Misplaced Pages

The 1971 British League Division Two season was the second tier/division motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.

Summary

The league continued with 17 teams in its fourth season despite Reading Racers moving up to Division One and two teams dropping out because there were three new entrants to the league.

Doncaster Dragons disbanded for good, with the promotion and some of the riders moving to Birmingham and re-forming the Birmingham Brummies, who had last raced in 1957. The Crayford Highwayman also dropped out and the Middlesbrough Teessiders changed their name to Teesside Teessiders. Birmingham were one of the new entrants along with Sunderland Stars (who last raced in 1964 as the Saints). Hull Vikings were the final new entrant when Ian Thomas brought speedway back to Hull, to race at the Boulevard Stadium.

Eastbourne Eagles won their first league title since their 1959 Southern Area League success. Despite losing their leading rider Dave Jessup to division 1, the Eastbourne Eagles triumphed by bringing in new signing Malcolm Ballard to support the Kennett brothers Gordon and Dave.

Final table

Top Five Riders (League Averages)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	John Louis		Ipswich	11.29
2	Alan Knapkin		Bradford Northern	10.26
3	Alan Wilkinson		Rochdale	10.15
4	Reg Wilson		Hull	9.93
5	Peter Collins		Rochdale	9.83

British League Division Two Knockout Cup

The 1971 British League Division Two Knockout Cup (sponsored by the Speedway Express) was the fourth edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Ipswich Witches were the winners of the competition for the second successive year.

First round

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

+ rained off, tie awarded to Ipswich

Final

First leg

Second leg

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

Leading final averages

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	John Louis		Ipswich	11.31
2	Alan Knapkin		Bradford Northern	10.17
3	Alan Wilkinson		Rochdale	10.08
4	Tony Davey		Ipswich	9.93
5	Malcolm Mackay		Workington	9.81

Riders' Championship

John Louis won the Rider's Championship, held at Hackney Wick Stadium on 2 October.

Pos.	Rider	Pts	Total
1	John Louis	3 3 2 3 3	14
2	Malcolm Shakespeare	2 3 3 3 2	13
3	Hugh Saunders	3 3 2 2 2	12
4	Peter Collins	ex 2 3 3 3	11
5	Phil Crump	1 1 3 3 3	11
6	Arthur Price	3 2 fx 2 3	10
7	George Major	2 1 2 2 1	8
8	Reg Wilson	r 2 f 2 2	6
9	Russ Dent	1 1 3 1 0	6
10	Doug Wyer	0 3 2 0 0	5
11	Ross Gilbertson	3 r 1 1 0	5
12	Dave Baugh	2 0 1 1 1	5
13	Malcolm Mackay	2 f 1 0 1	4
14	Bruce Forrester	1 0 0 1 1	3
15	Kevin Holden	0 2 f 0 0	2
16	Roger Mills (res)	2	2
17	Malcolm Ballard	r 1 r	1
18	Richard Greer (res)	0	0

• f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Riders' final averages

Berwick

• Doug Wyer 9.69
• Maury Robinson 7.97
• Andy Meldrum 7.24
• Alistair Brady 7.03
• Peter Kelly 5.77
• Alan Paynter 5.42
• Bobby Campbell 4.75
• Jim Beaton 4.14
• George Beaton 3.36

Birmingham

• George Major 8.90
• Terry Shearer 8.40
• Archie Wilkinson 6.27
• Chris Harrison 6.08
• Malcolm Corradine 5.47
• Cliff Emms 5.45
• Ian Wilson .4.65
• Gunther 'Hec' Haslinger 4.41

Boston

• Arthur Price 8.92
• Jim Ryman 8.32
• Carl Glover 7.27
• Russ Osborne 6.65
• Jack Bywater 6.48
• Tony Featherstone 6.04
• Vic Cross 5.39
• Ray Bales 5.28
• Graham Jones 2.50

Bradford

• Alan Knapkin 10.17
• Alf Wells 9.02
• Dave Baugh 8.49
• Dave Schofield 7.54
• Robin Adlington 7.13
• Sid Sheldrick 5.15
• Alan Bridgett 4.82
• Brian Murray 4.43
• Peter Thompson 4.35
• Stan Dewhurst 1.91

Canterbury

• Ross Gilbertson 8.93
• Graham Banks 8.03
• Dave Piddock 6.75
• Graeme Smith 6.32
• Graeme Stapleton 6.29
• Phil Pratt 6.09
• Ted Hubbard 5.44
• Bob Tabet 4.76
• Barney Kennett 4.09
• John Hammond 4.00
• Mike Barkaway 2.84

Crewe

• Phil Crump 8.98
• John Jackson 8.32
• Dai Evans 7.72
• Jack Millen 6.61
• Ian Bottomley 6.48
• Barry Meeks 5.71
• Garry Moore 5.31
• Dave Parry 5.21

Eastbourne

• Malcolm Ballard 8.74
• Gordon Kennett 8.70
• Dave Kennett 7.49
• Laurie Sims 7.10
• Reg Trott 6.99
• Roger Johns 6.89
• Bobby McNeil 6.82
• Mac Woolford 6.67

Hull

• Reg Wilson 9.69
• Tony Childs 9.22
• George Devonport 7.71
• Colin Tucker 6.20
• Robin Amundson 5.94
• Dennis Wasden 5.14
• Pete Boston 4.47
• Ian Bottomley 4.39
• Peter Baldock 3.29

Ipswich

• John Louis 11.31
• Tony Davey 9.93
• Pete Bailey 8.20
• Peter Prinsloo 5.25
• Clive Noy 5.10
• Ron Bagley 5.01
• Ted Howgego 4.85
• Ted Spittles 4.32
• Stan Pepper 3.70

Long Eaton

• Malcolm Shakespeare 9.80
• Roger Mills 9.41
• Geoff Bouchard 8.26
• Gil Farmer 4.42
• Peter Wrathall 4.42
• Phil Whittaker 4.36
• Steve Bass 3.77
• Ian Champion 3.45
• Gerry Scott 2.47

Peterborough

• Andy Ross 9.02
• Richard Greer 7.95
• Roy Carter 6.73
• John Davis 5.85
• Joe Hughes 5.81
• John Stayte 5.59
• Alan Witt 5.51
• Pete Saunders 5.47
• Brian Clark 5.13

Rayleigh

• Hugh Saunders 9.41
• Geoff Maloney 7.38
• Bob Young 6.67
• Allan Emmett 6.44
• Nigel Rackett 6.38
• Dingle Brown 5.93
• Terry Stone 4.65
• Dave "Tiger" Beech 4.33

Rochdale

• Alan Wilkinson 10.08
• Peter Collins 9.80
• Paul Tyrer 7.92
• Ken Moss 5.41
• Graham Drury 5.40
• Colin Goad 4.69
• Robbie Gardner 4.66
• Terry Kelly 4.27
• Paul Callaghan 2.51
• Clive Johnson 2.34

Romford

• Kevin Holden 8.94
• Bob Coles 8.06
• Brian Foote 8.00
• Stan Stevens 6.60
• Mike Sampson 6.14
• Mike Vernam 6.11
• Colin Sanders 5.78
• Charlie Benham 5.22
• Ian Gills 4.78
• Terry Shearer 4.59
• Bruce Edgar 3.00

Sunderland

• Russ Dent 8.16
• George Barclay 7.21
• John Goodall 6.43
• Peter Wrathall 4.92
• Alan Mackie 4.42
• Brian Whaley 4.13
• John Lynch 4.05
• Gerry Richardson 4.00
• John Knock 3.83

Teesside

• Bruce Forrester 8.33
• Tim Swales 7.04
• Dave Durham 7.00
• Bob Jameson 6.31
• Terry Lee 6.09
• Frank Auffret 5.92
• Pete Reading 5.45
• Tony Swales 4.97
• Dene Davies 4.62
• Mick Moore 4.46

Workington

• Malcolm MacKay 9.81
• Taffy Owen 8.60
• Lou Sansom 7.87
• Ken Vale 5.89
• Dave Kumeta 4.92
• Kym Amundson 4.71
• Bernie Hornby 4.32
• Geoff Penniket 4.15
• Chris Blythe 3.93
• Steve Watson 3.57

See also

• List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
• Knockout Cup (speedway)

References

1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
2. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
3. "Reading switch". Western Daily Press. 6 January 1971. Retrieved 19 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
4. "Doncaster Speedway". Defunct Speedway. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
5. "Crayford killed by cash crisis". Daily Mirror. 3 March 1971. Retrieved 2 November 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
6. ^ "teams". wwosbackup. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
7. "Speedway team will be Hull Kestrels". Hull Daily Mail. 23 January 1971. Retrieved 4 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
8. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 101. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
9. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
10. "1971 British League Division Two Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
11. ^ "1971 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
12. "Reg Wilson finishes eighth in speedway riders' finals". Hull Daily Mail. 4 October 1971. Retrieved 16 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.

v t e United Kingdom Speedway Seasons
Tier One League Top division	1929 1929 1930 1930 1931 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Tier Two League Second division	1934 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Tier Three League Third division	1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1994 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Champions	League champions Cup winners

v t e British League Division Two/National League seasons
1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994

• Speedway British League Division Two / National League