1978 British League season explained

Competition:	British League
Competitors:	19
Domesticcup1:	Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:	Coventry Bees
Domesticcup2:	Knockout Cup
Domesticcup2 Winners:	Ipswich Witches
Domesticcup3:	Individual
Domesticcup3 Winners:	Ole Olsen
Domesticcup4:	Pairs
Domesticcup4 Winners:	Cradley Heath &<br>Coventry Bees
Domesticcup5:	Midland Cup
Domesticcup5 Winners:	Coventry Bees
Domesticcup6:	London Cup
Domesticcup6 Winners:	Wimbledon Dons
Highest Average:	Malcolm Simmons
Leagues Below:	1978 National League
Prevseason:	1977
Nextseason:	1979

The 1978 Gulf British League season was the 44th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 14th season known as the British League.^[1]

Summary

The list of nineteen teams that competed in the league was identical to the previous season. The league was sponsored by Gulf Oil for a fourth season.^[2]

Coventry Bees won their second title and their first for ten years. Belle Vue Aces were runners-up for the fourth time in five seasons and would receive a double blow when losing in the final of the Knockout Cup. Two time world champion Ole Olsen was in sensational form for Coventry and made the difference throughout the season. Olsen would also seal his third world individual crown by the end of the season. The Coventry side consisted of an array of overseas riders including Olsen and fellow Dane Alf Busk, New Zealander Mitch Shirra, Australian Gary Guglielmi and Jiří Štancl from Czechoslovakia.^[3]

League table

Pos	Team	M	W	D	L	Pts
1	Coventry Bees	36	27	0	9	54
2	Belle Vue Aces	36	26	0	10	52
3	Hull Vikings	36	22	2	12	46
4	Wimbledon Dons	36	22	1	13	45
5	Cradley Heathens	36	21	1	14	43
6	Ipswich Witches	36	21	1	14	43
7	Exeter Falcons	36	20	1	15	41
8	Sheffield Tigers	36	19	2	15	40
9	Bristol Bulldogs	36	19	0	17	38
10	Poole Pirates	36	17	3	16	37
11	Leicester Lions	36	17	0	19	34
12	Halifax Dukes	36	14	3	19	31
13	King's Lynn Stars	36	14	2	20	30
14	Reading Racers	36	13	3	20	29
15	White City Rebels	36	12	3	21	27
16	Swindon Robins	36	12	3	21	27
17	Wolverhampton Wolves	36	11	1	24	23
18	Birmingham Brummies	36	11	1	24	23
19	Hackney Hawks	36	10	1	25	21

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Malcolm Simmons		Poole	10.78
2	Ole Olsen		Coventry	10.71
3	Scott Autrey		Exeter	10.45
4	Peter Collins		Belle Vue	10.44
5	Michael Lee		King's Lynn	10.40
6	Chris Morton		Belle Vue	10.31
7	Dave Jessup		Reading	10.24
8	Billy Sanders		Ipswich	10.23
9	Phil Crump		Bristol	9.99
10	Ivan Mauger		Hull	9.91

British League Knockout Cup

The 1978 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 40th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Ipswich Witches were the winners.^[4]

First round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
29/04	Kings Lynn	40-38	Hull
26/04	Hull	39-39	Kings Lynn
10/04	Exeter	44-34	Coventry
08/04	Coventry	44-34	Exeter
17/04	Birmingham	37-41	Poole
12/04	Poole	48-30	Birmingham
15/06	Coventry	37.5-40.5	Exeter
01/06	Exeter	48-30	Coventry

Second round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
19/07	Poole	49-29	Swindon
15/07	Swindon	37-41	Poole
09/06	Hackney	51-26	Kings Lynn
03/06	Kings Lynn	31-46	Hackney
06/07	Sheffield	45-33	Exeter
	Exeter	52-26	Sheffield
10/06	Swindon	36-42	Poole
21/06	Poole	36-42	Swindon
03/06	Belle Vue	44-34	Wimbledon
08/06	Wimbledon	41-37	Belle Vue
23/06	Bristol	35-43	Leicester
06/06	Leicester	39-39	Bristol
10/06	Cradley Heath	38-40	Reading
05/06	Reading	37-41	Cradley Heath
13/06	White City	52-26	Halifax
10/06	Halifax	43-34	White City
09/06	Wolverhampton	40-38	Ipswich
08/06	Ipswich	43-34	Wolverhampton

Quarter-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
09/08	White City	23-54	Ipswich
05/08	Belle Vue	44-34	Poole
04/08	Poole	34-43	Belle Vue
29/07	Cradley Heath	48-30	Leicester
27/07	Ipswich	52-26	White City
21/07	Hackney	34-44	Exeter
11/07	Leicester	39-39	Cradley Heath
17/07	Exeter	58-20	Hackney

Semi-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
14/09	Ipswich	44-34	Cradley Heath
13/09	Cradley Heath	40-38	Ipswich
26/08	Belle Vue	57-21	Exeter
25/08	Exeter	51-27	Belle Vue

Final

First leg

Second leg

Ipswich were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 92-64.

Riders' Championship

Ole Olsen won the British League Riders' Championship for the fourth time (and third in a row), it was held at Hyde Road on 21 October and sponsored by British Leyland Cars.^[5]

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=100px	Heat Scores	width=50px	Total
1		1 3 3 3 3	13
2		2 2 3 3 2	12+3
3		3 2 3 3 1	12+2
4		1 3 3 1 3	11
5		2 3 2 2 1	10
6		3 3 0 1 3	10
7		2 1 1 2 3	9
8		3 1 2 3 0	9
9		0 2 1 2 2	7
10		0 2 2 1 2	7
11	Doug Wyer	3 0 1 1 2	7
12		2 1 0 2 EF	5
13	Phil Herne	0 0 2 R 1	3
14	Andy Heyes (res)	0 1 F R 0 1 0	2
15		1 R - - -	1
16		FX 1 0 0 -	1
17		R - - - -	0

• ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired

Pairs

The British League Pairs Championship sponsored by Gauloises, was held at Foxhall Stadium on 12 October and was jointly won by Cradley Heath Heathens and Coventry Bees. The meeting was abandoned after 14 heats due to fog but the result stood.^{[6] [7]}

width=25px	Pos	width=170px	Team	width=50px	Pts	width=300px	Riders
1	Cradley Heath	18	Steve Bastable 10, Bruce Penhall 8
1	Coventry	18	Ole Olsen 10, Mitch Shirra 8
3	Belle Vue	12	Peter Collins 10, Chris Morton 2
4	Ipswich	11	Billy Sanders 8, Tony Davey 3
5	Exeter	10	Scott Autrey 5, Reidar Eide 5
6	Reading	8	Dave Jessup 5, John Davis 3
7	King's Lynn	7	Terry Betts 4, Michael Lee 3

Leading final averages

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Malcolm Simmons		Poole	10.77
2	Ole Olsen		Coventry	10.56
3	Peter Collins		Belle Vue	10.41
4	Scott Autrey		Exeter	10.40
5	Michael Lee		King's Lynn	10.23
6	Dave Jessup		Reading	10.20
7	Chris Morton		Belle Vue	10.11
8	Billy Sanders		Ipswich	9.94
9	Phil Crump		Bristol	9.92
10	Ivan Mauger		Hull	9.77

Midland Cup

Coventry won the Midland Cup for the third consecutive year. The competition consisted of six teams.^[8]

First round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Swindon	Leicester	16–26, 27–51
Wolverhampton	Birmimgham	38–40, 47–30

Semi final round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Cradley	Leicester	44–34, 26–52
Wolverhampton	Coventry	36–42, 36–42

Final

First leg

Second leg

Coventry won on aggregate 93–63

London Cup

Wimbledon won the London Cup but White City did not compete and therefore the competition consisted of just two teams.^[9]

Results

width=100	Team	width=70	Score	width=100	Team
Hackney	39–38	Wimbledon
Wimbledon	55–23	Hackney

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• 10.41
• 10.11
• 8.00
• 7.73
• 4.90
• 4.52
• 4.45
• 4.36
• 4.30
• 1.14

Birmingham

• 8.56
• 8.30
• 6.80
• 6.66
• 5.05
• 4.94
• 4.31
• 4.17

Bristol

• 9.92
• 9.15
• 7.29
• 5.90
• 5.32
• 5.12
• 4.69
• 4.49
• 3.65
• 3.48

Coventry

• 10.56
• 9.49
• 7.85
• 6.23
• 6.07
• 5.60
• 4.94
• 4.24
• 2.86

Cradley Heath

• 9.51
• 9.26
• 8.21
• 6.56
• 6.22
• 5.44
• 5.23
• 5.22
• 5.05
• 3.68

Exeter

• 10.40
• 8.44
• 8.35
• 7.01
• 6.75
• 6.09
• 6.06
• 5.86

Hackney

• 7.70
• 6.70
• 6.54
• 6.28
• 6.14
• 5.27
• 5.24
• 4.00
• 3.65
• 1.60

Halifax

• 8.35
• 8.06
• 7.45
• 6.19
• 5.98
• 5.83
• 5.40
• 4.81

Hull

• 9.77
• 9.06
• 7.26
• 7.01
• 6.74
• 6.63
• 6.49
• 5.04
• 2.33

Ipswich

• 9.94
• 9.60
• 9.03
• 6.82
• 4.79
• 4.40
• 3.94
• 3.09

King's Lynn

• 10.23
• 8.10
• 7.01
• 5.93
• 5.79
• 4.44
• 4.35
• 3.57
• 3.37
• 3.30
• 2.09

Leicester

• 8.94
• 8.70
• 8.41
• 4.94
• 4.84
• 4.47
• 4.33
• 3.06
• 2.12
• 2.00

Poole

• 10.77
• 7.67
• 7.25
• 6.46
• 6.03
• 6.00
• 5.62
• 4.51
• 3.36

Reading

• 10.20
• 8.93
• 5.91
• 5.90
• 4.53
• 4.00
• 3.69
• 2.94
• 2.56

Sheffield

• 9.35
• 8.59
• 6.93
• 6.65
• 6.45
• 3.35
• 3.20
• 2.94
• 2.53

Swindon

• 8.44
• 8.05
• 7.68
• 6.55
• 4.39
• 4.00
• 3.17
• 2.42
• 2.29
• 1.88
• 1.60
• 0.00

White City

• 9.52
• 7.17
• 6.67
• 5.48
• 5.16
• 5.05
• 4.95
• 4.66

Wimbledon

• 9.29
• 8.61
• 7.82
• 7.26
• 6.67
• 6.53
• 6.46
• 3.56

Wolverhampton

• 8.85
• 8.58
• 8.58
• 4.37
• 3.87
• 3.70
• 3.62
• 2.56

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. 80. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-86215-017-5.
3. Web site: HISTORY ARCHIVE. British Speedway. 2 July 2021.
4. Web site: 1978 British League Knockout Cup. Speedway archive.
5. News: Immaculate Olsen roars to title . Sandwell Evening Mail . 23 October 1978 . 4 June 2023 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
6. News: Sport in Brief . Birmingham Daily Post . 30 September 1977 . 17 May 2023 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
7. Web site: 1978 Complete season records . Speedway Researcher . 16 May 2023.
8. News: Bees live up to double glory . Coventry Evening Telegraph . 16 October 1978 . British Newspaper Archive. 21 October 2023 . subscription .
9. Web site: 1978 fixtures and results . Speedway Researcher . 1 October 2023.