1977 British League season explained

Competition:	British League
Competitors:	19
Domesticcup1:	Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:	White City Rebels
Domesticcup2:	Knockout Cup
Domesticcup2 Winners:	King's Lynn Stars
Domesticcup3:	Individual
Domesticcup3 Winners:	Ole Olsen
Domesticcup4:	Pairs
Domesticcup4 Winners:	Ipswich Witches
Domesticcup5:	Midland Cup
Domesticcup5 Winners:	Coventry Bees
Domesticcup6:	London Cup
Domesticcup6 Winners:	White City Rebels
Highest Average:	Michael Lee
Leagues Below:	1977 National League
Prevseason:	1976
Nextseason:	1978

The 1977 Gulf British League season was the 43rd season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom^[1] and the 13th season known as the British League.^[2]

Summary

Newport had dropped down to the National League but their riders transferred to the Bristol Bulldogs so the league retained 19 teams. Cradley Heath reverted to their nickname of Heathens after four years of being called United.^[3] The league was sponsored by Gulf Oil for a third season.^[4]

White City Rebels won the title in only their second season of existence. The London team caused a surprise with their consistent form throughout the season with heavy scoring of Gordon Kennett leading the team. The success came from a group of five other riders hitting around a seven average to support Kennett. The five were Englishmen Mike Sampson, Steve Weatherley and Trevor Geer, Pole Marek Cieślak and Finn Kai Niemi.^[5] Wolverhampton Wolves signed 18 year-old Danish rider Hans Nielsen.

Kevin Holden of Poole Pirates had started the season in great form for his new club, following his move from Exeter Falcons. He was hitting over a 9 point average but sadly was killed during the home match against Reading on 27 April. After sliding into the fence he ruptured a blood vessel of the heart.^[6]

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	White City Rebels	36	27	1	8	55
2	Exeter Falcons	36	25	3	8	53
3	Reading Racers	36	25	3	8	53
4	Ipswich Witches	36	25	1	10	51
5	Belle Vue Aces	36	19	3	14	41
6	King's Lynn Stars	36	19	2	15	40
7	Cradley Heathens	36	20	0	16	40
8	Coventry Bees	36	19	1	16	39
9	Wimbledon Dons	36	17	2	17	36
10	Poole Pirates	36	17	2	17	36
11	Swindon Robins	36	17	1	18	35
12	Bristol Bulldogs	36	17	0	19	34
13	Sheffield Tigers	36	16	2	18	34
14	Hull Vikings	36	15	0	21	30
15	Wolverhampton Wolves	36	14	0	22	28
16	Hackney Hawks	36	13	1	22	27
17	Halifax Dukes	36	12	0	24	24
18	Birmingham Brummies	36	8	0	28	16
19	Leicester Lions	36	6	0	30	12

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Michael Lee		King's Lynn	10.64
2	Ivan Mauger		Exeter	10.62
3	Peter Collins		Belle Vue	10.49
4	Gordon Kennett		White City	10.41
5	Ole Olsen		Coventry	10.40
6	Billy Sanders		Ipswich	10.39
7	Anders Michanek		Cradley	10.35
8	Dave Jessup		Reading	10.27
9	Malcolm Simmons		Poole	10.22
10	John Davis		Reading	9.84

British League Knockout Cup

The 1977 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 39th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. King's Lynn Stars were the winners.^[7]

First round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
18/05	Poole	41-37	Reading
25/04	Exeter	50-28	Swindon
25/04	Reading	43-35	Poole
15/04	Wolverhampton	51-27	Leicester
12/04	Leicester	40-38	Wolverhampton

Second round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
23/07	Halifax	38-40	Reading
22/07	Wolverhampton	41-37	Kings Lynn
28/06	White City	51-27	Birmingham
20/06	Birmingham	34-44	White City
18/06	Coventry	57-21	Exeter
18/06	Kings Lynn	55-23	Wolverhampton
17/06	Bristol	56-22	Wimbledon
16/06	Wimbledon	48-30	Bristol
13/06	Exeter	38-40	Coventry
09/06	Sheffield	46-32	Hackney
08/06	Hull	46-32	Cradley Heath
11/06	Cradley Heath	42-36	Hull
03/06	Hackney	49-29	Sheffield
02/06	Ipswich	38-40	Belle Vue
30/05	Reading	53-25	Halifax

Quarter-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
22/08	Reading	51-27	Belle Vue
08/08	White City	50-28	Coventry
06/08	Kings Lynn	42-36	Hackney
05/08	Bristol	52-26	Hull
03/08	Coventry	43-35	White City
03/08	Hull	49-29	Bristol
29/07	Hackney	34-44	Kings Lynn

Semi-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
14/10	Bristol	42-36	Reading
10/10	Reading	47-31	Bristol
24/09	Kings Lynn	44-34	White City
21/09	White City	42-34	Kings Lynn

Final

First leg

Second leg

King's Lynn Stars were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 79-77.

Riders' Championship

Ole Olsen won the British League Riders' Championship for the third time, it was held at Hyde Road on 15 October and sponsored by Leyland Cars.^[8]

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

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

Pairs

The British League Pairs Championship was held at Foxhall Stadium on 29 September and was won by Ipswich Witches for the second consecutive year.^[9]

width=25px	Pos	width=150px	Team	width=50px	Pts	width=300px	Riders
1		26	Billy Sanders 14, John Louis 12
2		23	Michael Lee 18, David Gagen 5
3		20	Gordon Kennett 13, Steve Weatherley 7
4		17	Jim McMillan 10, Finn Thomsen 7
5		17	Dave Jessup 10, John Davis 7
6	Belle Vue Aces	12	Alan Wilkinson 8, Chris Morton 4
7	Sheffield Tigers	11	Craig Pendlebury 6, Doug Wyer 5

Final leading averages

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Michael Lee		King's Lynn	10.59
2	Ole Olsen		Coventry	10.52
3	Ivan Mauger		Exeter	10.50
4	Peter Collins		Belle Vue	10.46
5	Gordon Kennett		White City	10.41
6	Anders Michanek		Cradley	10.35
7	Dave Jessup		Reading	10.32
8	Malcolm Simmons		Poole	10.27
9	Billy Sanders		Ipswich	10.18
10	John Davis		Reading	9.80

Midland Cup

Coventry won the Midland Cup for the second consecutive year. The competition consisted of six teams and was sponsored by the Trustee Savings Bank.^[10]

First round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Birmingham	Swindon	36–42, 26–52
Leicester	Cradley	38–40, 31–47

Semi final round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Coventry	Swindon	54–24, 48–29
Cradley	Wolverhampton	51–27, 38–40

Final

First leg

Second leg

Coventry won on aggregate 89–67

London Cup

White City Rebels won the London Cup. Two of their fixtures doubled up as League and Knockout Cup matches.^[11]

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	White City	4	3	0	1	161	150	6
2	Wimbledon	4	2	1	1	170	141	5
3	Hackney	4	0	1	3	136	176	1

Results

width=100	Team	width=70	Score	width=100	Team
White City	42–36	Wimbledon
White City	46–32	Hackney
Wimbledon	51–27	Hackney
Wimbledon	44–33	White City
Hackney	38–40	White City
Hackney	39–39	Wimbledon

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• 10.46
• 8.96
• 8.56
• 7.87
• 5.90
• 5.07
• 4.18
• 3.72
• 3.61
• 2.30

Birmingham

• 8.74
• 6.36
• 5.58
• 5.00
• 4.95
• 4.75
• 4.56
• 4.10
• 3.44

Bristol

• 9.77
• 9.23
• 7.12
• 6.39
• 6.06
• 4.61
• 4.56
• 3.71
• 3.19
• 3.17
• 2.00

Coventry

• 10.52
• 8.22
• 7.92
• 7.79
• 6.38
• 6.23
• 3.85
• 2.00

Cradley Heath

• 10.35
• 8.34
• 7.86
• 6.54
• 6.50
• 6.00
• 5.61

Exeter

• 10.50
• 9.13
• 8.59
• 8.25
• 6.48
• 6.33
• 6.21
• 4.00

Hackney

• 8.67 (5 matches only)
• 7.45
• 6.51
• 6.34
• 4.68
• 4.19
• 4.07
• 3.88

Halifax

• 8.11
• 7.37
• 7.14
• 6.13
• 6.10
• 4.83
• 4.81
• 3.80
• 2.81

Hull

• 8.63
• 8.01
• 6.61
• 6.00
• 5.44
• 5.23
• 4.69
• 3.05

Ipswich

• 10.18
• 9.50
• 7.97
• 5.40
• 5.24
• 5.13
• 5.07
• 4.62

King's Lynn

• 10.59
• 9.78
• 7.36
• 5.93
• 5.17
• 4.48
• 4.07
• 3.25
• 2.17

Leicester

• 8.92
• 8.42
• 6.68
• 5.17
• 4.74
• 4.04
• 4.00
• 3.89
• 3.33
• 3.24
• 2.96
• 2.96
• 2.29

Poole

• 10.27
• 7.47
• 7.02
• 6.30
• 5.54
• 4.98
• 4.56
• 4.52

Reading

• 10.32
• 9.80
• 6.80
• 6.05
• 5.88
• 5.58
• 4.85
• 4.37
• 3.26
• 2.53

Sheffield

• 9.15
• 8.84
• 6.56
• 5.43
• 5.05
• 4.31
• 3.95
• 3.25

Swindon

• 9.72
• 8.74
• 7.61
• 6.67
• 5.49
• 5.48
• 4.77
• 3.04

White City

• 10.41
• 7.35
• 7.32
• 7.15
• 6.85
• 6.84
• 5.07
• 4.70

Wimbledon

• 9.61
• 7.80
• 7.74
• 7.32
• 5.47
• 5.46
• 4.23
• 3.67
• 2.80
• 2.40

Wolverhampton

• 8.68
• 8.17
• 7.25
• 5.70
• 5.33
• 4.69
• 2.76

See also

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

Notes and References

1. Book: Rogers, Martin. The Illustrated History of Speedway. 1978. 129–133. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-904584-45-3.
2. Web site: Historic league tables. Speedway Archive.
3. Web site: HISTORY ARCHIVE. British Speedway. 2 July 2021.
4. Book: Oakes, Peter. 1981 Speedway Yearbook. 1981. 100. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-86215-017-5.
5. Web site: Speedway riders, history and results. wwosbackup. 29 July 2021.
6. Web site: IT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY.....1977. Poole Speedway. 29 July 2021.
7. Web site: 1977 British League Knockout Cup. Speedway archive.
8. News: Immaculate Olsen roars to title . Coventry Evening Telegraph . 17 October 1977 . 2 June 2023 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
9. News: Sport in Brief . Birmingham Daily Post . 30 September 1977 . 17 May 2023 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
10. News: Super Shirra leads Bees in Cup romp . Coventry Evening Telegraph . 30 September 1977 . British Newspaper Archive. 21 October 2023 . subscription .
11. Web site: 1977 fixtures and results . Speedway Researcher . 1 October 2023.