1971 British League Division Two season

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1971 British League Division Two season
LeagueBritish League Division Two
No. of competitors17
ChampionsEastbourne Eagles
Knockout CupIpswich Witches
IndividualJohn Louis
Highest averageJohn Louis
Division/s aboveBritish League (Div 1)

The 1971 British League Division Two season was the second tier/division motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.[1][2]

Summary[edit]

The league continued with 17 teams in its fourth season despite Reading Racers moving up to Division One and two teams dropping out because there were three new entrants to the league.

Doncaster Dragons disbanded for good, with the promotion and some of the riders moving to Birmingham and re-forming the Birmingham Brummies, who had last raced in 1957.[3] The Crayford Highwayman also dropped out and the Middlesbrough Teessiders changed their name to Teesside Teessiders. Birmingham were one of the new entrants along with Sunderland Stars (who last raced in 1964 as the Saints).[4] Hull Vikings were the final new entrant when Ian Thomas brought speedway back to Hull, to race at the Boulevard Stadium.[5]

Eastbourne Eagles won their first league title since their 1959 Southern Area League success.[6][7] Despite losing their leading rider Dave Jessup to division 1, the Eastbourne Eagles triumphed by bringing in new signing Malcolm Ballard to support the Kennett brothers Gordon and Dave.[4]

Final table[edit]

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Eastbourne Eagles 32 22 3 7 47
2 Bradford Northern 32 21 1 10 43
3 Ipswich Witches 32 20 3 9 43
4 Boston Barracudas 32 18 3 11 39
5 Rayleigh Rockets 32 18 2 12 38
6 Hull Vikings 32 16 2 14 34
7 Crewe Kings 32 16 1 15 33
8 Berwick Bandits 32 16 0 16 32
9 Rochdale Hornets 32 16 0 16 32
10 Long Eaton Rangers 32 13 3 16 29
11 Birmingham Brummies 32 13 3 16 29
12 Romford Bombers 32 13 0 19 26
13 Teesside Teessiders 32 13 0 19 26
14 Canterbury Crusaders 32 12 2 18 26
15 Workington Comets 32 12 1 19 25
16 Peterborough Panthers 32 11 1 20 23
17 Sunderland Stars 32 9 1 22 19

Top Five Riders (League Averages)[edit]

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 John Louis England Ipswich 11.29
2 Alan Knapkin England Bradford Northern 10.26
3 Alan Wilkinson England Rochdale 10.15
4 Reg Wilson England Hull 9.93
5 Peter Collins England Rochdale 9.83

British League Division Two Knockout Cup[edit]

The 1971 British League Division Two Knockout Cup (sponsored by the Speedway Express) was the fourth edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Ipswich Witches were the winners of the competition for the second successive year.[8]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
29/04 Long Eaton 46-31 Birmingham
24/05 Birmingham 39-39 Long Eaton
30/04 Rochdale 47-31 Hull
05/05 Hull 38-39 Rochdale

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
12/06 Ipswich 57-21 Peterborough
11/06 Peterborough 33-45 Ipswich
11/06 Workington 46-31 Sunderland
06/06 Sunderland 37-31 Workington
06/06 Eastbourne 47-31 Canterbury
12/06 Canterbury 39-39 Eastbourne
07/06 Crewe 54-24 Berwick
12/06 Berwick 50-28 Crewe
09/06 Bradford 47-31 Teesside
10/06 Teesside 38-40 Bradford
11/06 Rochdale 45-33 Long Eaton
10/06 Long Eaton 43-35 Rochdale
06/06 Boston 49-28 Romford
12/06 Romford 42-36 Boston

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
29/07 Ipswich 43-35 Rayleigh
24/07 Rayleigh 37-41 Ipswich
23/07 Workington 51-27 Eastbourne
25/07 Eastbourne 45-31 Workington
19/07 Crewe 47-31 Bradford
28/07 Bradford 46-32 Crewe
23/07 Rochdale 41-37 Boston
18/07 Boston 40-38 Rochdale

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
16/08 Crewe 49-29 Rochdale
29/08 Workington 38-40 Ipswich
02/09 Ipswich 50-28 Workington
03/09 Rochdale + Crewe

+ rained off, tie awarded to Ipswich

Final[edit]

First leg

Crewe Kings
Phil Crump 10
John Jackson 6
Jack Millen 6
Dai Evans 6
Garry Moore 5
Dave Parry 4
Barry Meeks 4		41 – 37Ipswich Witches
John Louis 14
Tony Davey 11
Peter Prinsloo 9
Pete Bailey 2
Clive Noy 1
Ted Howgego 0
Ray Watkins 0
[9]
British Railways Sports Ground

Second leg

Ipswich Witches
John Louis 12
Tony Davey 12
Peter Prinsloo 9
Pete Bailey 8
Clive Noy 7
Ted Howgego 5
Ray Watkins 2		55 – 23Crewe Kings
John Jackson 7
Jack Millen 7
Phil Crump 6
Barry Meeks 2
Dai Evans 1
Garry Moore 1
Dave Parry 0
[9]

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

Leading final averages[edit]

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 John Louis England Ipswich 11.31
2 Alan Knapkin England Bradford Northern 10.17
3 Alan Wilkinson England Rochdale 10.08
4 Tony Davey England Ipswich 9.93
5 Malcolm Mackay England Workington 9.81

Riders' Championship[edit]

John Louis won the Rider's Championship, held at Hackney Wick Stadium on 2 October.[10]

Pos. Rider Pts Total
1 England John Louis 3 3 2 3 3 14
2 England Malcolm Shakespeare 2 3 3 3 2 13
3 Guernsey Hugh Saunders 3 3 2 2 2 12
4 England Peter Collins ex 2 3 3 3 11
5 Australia Phil Crump 1 1 3 3 3 11
6 England Arthur Price 3 2 fx 2 3 10
7 England George Major 2 1 2 2 1 8
8 England Reg Wilson r 2 f 2 2 6
9 England Russ Dent 1 1 3 1 0 6
10 England Doug Wyer 0 3 2 0 0 5
11 Scotland Ross Gilbertson 3 r 1 1 0 5
12 England Dave Baugh 2 0 1 1 1 5
13 England Malcolm Mackay 2 f 1 0 1 4
14 England Bruce Forrester 1 0 0 1 1 3
15 England Kevin Holden 0 2 f 0 0 2
16 England Roger Mills (res) 2 2
17 England Malcolm Ballard r 1 r 1
18 England Richard Greer (res) 0 0
  • f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Riders' final averages[edit]

Berwick

  • Doug Wyer 9.69
  • Maury Robinson 7.97
  • Andy Meldrum 7.24
  • Alistair Brady 7.03
  • Peter Kelly 5.77
  • Alan Paynter 5.42
  • Bobby Campbell 4.75
  • Jim Beaton 4.14
  • George Beaton 3.36

Birmingham

  • George Major 8.90
  • Terry Shearer 8.40
  • Archie Wilkinson 6.27
  • Chris Harrison 6.08
  • Malcolm Corradine 5.47
  • Cliff Emms 5.45
  • Ian Wilson .4.65
  • Gunther 'Hec' Haslinger 4.41

Boston

Bradford

  • Alan Knapkin 10.17
  • Alf Wells 9.02
  • Dave Baugh 8.49
  • Dave Schofield 7.54
  • Robin Adlington 7.13
  • Sid Sheldrick 5.15
  • Alan Bridgett 4.82
  • Brian Murray 4.43
  • Peter Thompson 4.35
  • Stan Dewhurst 1.91

Canterbury

Crewe

  • Phil Crump 8.98
  • John Jackson 8.32
  • Dai Evans 7.72
  • Jack Millen 6.61
  • Ian Bottomley 6.48
  • Barry Meeks 5.71
  • Garry Moore 5.31
  • Dave Parry 5.21

Eastbourne

Hull

  • Reg Wilson 9.69
  • Tony Childs 9.22
  • George Devonport 7.71
  • Colin Tucker 6.20
  • Robin Amundson 5.94
  • Dennis Wasden 5.14
  • Pete Boston 4.47
  • Ian Bottomley 4.39
  • Peter Baldock 3.29

Ipswich

  • John Louis 11.31
  • Tony Davey 9.93
  • Pete Bailey 8.20
  • Peter Prinsloo 5.25
  • Clive Noy 5.10
  • Ron Bagley 5.01
  • Ted Howgego 4.85
  • Ted Spittles 4.32
  • Stan Pepper 3.70

Long Eaton

  • Malcolm Shakespeare 9.80
  • Roger Mills 9.41
  • Geoff Bouchard 8.26
  • Gil Farmer 4.42
  • Peter Wrathall 4.42
  • Phil Whittaker 4.36
  • Steve Bass 3.77
  • Ian Champion 3.45
  • Gerry Scott 2.47

Peterborough

Rayleigh

  • Hugh Saunders 9.41
  • Geoff Maloney 7.38
  • Bob Young 6.67
  • Allan Emmett 6.44
  • Nigel Rackett 6.38
  • Dingle Brown 5.93
  • Terry Stone 4.65
  • Dave "Tiger" Beech 4.33

Rochdale

Romford

  • Kevin Holden 8.94
  • Bob Coles 8.06
  • Brian Foote 8.00
  • Stan Stevens 6.60
  • Mike Sampson 6.14
  • Mike Vernam 6.11
  • Colin Sanders 5.78
  • Charlie Benham 5.22
  • Ian Gills 4.78
  • Terry Shearer 4.59
  • Bruce Edgar 3.00

Sunderland

  • Russ Dent 8.16
  • George Barclay 7.21
  • John Goodall 6.43
  • Peter Wrathall 4.92
  • Alan Mackie 4.42
  • Brian Whaley 4.13
  • John Lynch 4.05
  • Gerry Richardson 4.00
  • John Knock 3.83

Teesside

  • Bruce Forrester 8.33
  • Tim Swales 7.04
  • Dave Durham 7.00
  • Bob Jameson 6.31
  • Terry Lee 6.09
  • Frank Auffret 5.92
  • Pete Reading 5.45
  • Tony Swales 4.97
  • Dene Davies 4.62
  • Mick Moore 4.46

Workington

  • Malcolm MacKay 9.81
  • Taffy Owen 8.60
  • Lou Sansom 7.87
  • Ken Vale 5.89
  • Dave Kumeta 4.92
  • Kym Amundson 4.71
  • Bernie Hornby 4.32
  • Geoff Penniket 4.15
  • Chris Blythe 3.93
  • Steve Watson 3.57

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  3. ^ "Doncaster Speedway". Defunct Speedway. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  4. ^ a b "teams". wwosbackup. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  5. ^ "Speedway team will be Hull Kestrels". Hull Daily Mail. 23 January 1971. Retrieved 4 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 101. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  7. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  8. ^ "1971 British League Division Two Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  9. ^ a b "1971 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  10. ^ "Reg Wilson finishes eighth in speedway riders' finals". Hull Daily Mail. 4 October 1971. Retrieved 16 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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