	0	3	156	156	2
3		4	1	0	3	135	177	2

Results

width=100	Team	width=70	Score	width=100	Team
Hackney	40–38	West Ham
West Ham	45–33	Wimbledon
Hackney	53–25	Wimbledon
Wimbledon	41–37	West Ham
West Ham	36–42	Hackney
Wimbledon	36–42	Hackney

Midland Cup

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

First round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Wolverhampton	Swindon	41–36, 41–35
Oxford	Cradley	38–40, 33–45

Semi final round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Leicester	Wolverhampton	41–37, 42–36
Cradley	Coventry	33–45, 27–51

Final

First leg

Second leg

Coventry won on aggregate 82–74

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• 11.33
• 9.11
• 7.14
• 7.01
• 6.97
• 6.36
• 6.30
• 5.27
• 4.74
• 4.50

Coventry

• 9.95
• 7.81
• 7.66
• 6.16
• 5.91
• 5.59
• 5.07

Cradley Heath

• 9.68
• 7.73
• 7.25
• 6.00
• 5.57
• 4.66
• 4.25
• 3.60
• 2.10
• 1.54

Exeter

• 8.92
• 8.87
• 6.42
• 5.94
• 5.28
• 5.10
• 4.42
• 4.10

Glasgow

• 9.18
• 8.29
• 7.27
• 6.99
• 4.80
• 4.69
• 3.46

Hackney

• 10.26
• 8.97
• 7.28
• 5.44
• 4.88
• 4.81
• 4.65
• 4.49
• 4.36
• 4.00

Halifax

• 10.19
• 8.80
• 6.11
• 6.09
• 5.01
• 4.56
• 4.46
• 4.24
• 3.75

King's Lynn

• 9.62
• 9.22
• (Kid Bodie) 8.11
• 5.49
• 5.15
• 4.93
• 4.38
• 3.91
• 3.79

Leicester

• 10.94
• 8.99
• 8.78
• 5.47
• 5.08
• 4.88
• 4.44
• 3.33

Newport

• 8.76
• 8.03
• 7.87
• 7.24
• 4.84
• 4.53
• 4.42
• 4.38
• 2.11

Oxford

• 7.60
• 6.98
• 6.86
• 6.77
• 6.70
• 6.55
• 4.58
• 3.89
• 2.57

Poole

• 9.10
• 7.76
• 7.76
• 6.03
• 6.01
• 4.93
• 3.14

Reading

• 10.05
• 7.74
• 7.23
• 6.74
• 6.13
• 5.25
• 4.75
• 3.30

Sheffield

• 10.74
• 7.58
• 7.04
• 6.60
• 6.03
• 5.92
• 5.11
• 4.60

Swindon

• 10.67
• 9.76
• 6.63
• 4.98
• 4.78
• 3.80
• 3.79
• 3.43

Wembley

• 9.04
• 8.28
• 7.80
• 7.43
• 7.23
• 5.72
• 4.21
• 1.33

West Ham

• 8.73
• 8.14
• 6.51
• 4.93
• 4.44
• 3.82
• 3.66
• 3.13
• 2.98

Wimbledon

• 9.89
• 9.18
• 6.25
• 5.31
• 5.13
• 4.69
• 4.19

Wolverhampton

• 10.99
• 7.61
• 6.87
• 6.56
• 5.06
• .4.97
• 4.80
• 4.75
• 3.43
• 2.67

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. News: Reading switch . Western Daily Press . 6 January 1971 . British Newspaper Archive . subscription . 19 September 2024.
4. Book: Oakes, Peter. 1981 Speedway Yearbook. 1981. 100. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-86215-017-5.
5. Web site: HISTORY ARCHIVE. British Speedway. 1 July 2021.
6. Web site: 1971 British League Knockout Cup. Speedway archive.
7. News: Speedway . Sunday Mirror . 17 October 1971 . 2 June 2023 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
8. Web site: Hackney 1971 . Speedway Researcher . 30 September 2023.
9. News: Fifth heat settles Lions . Leicester Daily Mercury . 13 October 1971 . British Newspaper Archive. 21 October 2023 . subscription .