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1965 British League season
British speedway season
British speedway season
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| competition | British League |
| season | 1965 |
| competitors | 18 |
| domesticcup1 | Champions |
| domesticcup1 winners | West Ham Hammers |
| domesticcup2 | Knockout Cup |
| domesticcup2 winners | West Ham Hammers |
| domesticcup3 | Individual |
| domesticcup3 winners | Barry Briggs |
| domesticcup4 | London Cup |
| domesticcup4 winners | West Ham Hammers |
| highest average | Nigel Boocock |
| prevseason | 1964 |
| nextseason | 1966 |
The 1965 British League season was the 31st season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom. It was also first known as the new British League which was formed in 1965, along with the British Speedway Promoters Association (BSPA). The league was an amalgamation of the National League and the Provincial League.
Summary
Norwich Stars had closed and therefore did not compete and Reg Fearman moved his Middlesbrough promotion to The Shay, which revived the Halifax Dukes who had last competed in the 1951 division 2.
West Ham Hammers were the first ever British League winners. It was their first league success since 1937. The West Ham team included Scot Ken McKinlay who finished the season third with an average of 10.72 and the Norwegian champion Sverre Harrfeldt who finished fifth in the averages. They were supported well by British internationals Norman Hunter and Malcolm Simmons. The West Ham team completed the double winning the British League Knockout Cup. In the final they defeated Exeter Falcons 63–33. The season was not a complete success because during a challenge match at West Ham Stadium a junior rider called David John Wills was killed in a race after a crash. West Ham also won the London Cup but the competition only had three teams competing.
Wimbledon Dons headed by leading Swedish rider Olle Nygren fought West Ham throughout the season and only lost the league by a single point.
Final table
| M | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Ham Hammers | 34 | 23 | 1 | 10 | 1430 |
| 2 | Wimbledon Dons | 34 | 22 | 2 | 10 | 1396 |
| 3 | Coventry Bees | 34 | 20 | 0 | 14 | 1384 |
| 4 | Oxford Cheetahs | 34 | 19 | 2 | 13 | 1308 |
| 5 | Halifax Dukes | 33 | 18 | 3 | 12 | 1322 |
| 6 | Newport Wasps | 34 | 19 | 0 | 15 | 1360 |
| 7 | Wolverhampton Wolves | 34 | 18 | 1 | 15 | 1429 |
| 8 | Hackney Hawks | 34 | 18 | 1 | 15 | 1327.5 |
| 9 | Exeter Falcons | 34 | 18 | 0 | 16 | 1325.5 |
| 10 | Poole Pirates | 34 | 17 | 1 | 16 | 1378 |
| 11 | Sheffield Tigers | 34 | 16 | 2 | 16 | 1300 |
| 12 | Newcastle Diamonds | 34 | 16 | 1 | 17 | 1363 |
| 13 | Glasgow Tigers | 34 | 15 | 1 | 18 | 1315 |
| 14 | Belle Vue Aces | 34 | 15 | 0 | 19 | 1328 |
| 15 | Swindon Robins | 34 | 13 | 2 | 19 | 1345 |
| 16 | Cradley Heathens | 33 | 11 | 1 | 21 | 1132 |
| 17 | Edinburgh Monarchs | 34 | 11 | 0 | 23 | 1173 |
| 18 | Long Eaton Archers | 34 | 7 | 0 | 27 | 1107 |
Fixtures & results
Top Ten Riders (League Average)
| Rider | Nat | Team | C.M.A. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nigel Boocock | ENG | Coventry |
| 2 | Barry Briggs | NZL | Swindon |
| 3 | Ken McKinlay | SCO | West Ham |
| 4 | Mike Broadbanks | ENG | Swindon |
| 5 | Sverre Harrfeldt | NOR | West Ham |
| 6 | Olle Nygren | SWE | Wimbledon |
| 7 | Charlie Monk | AUS | Glasgow |
| 8 | Ron How | ENG | Oxford |
| 9 | Arne Pander | DEN | Oxford |
| 10 | Jimmy Gooch | ENG | Oxford |
[[Knockout Cup (speedway)|Knockout Cup]]
West Ham Hammers won the Knockout Cup and completed the double of league and cup. Main article: British League Knockout Cup 1965
Riders' Championship
Barry Briggs won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 16 October.
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- ef=engine failure, f=fell, exc=excluded
Final leading averages
| Rider | Nat | Team | C.M.A. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nigel Boocock | ENG | Coventry |
| 2 | Barry Briggs | NZL | Swindon |
| 3 | Ken McKinlay | SCO | West Ham |
| 4 | Mike Broadbanks | ENG | Swindon |
| 5 | Sverre Harrfeldt | NOR | West Ham |
| 6 | Charlie Monk | AUS | Glasgow |
| 7 | Olle Nygren | SWE | Wimbledon |
| 8 | Ron How | ENG | Oxford |
| 9 | Arne Pander | DEN | Oxford |
| 10 | Jimmy Gooch | ENG | Oxford |
| 11 | Cyril Maidment | ENG | Belle Vue |
| 12 | Ronnie Genz | ENG | Poole |
| 13 | Eric Boocock | ENG | Halifax |
| 14 | Norman Hunter | ENG | West Ham |
| 15 | George Hunter | SCO | Edinburgh |
| 16 | Ivor Brown | ENG | Cradley Heath |
| 17 | Colin Gooddy | ENG | Exeter |
| 18 | Reg Luckhurst | ENG | Wimbledon |
| 19 | Bill Andrew | NZL | Poole |
| 20 | Dave Younghusband | ENG | Halifax |
London Cup
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Ham Hammers | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 196 | 188 | 5 |
| 2 | Hackney Hawks | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 189 | 194 | 4 |
| 3 | Wimbledon Dons | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 190 | 193 | 3 |
Results
| Team | Score | Team |
|---|---|---|
| Wimbledon | 53–43 | Hackney |
| Hackney | 52–44 | West Ham |
| West Ham | 50–46 | Hackney |
| Hackney | 48–47 | Wimbledon |
| Wimbledon | 48–48 | West Ham |
| West Ham | 54–42 | Wimbledon |
Riders & final averages
Belle Vue
- 9.65
- 8.06
- 7.52
- 6.37
- 6.03
- 5.50
- 5.25
- 4.12
- 4.10
- 1.67
Coventry
- 11.12
- 8.74
- 8.65
- 6.30
- 6.00
- 4.27
- 3.08
- 2.12
- 0.64
Cradley Heath
- 9.27
- 7.78
- 7.63
- 6.29
- 5.87
- 5.10
- 5.09
- 4.79
- 3.35
- 3.31
- 2.89
- 1.65
Edinburgh
- 9.35
- 7.34
- 6.61
- 5.42
- 4.94
- 4.83
- 4.42
- 4.17
- 3.88
- 2.50
Exeter
- 9.24
- 7.72
- 7.62
- 7.37
- 6.05
- 6.00
- 6.00
- 5.78
- 4.36
- 3.61
Glasgow
- 10.28
- 7.61
- 7.16
- 6.58
- 6.12
- 5.23
- 4.76
- 4.12
Hackney
- 8.69
- 8.51
- 7.51
- 6.79
- 6.60
- 5.49
- 5.15
- 5.04
- 3.45
Halifax
- 9.43
- 9.06
- 8.00
- 7.29
- 6.30
- 4.91
- 4.07
- 4.00
- 3.75
- 2.93
Long Eaton
- 7.96
- (Kid Bodie) 6.84
- 6.64
- 6.55
- 5.19
- 5.08
- 4.77
- 3.45
- 2.61
Newcastle
- 8.76
- 8.75
- 7.35
- 7.30
- 6.23
- 5.92
- 5.77
- 5.44
- 2.92
Newport
- 9.00
- 7.90
- 7.78
- 7.74
- 5.88
- 5.77
- 5.41
- 4.88
Oxford
- 10.16
- 10.03
- 9.90
- 4.53
- 4.51
- 4.34
- 4.25
- 3.83
- 3.32
- 2.45
- 1.71
Poole
- 9.45
- 9.07
- 7.76
- 7.43
- 6.14
- 5.52
- 3.23
- 3.04
- 0.61
Sheffield
- 8.69
- 8.06
- 7.43
- 6.05
- 5.63
- 5.08
- 4.54
Swindon
- 10.93
- 10.48
- 8.83
- 4.29
- 4.00
- 3.93
- 3.24
- 2.00
- 1.47
West Ham
- 10.83
- 10.46
- 9.42
- 6.56
- 4.65
- 4.48
- 3.65
- 2.80
- 2.40
Wimbledon
- 10.22
- 9.14
- 8.55
- 6.77
- 6.01
- 4.91
- 2.60
- 1.44
Wolverhampton
- 8.70
- 8.33
- 8.19
- 7.39
- 7.20
- 6.98
- 5.64
- 4.62
References
References
- "British League Riders Championship".
- Oakes, Peter. (1981). "1981 Speedway Yearbook". Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd.
- "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
- Rogers, Martin. (1978). "The Illustrated History of Speedway". Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd.
- (2 January 1965). "Shay speedway decision soon".
- "HISTORY ARCHIVE".
- "Custom House Years".
- "West Ham Hammers – The Final Match".
- "1965 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher.
- (17 October 1965). "Speedway Champ". Sunday Mail (Glasgow).
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
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