1984 British League season

The 1984 British League season was the 50th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 20th known as the British League.[1]

1984 British League season
LeagueBritish League
ChampionsIpswich Witches
Knockout CupIpswich Witches
League CupCradley Heath Heathens
IndividualChris Morton
PairsBelle Vue Aces
Highest averageHans Nielsen
Division/s below1984 National League

Team changes

Three teams dropped out and four teams replaced them. Midland's clubs Birmingham Brummies and Leicester Lions both dropped out and Hackney Hawks dropped to the National League, becoming the Hackney Kestrels after taking over from the Crayford Kestrels. The new teams to the league were Oxford Cheetahs, Newcastle Diamonds, Exeter Falcons (all from the National League) and the returning Wolverhampton Wolves who did not ride in 1982 and 1983.

Summary

Oxford Cheetahs were financed by David Hawkins of Northern Sports. They bought Hans Nielsen from Birmingham for a record £30,000, Simon Wigg for £25,000 from Cradley Heath, Marvyn Cox for £15,000 from Rye House, Melvyn Taylor for £12,000 from King's Lynn and Jens Rasmussen.[2] Defending champions Cradley Heath had a poor season after losing Wigg to Oxford and loaning Jan O. Pedersen to Sheffield Tigers in the National League.

The 50th season of British speedway saw Ipswich Witches win the league and cup double. The Suffolk team had a great season despite losing their leading rider Dennis Sigalos who rode for Wolverhampton Wolves during the season. Australian Billy Sanders remained one of the teams main scorers and he was supported by strong season scoring from American showman John Cook, Finn Kai Niemi and the English international pair of Jeremy Doncaster and Richard Knight. [3]


Final table
Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Ipswich Witches 30 25 2 3 52
2 Belle Vue Aces 29 23 3 3 49
3 Cradley Heath Heathens 30 21 2 7 44
4 Reading Racers 30 17 1 12 35
5 Sheffield Tigers 30 15 0 15 30
6 King's Lynn Stars 30 15 0 15 30
7 Wimbledon Dons 30 15 0 15 30
8 Oxford Cheetahs 30 14 1 15 29
9 Swindon Robins 29 12 2 15 26
10 Wolverhampton Wolves 30 13 0 17 26
11 Eastbourne Eagles 30 12 1 17 25
12 Coventry Bees 30 11 2 17 24
13 Poole Pirates 30 10 1 19 21
14 Halifax Dukes 30 9 3 18 21
15 Exeter Falcons 30 8 2 20 18
16 Newcastle Diamonds 30 9 0 21 18

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

Leading averages
Rider Team Average
Hans NielsenOxford10.76
Chris MortonBelle Vue10.31
Jan AnderssonReading10.05
Phil CrumpSwindon9.94
Dennis SigalosWolverhampton9.87
Shawn MoranSheffield9.85
Simon WiggOxford9.69
Billy SandersIpswich9.69
Erik GundersenCradley Heath9.54
Mitch ShirraReading9.26


British League Knockout Cup

The 1984 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 46th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Ipswich Witches were the winners.[4]

First Round
Date Team One Score Team Two
15/07Eastbourne41-36Poole
30/06Swindon36-42Ipswich
29/06Exeter32-46Wolverhampton
28/06Wimbledon46-32Coventry
25/06Reading41-36Cradley Heath
18/06Wolverhampton45-33Exeter
16/06Coventry52-26Wimbledon
09/06Cradley Heath46-32Reading
09/06Kings Lynn49-29Newcastle
07/06Ipswich45-33Swindon
06/06Poole37-41Eastbourne
12/05Halifax37-41Sheffield
05/05Belle Vue53-25Oxford
26/04Sheffield49-29Halifax

Quarter Finals
Date Team One Score Team Two
16/09Eastbourne42-34Kings Lynn
06/09Sheffield40-38Wolverhampton
01/09Belle Vue50-28Coventry
27/08Coventry42-36Belle Vue
25/08Kings Lynn57-21Eastbourne
10/08Wolverhampton42-36Sheffield
26/07Ipswich46-32Cradley Heath
25/07Cradley Heath40-38Ipswich

Semi Finals
Date Team One Score Team Two
14/10Belle Vue56-22Wolverhampton
05/10Wolverhampton40-38Belle Vue
27/09Ipswich57-21Kings Lynn
26/09Kings Lynn44-34Ipswich

First leg
Belle Vue Aces33 - 45Ipswich Witches

Second leg
Ipswich Witches
Billy Sanders 9
Jeremy Doncaster 8
John Cook 8
Carl Blackbird 8		47 - 31Belle Vue Aces
Andy Smith 9
Larry Ross 9
[5]

Ipswich Witches were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 92-64.

League Cup

The League Cup was split into North and South sections. The two-legged final was won by Cradley Heath Heathens beating Belle Vue Aces in the final 80-76 on aggregate.

South Group
Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Reading Racers 16 11 0 5 22
2 Wimbledon Dons 14 11 0 5 22
3 Ipswich Witches 16 10 1 5 21
4 Eastbourne Eagles 16 9 1 6 19
5 Oxford Cheetahs 16 9 0 7 18
6 Poole Pirates 16 8 0 8 16
7 King's Lynn Stars 16 7 0 9 14
8 Swindon Robins 16 5 1 10 11
9 Exeter Falcons 16 0 1 15 1

North Group
Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Belle Vue Aces 12 10 0 2 20
2 Cradley Heathens 12 6 0 6 12
3 Newcastle Diamonds 12 6 0 6 12
4 Coventry Bees 12 5 0 7 10
5 Sheffield Tigers 12 5 0 7 10
6 Wolverhampton Wolves 12 5 0 7 10
7 Halifax Dukes 12 5 0 7 10

Semi finals
Date Team One Score Team Two
21/07Belle Vue55–23Wimbledon
04/08Cradley Heath52–26Reading
09/08Wimbledon38–40Belle Vue
13/08Reading42–36Cradley Heath

Final
Date Team One Score Team Two
07/10Cradley Heath44–34Belle Vue
14/10Belle Vue42–36Cradley Heath


Teams

Belle Vue Aces

Coventry Bees

Cradley Heath

Eastbourne Eagles

Exeter Falcons

Halifax Dukes

Ipswich Witches

King's Lynn Stars

Newcastle Diamonds

Oxford Cheetahs

Poole Pirates

Reading Racers

Sheffield Tigers

Swindon Robins

Wimbledon Dons

Wolverhampton Wolves

See also

References
  1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. Bamford/Shailes, Robert/Glynn (2007). The Story of Oxford Speedway. Tempus Publishing Ltd. pp. 128–135. ISBN 978-0-7524-4161-0.
  3. "1984 league tables". Speedway GB.
  4. "1984 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  5. "Speedway". Daily Mirror. 29 October 1984. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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