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1988 British League season

British motorcycle speedway season

British motorcycle speedway season

FieldValue
competitionBritish League
competitors11
domesticcup1Champions
domesticcup1 winnersCoventry Bees
domesticcup2Knockout Cup
domesticcup2 winnersCradley Heath Heathens
domesticcup3Individual
domesticcup3 winnersJan O. Pedersen
highest averageHans Nielsen
leagues below1988 National League
prevseason1987
nextseason1989

The 1988 British League season was the 54th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 24th known as the British League.

Summary

Coventry Bees won the league for the second successive year and again by a 16-point margin. The Bees also reached the Knockout Cup final losing to Cradley Heath. Remarkably it was Cradley's seventh Cup win in 10 years. With the League Cup scrapped the Coventry team had less fixtures to ride and their pairing of Tommy Knudsen and Kelvin Tatum were once again the catalyst for the seasons success finishing 2nd and 4th respectively in the averages. Hans Nielsen topped the averages again for the sixth consecutive season.

Final table

PosTeamPLWDLBPPts
1Coventry Bees4031271882
2Belle Vue Aces40261131366
3Cradley Heath Heathens39221161560
4Oxford Cheetahs40206141359
5Reading Racers40203171255
6Sheffield Tigers3919218848
7Swindon Robins4017122843
8Wolverhampton Wolves4015322841
9King's Lynn Stars4014323738
10Ipswich Witches3913026430
11Bradford Dukes3910029222

Fixtures and results

A fixtures

B fixtures

British League Knockout Cup

The 1988 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 50th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Cradley Heath Heathens were the winners for the third successive year if including the tied 1986 final.

First round

DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
09/07King's Lynn47-43Ipswich
08/07Ipswich34-55King's Lynn
23/06Sheffield43-47Cradley Heath
18/06Cradley Heath51-39Sheffield
03/06Belle Vue53-37Bradford
28/05Bradford36-54Belle Vue

Quarter-finals

DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
13/08King's Lynn40-50Cradley Heath
10/08Cradley Heath53-37King's Lynn
19/07Coventry53-37Reading
15/07Belle Vue53-37Wolverhampton
14/07Oxford48-42Swindon
11/07Reading49-41Coventry
11/07Wolverhampton45-45Belle Vue

Semi-finals

DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
14/10Belle Vue48-42Cradley Heath
13/10Oxford38-49Coventry
08/10Coventry44-46Oxford
14/09Cradley Heath49-41Belle Vue

Final

First leg Tommy Knudsen 11 Kelvin Tatum 11 Rick Miller 6 John Jørgensen 5 Andy Hackett 5 David Clarke 2 Neville Tatum 0 Alan Grahame 13 Jan O. Pedersen 11 Simon Cross 9 Erik Gundersen 8 David Walsh 7 Gert Handberg 1 Wayne Garratt 1

Second leg Alan Grahame 10 Gert Handberg 9 Simon Cross 8 Erik Gundersen 8 Jan O. Pedersen 7 David Walsh 5 Wayne Garratt 3 Tommy Knudsen 13 John Jørgensen 9 Andy Hackett 6 David Clarke 6 Kelvin Tatum 5 Rick Miller 1 Neville Tatum 0

Cradley Heath were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 100-80.

Riders' Championship

Jan O. Pedersen won the British League Riders' Championship. It was the held at Belle Vue Stadium on 9 October.

Pos.width=200pxRiderwidth=70pxHeat Scoreswidth=50pxTotal
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired

Leading final averages

RiderTeamAverage
DEN Hans NielsenOxford11.03
DEN Tommy KnudsenCoventry10.08
DEN Erik GundersenCradley Heath10.06
ENG Kelvin TatumCoventry10.04
DEN Jan O. PedersenCradley Heath9.88
USA Shawn MoranSheffield9.51
USA Sam ErmolenkoWolverhampton9.40
ENG Jeremy DoncasterIpswich9.34
ENG Chris MortonBelle Vue9.01
ENG Steve BastableBradford9.00

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

  • 9.01
  • 8.18
  • 7.70
  • 7.22
  • 6.92
  • 6.83
  • 4.97
  • 3.12

Bradford

  • 8.30
  • 7.44
  • 6.02
  • 5.67
  • 5.29
  • 5.15
  • 4.64
  • 3.57

Coventry

  • 10.08
  • 10.04
  • 7.49
  • 7.02
  • 5.00
  • 4.85
  • 4.79

Cradley Heath

  • 10.06
  • 9.88
  • 8.22
  • 6.92
  • 5.10
  • 4.50
  • 3.45

Ipswich

  • 9.34
  • 6.87
  • 6.75
  • 6.19
  • 6.07
  • 5.40
  • 4.97
  • 2.50
  • 2.40
  • 1.45

King's Lynn

  • 7.75
  • 7.69
  • 7.45
  • 7.26
  • 6.33
  • 6.24
  • 6.00
  • 3.90
  • 1.28

Oxford

  • 11.03
  • 8.64
  • 7.24
  • 6.97
  • 4.32
  • 3.91
  • 3.81
  • 2.80
  • 2.65

Reading

  • 8.98
  • 8.93
  • 8.20
  • 6.95
  • 5.63
  • 5.22
  • 3.09
  • 2.81

Sheffield

  • 9.51
  • 8.67
  • 7.16
  • 5.78
  • 5.30
  • 4.58
  • 4.00
  • 3.60
  • 3.60
  • 3.38

Swindon

  • 7.68 (6 matches only)
  • 7.48
  • 7.23
  • 7.22
  • 6.56
  • 5.94
  • 5.87
  • 5.41

Wolverhampton

  • 9.40
  • 7.67
  • 7.24
  • 6.11
  • 5.94
  • 5.73
  • 5.51
  • 5.46
  • 4.42

References

References

  1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. "HISTORY ARCHIVE".
  3. "1988 league tables". Speedway GB.
  4. "1988 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher.
  5. "1988 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher.
  6. "1988 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  7. "Coventry Bees 1988 season".
  8. (10 October 1988). "Pedersen powers to title joy". Sandwell Evening Mail.
Info: Wikipedia Source

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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