1968 British League Division Two season

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1968 British League Division Two season
LeagueBritish League Division Two
No. of competitors10
ChampionsBelle Vue Colts
Knockout CupCanterbury Crusaders
IndividualGraham Plant
Highest averageMick Handley
Division/s aboveBritish League (Div 1)

The 1968 British League Division Two season was the inaugural season of a second tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.[1][2]

Summary[edit]

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, 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.[3][4]

Belle Vue Aces, members of the first division, fielded a reserve side known as Belle Vue Colts and won the first league title.[5] Colt's riders Taffy Owen, Ken Eyre, Eric Broadbelt and John Woodcock all scored heavily and ended with impressive averages.[6] Canterbury in their first season of existence won the division 2 Knockout Cup beating another new team Reading in the final.[4]

Final table[edit]

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

Top Five Riders (League Averages)[edit]

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1= Mick Handley England Crayford Highwaymen 10.22
1= Mike Cake England Plymouth Devils 10.22
3 Chris Bass Australia Plymouth Devils 9.91
4 Dave Schofield England Nelson Admirals 9.82
5 Taffy Owen Wales Belle Vue Colts 9.59

British League Division Two Knockout Cup[edit]

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.[7]

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.[8]

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

Final[edit]

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 – 36Reading Racers
Vic White 11
John Poyser 8
Ian Champion 6
Stuart Wallace 4
Phil Pratt 3
Ted Spittles 2
Dene Davies 2
[9]

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 – 52Canterbury Crusaders
Peter Murray 14
Barry Crowson 12
John Hibben 8
Graham Miles 6
Ken Vale 6
Martyn Piddock 5
Dave Grimley (guest) 1
[9]

Canterbury were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 112–80.

Riders' Championship[edit]

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.[10]

Pos. Rider Pts Total
1 England Graham Plant 3 3 2 2 3 13
2 England Ken Eyre 2 3 3 3 1 12
3 New Zealand Graeme Smith 1 2 3 2 3 11
4 England Mick Handley ex 3 2 3 3 11
5 New Zealand Murray Burt 3 f 3 2 3 11
6 New Zealand Allan Brown ex 2 3 3 2 10
7 England Mike Cake 3 1 1 3 2 10
8 England Tony Lomas 2 2 0 1 2 7
9 England John Poyser 2 r 1 2 1 6
10 Australia John Woodcock f 2 2 ef 1 5
11 England Dave Schofield 1 1 1 1 1 5
12 England Martyn Piddock 0 0 2 1 2 5
13 England Barry Crowson 2 3 f 5
14 England Chris Bailey 3 f f 3
15 England Barry Duke (res) 1 1 ef 2
16 New Zealand Roy Williams 1 1 0 0 0 2
17 Wales Taffy Owen 0 1 0 0 0 1
18 England Mike Vernam (res) 0 0 0 0
  • f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Leading final averages[edit]

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Mick Handley England Crayford Highwaymen 10.48
2 Mike Cake England Plymouth 10.22
3 Chris Bass Australia Plymouth 10.15
4 Peter Murray England Canterbury 10.05
5 Allan Brown New Zealand Middlesbrough 9.63

Riders & final averages[edit]

Belle Vue Colts

Berwick

  • Bill McMillan 9.12
  • Roy Williams 7.85
  • Brian Whaley 7.69
  • Brian Black 6.81
  • Mark Hall 6.59
  • Lex Milloy 5.89
  • Grieves Davidson 4.53
  • Alex Nichol 3.51
  • Tom Blackwood 3.37
  • Colin Robertson 2.71

Canterbury

  • Peter Murray 10.05
  • Barry Crowson 8.44
  • Ken Vale 8.00
  • Martyn Piddock 7.96
  • John Hibben 6.85
  • Tyburn Gallows 4.91
  • Pat Flanagan 4.61
  • Chris Raines 4.57
  • Frank Wendon 4.30
  • Barry Lee 3.15

Crayford

  • Mick Handley 10.48
  • Tony Childs 7.68
  • Derek Timms 6.54
  • Colin Clark 6.05
  • Dai Evans 5.88
  • Geoff Ambrose 5.87
  • Stuart Riley 5.12
  • Tony Armstrong 4.31

Middlesbrough

  • Allan Brown 9.63
  • Graham Plant 8.54
  • Graham Edmonds 8.31
  • Tom Leadbitter 6.82
  • Terry Lee 6.78
  • Paul O'Neal 6.07
  • Pete Reading 4.75
  • Alan Palmer 3.25
  • John Spilsbury 2.09

Nelson

  • Dave Schofield 9.54
  • Alan Paynter 9.10
  • Murray Burt 8.76
  • Gary Peterson 8.14
  • Terry Shearer 6.76
  • Dave Beacon 5.79
  • Jack Winstanley 5.51
  • Paul Sharples 4.15

Plymouth

  • Mike Cake 10.22
  • Chris Bass 10.15
  • Phil Woodcock 6.67
  • Tony George 6.13
  • Dave Whittaker 6.08
  • Keith Marks 5.69
  • Frank Payne 5.07
  • Chris Roynon 4.75
  • Ian Gills 3.23

Rayleigh

  • Graeme Smith 7.55
  • Mike Gardner 7.49
  • Dennis Mannion 7.44
  • Dingle Brown 6.48
  • Laurie Etheridge 6.20
  • Geoff Maloney 6.06
  • Terry Stone 6.03
  • Colin Tucker 3.09

Reading

  • John Poyser 9.29
  • Ian Champion 6.91
  • Joe Weichlbauer 6.88
  • Ted Spittles 6.68
  • Stuart Wallace 6.20
  • Dene Davies 5.39
  • Ian Bottomley 4.91
  • Phil Pratt 4.59

Weymouth

  • Tony Lomas 9.39
  • Mike Vernam 7.94
  • Barry Duke 7.71
  • Chris Yeatman 6.14
  • Mick Steel 5.08
  • Roy Carter 4.58
  • Adrian Degan 3.05
  • Phil Arnold 2.72

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  2. ^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  3. ^ "Teams". wwosbackup. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Book Extract:Tears and Glory The Winged Wheel Story". Speedway Plus. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  5. ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 101. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  6. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  7. ^ "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  8. ^ "1968 British League Division Two Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  9. ^ a b "Season 1968" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  10. ^ "Two in hospital after Big Speedway Pile-Up". Daily Mirror. 28 September 1968. Retrieved 13 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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