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1978 British League season

British speedway season

Field	Value
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 &
Coventry Bees
domesticcup5	Spring Gold Cup
domesticcup5 winners	Exeter Falcons
domesticcup6	Midland Cup
domesticcup6 winners	Coventry Bees
domesticcup7	London Cup
domesticcup7 winners	Wimbledon Dons
domesticcup8	Northern League
domesticcup8 winners	Belle Vue Aces
highest average	Malcolm Simmons
leagues below	1978 National League
prevseason	1977
nextseason	1979

Coventry Bees

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.

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.

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.

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

Fixtures and results

Top ten riders (league averages)

Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Malcolm Simmons	ENG	Poole
2	Ole Olsen	DEN	Coventry
3	Scott Autrey	USA	Exeter
4	Peter Collins	ENG	Belle Vue
5	Michael Lee	ENG	King's Lynn
6	Chris Morton	ENG	Belle Vue
7	Dave Jessup	ENG	Reading
8	Billy Sanders	AUS	Ipswich
9	Phil Crump	AUS	Bristol
10	Ivan Mauger	NZL	Hull

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.

First round

Date	Team one	Score	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

Date	Team one	Score	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

Date	Team one	Score	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

Date	Team one	Score	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 Peter Collins 15 Chris Morton 14 Les Collins 5 Chris Turner 2 Steve Finch 1 Jim Brett 1 Uno Johansson 1 Mike Lanham 9 John Louis 8 Tony Davey 7 Colin Cook 6 Kevin Jolly 5 Billy Sanders 4 Tim Hunt 0

Second leg Georg Hack 10 Billy Sanders 9 John Louis 9 Tony Davey 9 Mike Lanham 7 Kevin Jolly 6 Colin Cook 4 Peter Collins 10 Chris Morton 8 Les Collins 4 Chris Turner 1 Eric Dugard (guest) 1 Derek Richardson 1 Uno Johansson 0

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.

Pos.		width=200px	Rider		width=100px	Heat Scores		width=50px	Total
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

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.

Pos		width=170px	Team		width=50px	Pts		width=300px	Riders
1
1
3
4
5
6
7

Leading final averages

Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Malcolm Simmons	ENG	Poole
2	Ole Olsen	DEN	Coventry
3	Peter Collins	ENG	Belle Vue
4	Scott Autrey	USA	Exeter
5	Michael Lee	ENG	King's Lynn
6	Dave Jessup	ENG	Reading
7	Chris Morton	ENG	Belle Vue
8	Billy Sanders	AUS	Ipswich
9	Phil Crump	AUS	Bristol
10	Ivan Mauger	NZL	Hull

Spring Gold Cup

East Group

Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
King's Lynn	6	4	1	1	9
Ipswich	6	4	1	1	9
Reading	6	2	1	3	5
Hackney	6	0	1	5	1

West Group

Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
Exeter	6	4	0	2	8
Poole	6	3	1	2	7
Wimbledon	6	3	0	3	6
Bristol	6	1	0	5	2

East Group

West Group

Final

Team one	Team two	Score
King's Lynn	Exeter	43-35, 25-53

Midland Cup

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

First round

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

Semi final round

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

Final

First leg John Boulger 10 John Titman 9 Ila Teromaa 9 John McNeill 5 Jerzy Rembas 2
Tom Godal 2 Chris Sully 0 Mitch Shirra 10 Ole Olsen 9 Mick Bell 6 Gary Guglielmi 6 Alf Buck 4 Martin Yeates (guest) 4 Alan Molyneux 2

Second leg Ole Olsen 12 Mitch Shirra 12 Jiri Stancl 9 Alan Molyneux 8 Alf Buck 5 Mick Bell 5 Stuart Cope 1 John Titman 7 Jerzy Rembas 7 John Boulger 5 John McNeill 4 Tom Godal 2 Chris Sully 1 Ila Teromaa r/r

Coventry won on aggregate 93–63

Northern Trophy

M	W	D	L
1	Belle Vue	6	5
2	Halifax	6	4
3	Sheffield	6	2
4	Hull	6	1

London Cup

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

Results

Team	Score	Team
Hackney	39–38	Wimbledon
Wimbledon	55–23	Hackney

Riders and 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

References

"Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
Oakes, Peter. (1981). "1981 Speedway Yearbook". Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd.
"HISTORY ARCHIVE".
"1978 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher.
"1978 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
(23 October 1978). "Immaculate Olsen roars to title". Sandwell Evening Mail.
(30 September 1977). "Sport in Brief". Birmingham Daily Post.
"1978 Complete season records".
"1978 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher.
"1978 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher.
(16 October 1978). "Bees live up to double glory". Coventry Evening Telegraph.
"1978 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher.
"1978 fixtures and results".

Info: Wikipedia Source

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