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1987 British League season

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British motorcycle speedway season

1987 British League season
League	British League
No. of competitors	12
Champions	Coventry Bees
Knockout Cup	Cradley Heathens
League Cup	Coventry Bees
Individual	Hans Nielsen
Pairs	Oxford Cheetahs
Midland Cup	Cradley Heathens
Highest average	Hans Nielsen
Division/s below	1987 National League
←1986 1988 →

The1987 British League season was the 53rd season of the top tier ofspeedway in the United Kingdom and the 23rd known as theBritish League.^[1]

Summary

[edit]

Coventry Bees comfortably won the league finishing 16 points clear of Cradley Heath. The same five main riders who made up the 1986 team rode through the 1987 season but crucially four of them improved on their 1986 averages.Tommy Knudsen andKelvin Tatum both hit over 10, whileRick Miller andDavid Bargh both improved by about 2 points on average.John Jørgensen also remained consistent for the Bees. Coventry also won the League Cup but lost to Cradley in the final of the Knockout Cup.^[2] The double defending championsOxford Cheetahs were forced to releaseSimon Wigg to Hackney andPer Sorensen because of the 45 point limit. They finished second from bottom despiteHans Nielsen topping the averages once again.^[3]

The second leg replay of the League Cup final was the last ever meeting held atHyde Road.

Final table

[edit]

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	BP	Pts
1	Coventry Bees	22	19	3	0	11	52
2	Cradley Heath Heathens	22	13	1	8	9	36
3	Swindon Robins	22	12	2	8	7	33
4	Sheffield Tigers	22	13	0	9	6	32
5	Bradford Dukes	22	10	3	9	7	30
6	Ipswich Witches	22	10	3	9	6	29
7	Reading Racers	22	11	2	9	4	28
8	Belle Vue Aces	22	10	1	11	5	26
9	Hackney Kestrels	22	7	3	12	3	20
10	Wolverhampton Wolves	22	6	2	14	3	17
11	Oxford Cheetahs	22	6	1	15	3	16
12	King's Lynn Stars	22	4	1	17	2	11

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

Fixtures and results

[edit]

Home \ Away	BV	BRA	COV	CH	HAC	IPS	KL	OX	RR	SHE	SWI	WOL
Belle Vue		46–32	39–39	37–41	45–33	43–35	42–36	42–36	41–37	44–34	41–36	38–40
Bradford	53–25		29–49	42–36	49–29	39–39	46–32	52–26	47–31	47–31	44–34	53–24
Coventry	46–32	53–25		44–34	50–28	44–34	50–28	44–34	42–36	48–30	42–36	45–33
Cradley Heath	47–31	39–39	38–40		43–35	44–34	43–35	43–35	41–37	45–32	50–27	52–26
Hackney	35–43	39–39	34–44	41–36		38–38	43–35	40–38	40–38	37–40	40–38	45–33
Ipswich	38–40	42–36	39–39	41–37	50–28		50–27	42–36	46–32	33–45	37–41	43–35
King's Lynn	46–32	42–36	34–44	29–49	44–34	36–42		43–35	35–43	34–44	23–55	39–39
Oxford	43–35	41–37	35–43	40–38	35–43	38–40	44–34		36–42	40–38	38–40	47–31
Reading	40–38	49–29	39–39	40–38	51–27	41–37	53–25	40–38		40–38	36.5–41.5	41–37
Sheffield	42–36	42–36	36–42	41–37	46–32	46–32	42–36	43–35	40–37		42–36	55–23
Swindon	41–37	48–30	36–42	36–42	39–39	41–37	48–30	42–36	39–39	48–29		40–38
Wolverhampton	42–36	35–42	37–41	34–44	43–35	33–45	44–34	39–39	46–32	42–35	36–42

Source:^[4]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

British League Knockout Cup

[edit]

The 1987 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 49th edition of theKnockout Cup for tier one teams.Cradley Heath Heathens were the winners for the second successive year if including the tied 1986 final.^[5]

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
10/07	Hackney	48-42	Bradford
10/07	Oxford	51-39	Belle Vue
04/07	Kings Lynn	41-49	Sheffield
13/06	Swindon	47-43	Wolverhampton
04/06	Sheffield	51-39	Kings Lynn
01/06	Wolverhampton	44-46	Swindon
30/05	Belle Vue	47-43	Oxford
30/05	Bradford	49-41	Hackney

Quarter-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
15/09	Bradford	41-49	Cradley Heath
15/08	Swindon	43-47	Reading
07/08	Oxford	48-42	Ipswich
06/08	Ipswich	47-43	Oxford
05/08	Cradley Heath	55-35	Bradford
27/07	Reading	48-41	Swindon
13/07	Sheffield	48-42	Coventry
11/07	Coventry	51-38	Sheffield

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
30/09	Coventry	48-42	Reading
30/09	Oxford	47-43	Cradley Heath
16/09	Cradley Heath	39-33 A	Oxford
07/09	Reading	47-43	Coventry

Final

First leg

20 October 1987

Coventry Bees Tommy Knudsen 17 John Jørgensen 8 David Bargh 8 David Clarke 6 Wayne Broadhurst 3 Rick Miller 3 Kelvin Tatum 0 (inj)	45 - 45	Cradley Heath David Walsh 12 Erik Gundersen 11 Jan O. Pedersen 11 Simon Cross 8 Jan Jakobsen 2 Paul Fry 1 Nigel Leaver 0
	^[6]

Brandon Stadium

Second leg

21 October 1987

Cradley Heath Erik Gundersen 11 Jan O. Pedersen 11 David Walsh 11 Simon Cross 9 Paul Fry 4 Jan Jakobsen 2 Nigel Leaver 1	49 - 41	Coventry Bees Tommy Knudsen 16 Kelly Moran (guest) 7 David Bargh 7 John Jørgensen 5 David Clarke 3 Rick Miller 3 Wayne Broadhurst 3
	^[6]

Dudley Wood Stadium

Cradley Heath were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate94-86.

League Cup

[edit]

The League Cup was contested as a league format.Coventry Bees won the final over two legs defeatingBelle Vue Aces 84–72 on aggregrate. It was the last time that the competition was contested.^[7]

Qualifying table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Coventry Bees	22	16	1	5	43
2	Oxford Cheetahs	22	14	2	6	39
3	Belle Vue Aces	22	14	1	7	38
4	Cradley Heathens	22	14	0	8	36
5	Sheffield Tigers	22	13	2	7	33
6	Reading Racers	22	12	1	9	31
7	Swindon Robins	22	9	2	11	26
8	Wolverhampton Wolves	22	9	1	12	23
9	Bradford Dukes	22	8	2	12	22
10	Hackney Kestrels	22	6	2	14	17
11	King's Lynn Stars	22	5	1	16	12
11	Ipswich Witches	22	4	1	17	10

Results

Home \ Away	BV	BRA	COV	CH	HAC	IPS	KL	OX	RR	SHE	SWI	WOL
Belle Vue		51–27	43–34	41–37	49–29	44–34	50–28	41–37	50–28	39–39	45–33	60–18
Bradford	38–40		41–37	37–41	38–40	48–30	44–34	48–30	37–41	39–39	42–36	42–36
Coventry	43–35	50–28		52–26	47–31	54–24	53–25	44–34	43–35	47–31	40–38	47–31
Cradley Heath	40–38	43–35	38–40		52–26	47–31	44–34	37–41	41–37	44–34	40–38	48–30
Hackney	33–45	39–39	39–39	43–35		39–38	51–27	38–40	38–40	35–43	40–38	43–35
Ipswich	38–40	38–39	40–38	38–40	50–28		38–39	43–35	37–41	38–40	41–37	39–39
King's Lynn	37–41	42–36	36–42	37–41	41–37	43–34		39–39	36–42	27–50	33–45	50–28
Oxford	45–33	42–36	37–41	40–38	43–35	48–30	43–35		44–34	42–36	40–38	44–34
Reading	45–33	45–32	34–44	41–37	43–35	48–30	47–30	33–45		38–40	41–37	51–27
Sheffield	45–31	38–40	44–34	38–40	45–33	45–32	45–33	42–36	43–35		43–35	43–34
Swindon	42–36	45–33	36–42	40–38	44–34	44–34	46–32	39–39	39–39	45–33		45–33
Wolverhampton	42–36	48–30	46–32	37–41	42–35	45–33	51–27	38–40	49–29	45–33	40–38

Source:^[8]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Semi-finals

Team one	Team two	Scores
Oxford	Belle Vue	42–36, 34–44
Coventry	Cradley Heath	45–33, 42–36

Final

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
15/09	Coventry	41–37	Belle Vue
18/10	Belle Vue	41–37	Coventry

Replay first leg

24 October 1987

Coventry Bees Tommy Knudsen 11 Kelvin Tatum 11 Rick Miller 8 David Bargh 7 John Jørgensen 6 David Clarke 3 Wayne Broadhurst 0	46 - 32	Belle Vue Peter Ravn 11 Paul Thorp 7 Andy Smith 5 Chris Morton 4 Kenny McKinna 4 Glen Hornby 1 David Blackburn 0

Brandon Stadium

Replay second leg

1 November 1987

Belle Vue Chris Morton 14 Peter Ravn 11 Kenny McKinna 8 Richard Knight 4 Glen Hornby 2 David Blackburn 1 Bernie Collier 0	40 - 38	Coventry Bees David Bargh 10 Tommy Knudsen 8 Kelvin Tatum 8 Rick Miller 5 John Jørgensen 4 David Clarke 3 Wayne Broadhurst 0

Hyde Road

Coventry were declared League Cup winners, winning on aggregate84-72.

Riders' Championship

[edit]

Hans Nielsen won theBritish League Riders' Championship for the second successive year. It was the held atHyde Road on 12 October, shortly before the venue closed for good.^[9]

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Hans Nielsen	32333	14
2	Chris Morton	33133	13
3	Kelly Moran	22223	11+3
4	Kelvin Tatum	23222	11+2
5	Tommy Knudsen	TX2332	10
6	Richard Knight	31132	10
7	Jan Andersson	11323	10
8	Mitch Shirra	13301	8
9	Simon Wigg	12211	7
10	Jan O. Pedersen	23010	6
11	Sean Willmott	21111	6
12	Jimmy Nilsen	0TX022	4
13	Preben Eriksen	10210	4
14	Erik Gundersen	30001	4
15	Bernie Collier (res)	001100	2
16	Louis Carr	0-----	0
17	Shawn Moran	00000	0

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

Pairs

[edit]

TheBritish League Pairs Championship was held atSmallmead Stadium on 12 July and was won by Oxford for the third consecutive year.^[10]

Group A
Pos	Team	Pts	Riders
1	Cradley	17	Pedersen 9 Gundersen 8
2	Belle Vue	14	Thorp 10 Morton 4
3	Sheffield	12	Moran S 12 Carr 0
4	King's Lynn	11	Knight 6 Regeling 5

Group B
Pos	Team	Pts	Riders
1	Oxford	17	Nielsen 12 Grahame 5
2	Swindon	16	Shirra 9 Nilsen 7
3	Hackney	14	Galvin 8 Wigg 6
4	Bradford	5	King 3 Evitts 2

Group C
Pos	Team	Pts	Riders
1	Wolves	14	Eriksen 9 Ermolenko 5
2	Coventry	14	Tatum 8 Knudsen 6
3	Reading	13	Jonsson 7 Andersson 6
4	Ipswich	13	Doncaster 8 Niemi 5

Semi Final
Pos	Team	Pts	Riders
1	Swindon	16	Shirra 8, Nilsen 8
2	Oxford	14	Nielsen 12 Grahame 2
3	Cradley	13	Pedersen 7, Gundersen 6
4	Wolverhampton	11	Ermolenko 11, Eriksen 0

Final

In the final Nilsen fell and was excluded and Shirra touched the tapes and was excluded, leaving Nielsen and Grahame to complete a 7-0 (pts) uncontested heat.

Leading final averages

[edit]

Rider	Team	Average
Hans Nielsen	Oxford	11.38
Erik Gundersen	Cradley Heath	10.44
Tommy Knudsen	Coventry	10.25
Kelvin Tatum	Coventry	10.06
Sam Ermolenko	Wolverhampton	9.86
Jeremy Doncaster	Ipswich	9.67
Jimmy Nilsen	Swindon	9.61
Jan O. Pedersen	Cradley Heath	9.60
Shawn Moran	Sheffield	9.47
Simon Wigg	Hackney	9.38

Midland Cup

[edit]

Cradley Heath won theMidland Cup. The competition consisted of six teams.^[11]

First round

Team one	Team two	Score
Reading	Swindon	38–39, 37–41
Wolverhampton	Cradley	38–39, 31–47

Semi final round

Team one	Team two	Score
Coventry	Swindon	48–30, 36–42
Cradley	Oxford	43–35, 40–38

Final

[edit]

Because of cancellations due to bad weather the final of the competition doubled up as the Knockout Cup final (see above for details).^[11]

Riders & final averages

[edit]

Belle Vue

Bradford

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Hackney

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Oxford

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

Wolverhampton

References

[edit]

^"Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
^"1987 league tables". Speedway GB.
^Bamford/Shailes, Robert/Glynn (2007).The Story of Oxford Speedway. Tempus Publishing Ltd. pp. 137–138.ISBN 978-0-7524-4161-0.
^"1987 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved30 April 2025.
^"1987 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
^^a ^b"Coventry Bees 1987 season"(PDF).Speedway Researcher. Retrieved25 June 2021.
^"Coventry Bees results"(PDF).Speedway Researcher. Retrieved3 July 2021.
^"1987 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved30 April 2025.
^"Nielsen retains title after scare".Sandwell Evening Mail. 12 October 1987. Retrieved5 June 2023 – viaBritish Newspaper Archive.
^"Oxford Wins Hans Down".Reading Evening Post. 13 July 1987. Retrieved18 May 2023 – viaBritish Newspaper Archive.
^^a ^b"Speedway".Daily Mirror. 22 October 1987. Retrieved21 October 2023 – viaBritish Newspaper Archive.

v t e Speedway in the United Kingdom
Current leagues	SGB Premiership SGB Championship National Development League List of champions
Former leagues	Elite League Premier League National League (1932–1964) Provincial League (1960–1964) British League British League Division Two/National League Conference League National League Division Two National League Division Three English Dirt Track League/Northern League Southern League (1929–1931) Southern League (1952–1953) Provincial League (1936–1937) Southern Area League
Current team competitions	Knockout Cup League Pairs champions League Fours champions
Former team competitions	London Cup Midland Cup Craven and Young Shields Premiership Shield
Current individual competitions	British Speedway Championship League Riders' champions British U-21 British U-19 Scottish Open
Former individual competitions	London Riders' Midland Riders' Northern Riders' Southern Riders' Olympique Internationale
See also	Speedway British Speedway Promoters' Association Speedway Control Bureau

v t e United Kingdom Speedway Seasons
Tier One League Top division	1929 1929 1930 1930 1931 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Tier Two League Second division	1934 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Tier Three League Third division	1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1994 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Champions	League champions Cup winners

v t e British League seasons
1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994		Speedway Elite League
Domestic cups:British League Knockout Cup		Speedway Elite League