1968 British League Division Two season
British motorcycle speedway season From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
British motorcycle speedway season From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1968 British League Division Two season was the inaugural season of a second tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.[1][2]
League | British League Division Two |
---|---|
No. of competitors | 10 |
Champions | Belle Vue Colts |
Knockout Cup | Canterbury Crusaders |
Individual | Graham Plant |
Highest average | Mick Handley |
Division/s above | British League (Div 1) |
The formation of a new division 2 was a success and attracted five new clubs to league speedway, the Nelson Admirals from Nelson in Lancashire,[3] the Crayford Highwaymen from east London, the Canterbury Crusaders from Kent, the Berwick Bandits from Scotland and the Reading Racers. Additionally three other clubs, Middlesbrough, Plymouth and Rayleigh returned to league action having previously competed in the old defunct Provincial League and Weymouth returned after a 13 year absence.[4][5]
Belle Vue Aces, members of the first division, fielded a reserve side known as Belle Vue Colts and won the first league title.[6] Colt's riders Taffy Owen, Ken Eyre, Eric Broadbelt and John Woodcock all scored heavily and ended with impressive averages.[7] Canterbury in their first season of existence won the division 2 Knockout Cup beating another new team Reading in the final.[5]
Pos | Team | PL | W | D | L | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Belle Vue Colts | 18 | 14 | 0 | 4 | 28 |
2 | Nelson Admirals | 18 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 22 |
3 | Middlesbrough Teessiders | 18 | 10 | 1 | 7 | 21 |
4 | Plymouth Devils | 18 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 20 |
5 | Rayleigh Rockets | 18 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 19 |
6 | Crayford Highwaymen | 18 | 8 | 1 | 9 | 17 |
7 | Canterbury Crusaders | 18 | 8 | 1 | 9 | 17 |
8 | Reading Racers | 18 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 14 |
9 | Weymouth Eagles | 18 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 12 |
10 | Berwick Bandits | 18 | 5 | 0 | 13 | 10 |
Rider | Nat | Team | C.M.A. | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1= | Mick Handley | ![]() |
Crayford Highwaymen | 10.22 |
1= | Mike Cake | ![]() |
Plymouth Devils | 10.22 |
3 | Chris Bass | ![]() |
Plymouth Devils | 9.91 |
4 | Dave Schofield | ![]() |
Nelson Admirals | 9.82 |
5 | Taffy Owen | ![]() |
Belle Vue Colts | 9.59 |
The 1968 British League Division Two Knockout Cup was the first edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams and coincided with the newly formed league.[8]
Previously the tier two and tier three teams had competed in the National Trophy until 1964, and although they held their own finals during some years it only served as qualification for the main competition. Canterbury Crusaders were the winners of the competition.[9]
First round
Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
---|---|---|---|
26/08 | Reading | 52-44 | Rayleigh |
Quarter-finals
Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
---|---|---|---|
10/08 | Canterbury | 56-37 | Crayford |
22/08 | Middlesbrough | 53-41 | Nelson |
26/08 | Reading | 52-44 | Plymouth |
24/08 | Berwick | 45-51 | Belle Vue |
Semi-finals
Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
---|---|---|---|
30/09 | Reading | 56-40 | Belle Vue |
07/09 | Canterbury | 64-31 | Middlesbrough |
First leg
Canterbury Crusaders Peter Murray 14 Barry Crowson 14 Martyn Piddock 13 John Hibben 10 Graham Miles 7 Ken Vale 2 Pat Flanagan 0 | 60 – 36 | Reading Racers Vic White 11 John Poyser 8 Ian Champion 6 Stuart Wallace 4 Phil Pratt 3 Ted Spittles 2 Dene Davies 2 |
---|---|---|
[10] |
Second leg
Reading Racers John Poyser 17 Vic White 11 Ted Spittles 9 Stuart Wallace 3 Dene Davies 2 Phil Pratt 1 Ian Champion 1 | 44 – 52 | Canterbury Crusaders Peter Murray 14 Barry Crowson 12 John Hibben 8 Graham Miles 6 Ken Vale 6 Martyn Piddock 5 Dave Grimley (guest) 1 |
---|---|---|
[10] |
Canterbury were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 112–80.
Graham Plant aged just 19, won the Rider's Championship. The final was held at Hackney Wick Stadium on 27 September. Several riders were involved in a crash, which resulted in Chris Bailey (broken wrist) and Barry Crowson (fractured thigh bone) going to hospital.[11]
Pos. | Rider | Pts | Total |
---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 3 3 2 2 3 | 13 |
2 | ![]() | 2 3 3 3 1 | 12 |
3 | ![]() | 1 2 3 2 3 | 11 |
4 | ![]() | ex 3 2 3 3 | 11 |
5 | ![]() | 3 f 3 2 3 | 11 |
6 | ![]() | ex 2 3 3 2 | 10 |
7 | ![]() | 3 1 1 3 2 | 10 |
8 | ![]() | 2 2 0 1 2 | 7 |
9 | ![]() | 2 r 1 2 1 | 6 |
10 | ![]() | f 2 2 ef 1 | 5 |
11 | ![]() | 1 1 1 1 1 | 5 |
12 | ![]() | 0 0 2 1 2 | 5 |
13 | ![]() | 2 3 f | 5 |
14 | ![]() | 3 f f | 3 |
15 | ![]() | 1 1 ef | 2 |
16 | ![]() | 1 1 0 0 0 | 2 |
17 | ![]() | 0 1 0 0 0 | 1 |
18 | ![]() | 0 0 0 | 0 |
Rider | Nat | Team | C.M.A. | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mick Handley | ![]() |
Crayford Highwaymen | 10.48 |
2 | Mike Cake | ![]() |
Plymouth | 10.22 |
3 | Chris Bass | ![]() |
Plymouth | 10.15 |
4 | Peter Murray | ![]() |
Canterbury | 10.05 |
5 | Allan Brown | ![]() |
Middlesbrough | 9.63 |
Belle Vue Colts
Berwick
Canterbury
Crayford
Middlesbrough
Nelson
Plymouth
Rayleigh
Reading
Weymouth
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.