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The 1982 British League season was the 48th season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom and the 18th known as the British League.

Summary

Hull Vikings had disbanded following the loss of their home at the Boulevard.

After a ten-year drought Belle Vue Aces won the league pushing defending champions Cradley Heath into second place. A special performance was going to be needed to finish ahead of the star-studded Cradley Heath team and it was the consistency of the support riders which helped Belle Vue achieve this. England international Chris Morton was the heat leader but he was supported by a group of consistent scorers throughout the season that included Larry Ross (a former 5 times New Zealand champion), the former world champion Peter Collins, the Carr brothers Louis and Peter, Dane Peter Ravn and Scot Jim McMillan. Cradley Heath went on to win their third Knockout Cup in four years and the League Cup.

Hackney Wick Stadium was subject to a second fatal accident within two years when American Denny Pyeatt lost his life in a league match on 16 July. Pyeatt riding for Reading Racers crashed into a lamp standard. Swindon rider Martin Hewlett suffered a stroke after the Swindon v Birmingham fixture in September and died four days later.

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	Kenny Carter		Halifax Dukes	11.05
2	Erik Gundersen		Cradley Heathens	10.75
3	Hans Nielsen		Birmingham Brummies	10.49
4	Bruce Penhall		Cradley Heathens	10.39
5	Dennis Sigalos		Ipswich Witches	10.26
6	Bobby Schwartz		Reading Racers	10.11
7	Chris Morton		Belle Vue	9.98
8	Shawn Moran		Sheffield Tigers	9.98
9	Kelly Moran		Eastbourne Eagles	9.97
10	Billy Sanders		King's Lynn Stars	9.93

British League Knockout Cup

The 1982 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 44th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Cradley Heath Heathens were the winners.

First round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

First leg

Second leg

Cradley were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 81-75.

League Cup

The League Cup was split into North and South sections. The two-legged final was won by Cradley Heath Heathens beating Ipswich Witches in the final 83–73 on aggregate.

South Group

North Group

Final

Riders' Championship

Kenny Carter won the British League Riders' Championship for the second consecutive year, held at Hyde Road on 16 October.

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Kenny Carter	3 3 3 3 3	15
2	Shawn Moran	2 3 3 3 3	14
3	Hans Nielsen	3 2 3 2 3	13
4	Erik Gundersen	2 3 2 0 3	10
5	Bobby Schwartz	3 1 2 2 1	9
6	Les Collins	0 1 3 3 2	9
7	Jan Andersson	3 0 2 1 2	8
8	Steve Bastable	2 3 1 1 0	7
9	Billy Sanders	0 2 2 1 2	7
10	Ole Olsen	0 1 1 3 1	6
11	Chris Morton	1 2 1 2 0	6
12	Finn Thomsen	1 1 0 2 1	5
13	Dennis Sigalos	2 0 r -	4
14	Dave Jessup	1 0 1 0 1	3
15	Gordon Kennett	1 0 0 0 2	3
16	John Davis	0 - - - -	0
17	Andy Smith (res)	0 0 1 0 -	1
18	Lee Edwards (res)	0 0 - - -	0

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

Final leading averages

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Kenny Carter		Halifax	11.03
2	Bruce Penhall		Cradley	10.74
=3	Erik Gundersen		Cradley	10.18
=3	Chris Morton		Belle Vue	10.18
5	Dennis Sigalos		Ipswich	10.10
6	Jan Andersson		Reading	9.96
7	Hans Nielsen		Birmingham	9.89
8	Bobby Schwartz		Reading	9.83
9	Gordon Kennett		Eastbourne	9.72
10	Michael Lee		King's Lynn	9.65

Midland Cup

Coventry won the Midland Cup for the second consecutive year. The competition consisted of five teams.

First round

Semi final round

Final

First leg

Second leg

Coventry won on aggregate 79–77

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• Chris Morton 10.18
• Larry Ross 9.37
• Peter Collins 8.78
• Louis Carr 6.01
• Peter Ravn 5.65
• Jimmy McMillan 5.44
• Peter Carr 4.98
• Andy Smith 4.40

Birmingham

• Hans Nielsen 9.89
• Andy Grahame 9.03
• Ari Koponen 6.20
• Aleš Dryml Sr. 6.03
• John Eskildsen 6.03
• John Jorgensen 5.65
• Zdeněk Kudrna 5.23
• Neil Evitts 5.03
• Karl Maier 4.72
• Bruce Cribb 3.56
• Armando Dal Chiele 0.80

Coventry

• Tommy Knudsen 9.22
• Ole Olsen 9.09
• Mitch Shirra 7.38
• Gary Guglielmi 6.69
• Kevin Hawkins 5.79
• Alf Busk 5.19
• Sam Nikolajsen 3.48
• Charlie McKinna 3.25

Cradley Heath

• Bruce Penhall 10.74
• Erik Gundersen 10.18
• Alan Grahame 9.22
• Phil Collins 7.29
• Simon Wigg 6.67
• Lance King 6.30
• Ian Gledhill 3.45
• Andy Reid 3.02
• Wayne Jackson 3.00
• Jan Verner 2.69
• Bill Barrett 1.78

Eastbourne

• Gordon Kennett 9.72
• Kelly Moran 9.62
• Ron Preston 9.18
• Paul Woods 6.62
• Lillebror Johansson 3.55
• Dave Kennett 3.55
• Lars Hammarberg 3.37
• Borge Ring 3.36
• Keith Pritchard 3.27

Hackney

• Bo Petersen 9.38
• Finn Thomsen 7.29
• John Titman 6.59
• Antonín Kasper Jr. 6.53
• Sean Willmott 5.96
• Jens Rasmussen 5.53
• Bob Garrad 4.00
• Martin Hagon 3.52

Halifax

• Kenny Carter 11.03
• John Louis 7.52
• Ian Cartwright 7.28
• Merv Janke 6.39
• Martin Dixon 5.51
• Doug Wyer 5.36
• Steve Baker 4.98
• Rob Ashton 4.71
• Rob Tate 0.80

Ipswich

• Dennis Sigalos 10.10
• Preben Eriksen 8.53
• John Cook 7.77
• Kevin Jolly 6.98
• Jeremy Doncaster 6.07
• Nigel Flatman 5.79
• Andy Hines 5.67
• Mike Lanham 5.16
• Carl Baldwin 4.40

King's Lynn

• Michael Lee 9.65
• Billy Sanders 9.09
• Richard Hellsen 7.00
• Melvyn Taylor 5.78
• Colin Richardson 4.90
• Rob Hollingworth 4.04
• Peo Gudmundsson 3.00
• Keven Dye 1.76
• Jiří Hnidak 1.58
• Peter Framingham 0.44

Leicester

• Les Collins 8.77
• Neil Collins 7.07
• Phil Herne 6.42
• Joe Owen 5.93
• Colin Cook 5.87
• Mark Courtney 5.57
• Finn Jensen 5.41
• Steve Regeling 5.09

Poole

• John Davis 8.68
• Scott Autrey 8.13
• Neil Middleditch 6.01
• Václav Verner 5.86
• Kevin Smith 5.83
• Danny Kennedy 5.30
• Peter Prinsloo 4.49
• Les Sawyer 4.20
• Pete Ellams 3.29

Reading

• Jan Andersson 9.96
• Bobby Schwartz 9.83
• Steve Gresham 5.57
• Denny Pyeatt 5.28
• Jiří Štancl 5.23
• Tim Hunt 5.08
• Dave Trownson 4.66
• Colin Ackroyd 4.00
• John Grahame 3.87
• Uno Johansson 2.78

Sheffield

• Shawn Moran 9.55
• David Bargh 6.84
• Dave Morton 6.50
• Reg Wilson 6.48
• Wayne Brown 6.46
• Phil White 5.57
• Zenon Plech 4.95
• Mark Fiora 3.82
• Robbie Foy 1.71

Swindon

• Phil Crump 9.47
• Steve Bastable 7.58
• Bjorn Andersson 6.46
• Malcolm Holloway 5.97
• Mike Ferreira 5.26
• Steen Mastrup 5.19
• Martin Yeates 4.18
• Martin Hewlett 4.13
• Jan Verner 3.26

Wimbledon

• Dave Jessup 8.77
• Malcolm Simmons 8.75
• Kai Niemi 8.04
• Edward Jancarz 5.82
• Anders Eriksson 5.37
• Roger Johns 5.37
• Brad Oxley 5.09
• Richard Knight 4.08
• Alan Mogridge 2.06

See also

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

References

1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
2. "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
3. "Speedway battle is destined for courts". Hull Daily Mail. 17 October 1981. Retrieved 21 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
4. "1982 league tables". Speedway GB.
5. "1982 FactFile" (PDF). Retro Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
6. "Denny Pyeatt". Speedway Bikes. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
7. "Speedway Star Cover Men". wwosbackup. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
8. "1982 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
9. ^ "Coventry Bees 1982 season". Cradley Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
10. "Carter's maximum". Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 17 October 1982. Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
11. "Heathens Misery". Sandwell Evening Mail. 12 October 1982. Retrieved 21 October 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 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
• 1982 in British motorsport
• 1982 in speedway