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The 1977 Gulf British League season was the 43rd season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom and the 13th season known as the British League.

Summary

Newport had dropped down to the National League but their riders transferred to the Bristol Bulldogs so the league retained 19 teams. Cradley Heath reverted to their nickname of Heathens after four years of being called United. The league was sponsored by Gulf Oil for a third season.

White City Rebels won the title in only their second season of existence. The London team caused a surprise with their consistent form throughout the season with heavy scoring of Gordon Kennett leading the team. The success came from a group of five other riders hitting around a seven average to support Kennett. The five were Englishmen Mike Sampson, Steve Weatherley and Trevor Geer, Pole Marek Cieślak and Finn Kai Niemi. Wolverhampton Wolves signed 18 year-old Danish rider Hans Nielsen.

Kevin Holden of Poole Pirates had started the season in great form for his new club, following his move from Exeter Falcons. He was hitting over a 9 point average but sadly was killed during the home match against Reading on 27 April. After sliding into the fence he ruptured a blood vessel of the heart.

Final table

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Michael Lee		King's Lynn	10.64
2	Ivan Mauger		Exeter	10.62
3	Peter Collins		Belle Vue	10.49
4	Gordon Kennett		White City	10.41
5	Ole Olsen		Coventry	10.40
6	Billy Sanders		Ipswich	10.39
7	Anders Michanek		Cradley	10.35
8	Dave Jessup		Reading	10.27
9	Malcolm Simmons		Poole	10.22
10	John Davis		Reading	9.84

British League Knockout Cup

The 1977 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 39th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. King's Lynn Stars were the winners.

First round

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

First leg

Second leg

King's Lynn Stars were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 79-77.

Riders' Championship

Ole Olsen won the British League Riders' Championship for the third time, it was held at Hyde Road on 15 October and sponsored by Leyland Cars.

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Ole Olsen	3 3 3 3 3	15
2	Peter Collins	3 3 3 2 3	14
3	Michael Lee	3 2 2 3 3	13
4	Ivan Mauger	3 2 2 2 3	12
5	Ila Teromaa	2 3 1 3 2	11
6	Edward Jancarz	2 1 3 2 1	9
7	Jim McMillan	1 3 1 1 2	8
8	Doug Wyer	1 0 2 2 2	7
9	Bob Kilby	0 2 3 1 1	7
10	Dave Jessup	2 0 2 1 0	5
11	Phil Herne	1 1 0 3 0	5
12	Chris Pusey	0 2 1 0 1	4
13	Gordon Kennett	1 1 1 0 1	4
14	Ray Wilson	0 EF 0 1 2	3
15	Billy Sanders	EF 1 0 0 0	1
16	Graham Drury	2 0 0 0 0	2

• ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded

Pairs

The British League Pairs Championship was held at Foxhall Stadium on 29 September and was won by Ipswich Witches for the second consecutive year.

Final leading averages

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Michael Lee		King's Lynn	10.59
2	Ole Olsen		Coventry	10.52
3	Ivan Mauger		Exeter	10.50
4	Peter Collins		Belle Vue	10.46
5	Gordon Kennett		White City	10.41
6	Anders Michanek		Cradley	10.35
7	Dave Jessup		Reading	10.32
8	Malcolm Simmons		Poole	10.27
9	Billy Sanders		Ipswich	10.18
10	John Davis		Reading	9.80

Midland Cup

Coventry won the Midland Cup for the second consecutive year. The competition consisted of six teams and was sponsored by the Trustee Savings Bank.

First round

Semi final round

Final

First leg

Second leg

Coventry won on aggregate 89–67

London Cup

White City Rebels won the London Cup. Two of their fixtures doubled up as League and Knockout Cup matches.

Results

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• Peter Collins 10.46
• Chris Morton 8.96
• Alan Wilkinson 8.56
• Les Collins 7.87
• Russ Hodgson 5.90
• Derek Richardson 5.07
• Chris Turner 4.18
• Kristian Praestbro 3.72
• Jim Brett 3.61
• Steve Lawson 2.30

Birmingham

• Ray Wilson 8.74
• Alan Grahame 6.36
• Richard Greer 5.58
• Lou Sansom 5.00
• Jan Terje Gravningen 4.95
• Malcolm Shakespeare 4.75
• Carl Askew 4.56
• Stuart Mountford 4.10
• Finn Jensen 3.44

Bristol

• Phil Crump 9.77
• Phil Herne 9.23
• Steve Gresham 7.12
• Tormod Langli 6.39
• Nigel Boocock 6.06
• Phil Bass 4.61
• Danny Kennedy 4.56
• Edgar Stangeland 3.71
• Tom Leadbitter 3.19
• Tony Garard 3.17
• Brian Woodward 2.00

Coventry

• Ole Olsen 10.52
• Mitch Shirra 8.22
• Alan Molyneux 7.92
• Mick Bell 7.79
• Alf Busk 6.38
• Tommy Nilsson 6.23
• Frank Smith 3.85
• Dave Mortiboys 2.00

Cradley Heath

• Anders Michanek 10.35
• Bernt Persson 8.34
• Steve Bastable 7.86
• Bruce Cribb 6.54
• Bob Valentine 6.50
• Dave Perks 6.00
• Arthur Price 5.61

Exeter

• Ivan Mauger 10.50
• Scott Autrey 9.13
• Václav Verner 8.59
• John Titman 8.25
• Mike Farrell 6.48
• Steve Koppe 6.33
• Peter Prinsloo 6.21
• Walter Grubmuller 4.00

Hackney

• Dave Morton 8.67 (5 matches only)
• Keith White 7.45
• Barry Thomas 6.51
• Ted Hubbard 6.34
• Bent Rasmussen 4.68
• Vic Harding 4.19
• Tony Featherstone 4.07
• Laurie Etheridge 3.88

Halifax

• Chris Pusey 8.11
• Henny Kroeze 7.37
• Mike Lohmann 7.14
• Ian Cartwright 6.13
• Graham Plant 6.10
• Mick McKeon 4.83
• Steve Finch 4.81
• Tom Godal 3.80
• Geoff Pusey 2.81

Hull

• Graham Drury 8.63
• Bobby Beaton 8.01
• Joe Owen 6.61
• Tom Owen 6.00
• Mike Curoso 5.44
• Frank Auffret 5.23
• Mitch Graham 4.69
• Phil Kynman 3.05

Ipswich

• Billy Sanders 10.18
• John Louis 9.50
• Tony Davey 7.97
• Andy Hines 5.40
• Kevin Jolly 5.24
• Ted Howgego 5.13
• Mike Lanham 5.07
• Dave Gooderham 4.62

King's Lynn

• Michael Lee 10.59
• Terry Betts 9.78
• Ian Turner 7.36
• David Gagen 5.93
• Richard Hellsen 5.17
• Carl Glover 4.48
• Paul Tyrer 4.07
• Billy Spiers 3.25
• Billy Burton 2.17

Leicester

• Ila Teromaa 8.92
• John Boulger 8.42
• Garry Middleton 6.68
• Bolesław Proch 5.17
• Pepe Teromaa 4.74
• Doug Underwood 4.04
• Tommy Pettersson 4.00
• Ray Bales 3.89
• Markku Helminen 3.33
• Reidar Eide 3.24
• Adi Funk 2.96
• Chris Robins 2.96
• John McNeill 2.29

Poole

• Malcolm Simmons 10.27
• Christer Sjösten 7.47
• Eric Broadbelt 7.02
• Neil Middleditch 6.30
• Colin Gooddy 5.54
• Richard May 4.98
• Pete Smith 4.56
• Martin Yeates 4.52

Reading

• Dave Jessup 10.32
• John Davis 9.80
• Bengt Jansson 6.80
• Bob Humphreys 6.05
• Bernie Leigh 5.88
• Hans Wassermann 5.58
• Bolesław Proch 4.85
• Doug Underwood 4.37
• Ian Gledhill 3.26
• Glyn Taylor 2.53

Sheffield

• Doug Wyer 9.15
• Reg Wilson 8.84
• Craig Pendlebury 6.56
• Arnold Haley 5.43
• Keith Evans 5.05
• Tony Boyle 4.31
• Carl Glover 3.95
• Billy Burton 3.25

Swindon

• Martin Ashby 9.72
• Bob Kilby 8.74
• Jan Andersson 7.61
• Bobby McNeil 6.67
• Geoff Bouchard 5.49
• Soren Karlsson 5.48
• David Ashby 4.77
• Kevin Young 3.04

White City

• Gordon Kennett 10.41
• Mike Sampson 7.35
• Steve Weatherley 7.32
• Marek Cieślak 7.15
• Kai Niemi 6.85
• Trevor Geer 6.84
• Ian Clark 5.07
• Dave Kennett 4.70

Wimbledon

• Edward Jancarz 9.61
• Mick Hines 7.80
• Colin Richardson 7.74
• Larry Ross 7.32
• Stefan Salomonsso 5.47
• Roger Johns 5.46
• Graeme Stapleton 4.23
• Brendan Shiletto 3.67
• Rudy Muts 2.80
• Rob Jones 2.40

Wolverhampton

• Jimmy McMillan 8.68
• Finn Thomsen 8.17
• Hans Nielsen 7.25
• George Hunter 5.70
• Sören Sjösten 5.33
• Rob Hollingworth 4.69
• Steve Lomas 2.76

See also

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

References

1. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
2. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
3. "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
4. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
5. "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
6. "IT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY.....1977". Poole Speedway. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
7. "1977 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
8. ^ "Season 1977" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
9. "Immaculate Olsen roars to title". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 17 October 1977. Retrieved 2 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
10. "Sport in Brief". Birmingham Daily Post. 30 September 1977. Retrieved 17 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
11. "Super Shirra leads Bees in Cup romp". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 30 September 1977. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
12. "1977 fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 1 October 2023.

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 seasons
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
Domestic cups: British League Knockout Cup

• British League
• 1977 in British motorsport
• 1977 in speedway