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The 1984 British League season was the 50th season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom and the 20th known as the British 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. Exeter took over the Leicester licence.

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. Defending champions Cradley Heath couldn't hold onto their title after losing Simon Wigg to Oxford and loaning Jan O. Pedersen to Sheffield Tigers because of their huge combined c.m.a. being over the limit.

The 50th season of British speedway saw a close fight between Ipswich Witches, Belle Vue Aces and Cradley Heathens. A resounding home win over Ipswich and a string of away wins meant Belle Vue looked favourites to win the league, but in October Ipswich took 3 points from Cradley home and away to end the midlanders hopes and clinched the title with a win at previously unbeaten at home Reading. They made it a cup double by beating Belle Vue home and away in the final with Belle Vue also missing out in the League Cup final to Cradley Heath. The Suffolk team had a great season despite losing their leading rider Dennis Sigalos who rode for Wolverhampton Wolves until breaking his leg early in the league season. Australian Billy Sanders remained one of the team's 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.

The league season saw some notable absentees. Kenny Carter made no league appearances after breaking his leg and aggravating the injury in attempting to qualify for the World Final. Remarkably he won the British Final despite being barely able to walk. Michael Lee was judged to have endangered the safety of other riders when storming off the track in the wrong direction and received a season long ban (reduced from 3 years after appeal) and made no league appearances for Poole

Draconian measures were brought in to exclude any rider pushing the tapes, as opposed to breaking them. The aforementioned Lee walked out of an England / USA test match after falling foul of the rule strictly applied by the referee. Erik Gundersen scored heavily in the league but his high average was hampered by a string of exclusions for tape infringements so much that he finished outside the top 10 rider averages. In the World Championship, the FIM didn't apply the same strictness and he was able to get several flying starts on his way to winning the World Title.

A scandal broke in September when the Sunday People newspaper published a story about race fixing and riders being paid to forfeit their place in the British Final. Riders named were Simon Wigg, Malcolm Simmons, John Louis, Mark Courtney, Kelly Moran and Alan Grahame. Specifically Simmons dropping out for Wigg in the British Final and rides by Wigg's opponents in that final came under scrutiny. Wigg was disqualified from the 1985 World Championship.

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	Hans Nielsen		Oxford Cheetahs	10.78
2	Chris Morton		Belle Vue Aces	10.72
3	Jan Andersson		Reading Racers	10.36
4	Simon Wigg		Oxford Cheetahs	9.98
5	Phil Crump		Swindon Robins	9.96
6	Bobby Schwartz		Eastbourne Eagles	9.82
7	Billy Sanders		Ipswich Witches	9.73
8	Peter Collins		Belle Vue Aces	9.68
9	Shawn Moran		Sheffield Tigers	9.66
10	John Cook		Ipswich Witches	9.36

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.

First round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

First leg

Second leg

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

North Group

Semi-finals

Final

First leg

Second leg

Cradley won on aggregate 80-76.

Riders' Championship

Chris Morton won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 20 October.

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Chris Morton	3 1 3 3 3	13+3
2	Hans Nielsen	3 2 2 3 3	13+2
3	Erik Gundersen	3 3 2 3 2	13+1
4	Peter Ravn	2 3 3 2 2	12
5	Shawn Moran	2 2 2 2 3	11
6	Tommy Knudsen	0 3 3 3 1	10
7	Billy Sanders	3 3 1 X 1	8
8	Malcolm Simmons	2 2 1 1 1	7
9	Sam Ermolenko	0 1 3 0 2	6
10	Jan Andersson	2 2 0 0 2	6
11	Bobby Schwartz	0 0 0 2 3	5
12	Phil Crump	1 1 1 2 X	5
13	Neil Evitts	0 1 2 1 0	4
14	Martin Scarisbrick	1 0 1 1 1	4
15	John Louis	1 0 0 - -	1
16	Andy Campbell	1 0 0 1 0	2
17	Lee Edwards (res)	0 0 - - -	0
18	Glenn Hornby (res)	0 0 - - -	0

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

Pairs

The British League Pairs Championship was held at Monmore Green Stadium on 11 September and was won by Belle Vue.

Semi finals

• Belle Vue beat Coventry 7–2
• Reading beat Wimbledon 7–2

Final

• Belle Vue beat Reading 5–4

Midland Cup

Cradley Heath won the Midland Cup for the second consecutive year. The competition consisted of five teams and was sponsored by Marlboro.

First round

Semi final round

Final

First leg

Second leg

Cradley Heath won on aggregate 83–72

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• Chris Morton 10.31
• Peter Collins 9.10
• Larry Ross 7.75
• Andy Smith 7.25
• Mark Courtney 7.14
• Peter Carr 6.66
• Kenny McKinna 6.39
• Barry Ayres 2.00

Coventry

• Tommy Knudsen 7.87
• Gary Guglielmi 7.79
• Steve Bastable 6.89
• Rick Miller 6.64
• John Jørgensen 6.18
• Sam Nikolajsen 5.31
• Kevin Hawkins 5.19
• Steve Payne 2.62

Cradley Heath

• Erik Gundersen 9.54
• Lance King 8.65
• Phil Collins 8.40
• Alan Grahame 7.87
• Simon Cross 7.27
• Finn Jensen 5.08
• Mike Wilding 1.96
• Steve Collins 1.49

Eastbourne

• Bobby Schwartz 9.42
• John Eskildsen 8.07
• Paul Woods 8.05
• Antonín Kasper Jr. 6.76
• Colin Richardson 6.01
• Olli Tyrväinen 4.91
• Denzil Kent 4.37
• Steve Lucero 4.18
• Martin Goodwin 4.00
• Paul Bosley 3.81

Exeter

• Ivan Mauger 8.08
• Andy Campbell 6.90
• Sean Willmott 6.01
• Leif Wahlman 5.29
• Buddy Robinson 5.27
• Rob Maxfield 5.05
• Frank Andersen 4.98
• Louis Carr 4.15
• Kevin Price 2.59
• Steve Bishop 2.08
• Keith Millard 2.00
• Michael Coles 1.00

Halifax

• Kenny Carter 9.21
• Neil Evitts 7.44
• Steve Baker 6.08
• Eric Monaghan 5.16
• Doug Wyer 4.95
• Steve Finch 4.64
• Craig Pendlebury 4.58
• Kurt Hansen 3.52

Ipswich

• Billy Sanders 9.69
• John Cook 8.83
• Jeremy Doncaster 8.16
• Kai Niemi 7.98
• Richard Knight7.43
• Nigel Flatman 5.29
• Carl Blackbird 4.97
• Carl Baldwin 3.53

King's Lynn

• John Louis 8.29
• Dave Jessup 7.42
• Richard Hellsen 6.72
• Steve Regeling 6.61
• Kevin Jolly 6.38
• Martin Dixon 6.05
• Keith Bloxsome 4.00

Newcastle

• Joe Owen 8.04
• Rod Hunter 7.01
• David Bargh 6.68
• Eddie Ingels 5.84
• Steve McDermott 5.18
• Phil White 4.82
• Martin Scarisbrick 4.62
• Reg Wilson 4.13
• Alan Mason 3.92

Oxford

• Hans Nielsen 10.76
• Simon Wigg 9.69
• Marvyn Cox 6.29
• Melvyn Taylor 6.06
• Jens Rasmussen 5.57
• Ian Clark 4.59
• Nigel Sparshott 4.48
• Klaus Lausch 4.15
• Martin Yeates 2.00
• Dave Perks 1.93

Poole

• Michael Lee 9.24
• Sam Ermolenko 6.71
• Finn Thomsen 6.32
• Stan Bear 6.15
• Brian Jakobsen 5.85
• Neil Middleditch 5.77
• Kevin Smith 5.62
• Gerd Riss 4.57
• Leif Wahlman 3.54

Reading

• Jan Andersson 10.05
• Mitch Shirra 9.26
• Per Jonsson 6.52
• Tim Hunt 5.75
• Malcolm Holloway 5.43
• Pierre Brannefors 5.41
• Peter Glanz 4.87

Sheffield

• Shawn Moran 9.85
• Neil Collins 8.03
• Les Collins 7.83
• Dave Morton 6.00
• Jan O. Pedersen 6.00
• Martin Hagon 5.18
• Reg Wilson 4.77
• Nigel Crabtree 3.59
• Alan Mason 2.94

Swindon

• Phil Crump 9.94
• Bo Petersen 8.33
• Ari Koponen 6.15
• Bjorn Andersson 5.73
• Shawn McConnell 5.33
• Alun Rossiter 5.01
• Alf Busk 4.95
• Per Sorensen 4.65
• Martin Yeates 3.78

Wimbledon

• John Davis 8.38
• Malcolm Simmons 8.38
• Kelvin Tatum 7.18
• Gordon Kennett 6.04
• John Titman 5.82
• Roger Johns 5.69
• Mike Ferreira 5.45
• Andy Galvin 2.95

Wolverhampton

• Dennis Sigalos 9.87
• Preben Eriksen 8.45
• Peter Ravn 7.47
• Andy Grahame 7.23
• Steve Lucero 4.61
• Louis Carr 4.52
• Rob Pfetzing 4.51
• Kent Noer 3.69
• David Cheshire 3.23
• Steve Schofield 3.00
• Paul Thorp 2.90

See also

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

References

1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
2. "Collins turns down Halifax". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. 24 January 1984. Retrieved 29 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
3. Bamford/Shailes, Robert/Glynn (2007). The Story of Oxford Speedway. Tempus Publishing Ltd. pp. 128–135. ISBN 978-0-7524-4161-0.
4. "1984 league tables". Speedway GB. Archived from the original on 1 October 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
5. "Favourite-ever Ipswich Witches teams... FANS HAVE THEIR SAY". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
6. "1984 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
7. "Speedway". Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 28 October 1984. Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
8. "Speedway". Daily Mirror. 29 October 1984. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
9. ^ "1984 Cradley season" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
10. "Morton takes title". Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 21 October 1984. Retrieved 4 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
11. "Morton Collins, perfect partners". Birmingham Mail. 12 September 1984. Retrieved 17 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
12. "Cradley finish on high note". Birmingham Weekly Mercury. 28 October 1984. 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
• 1984 in British motorsport
• 1984 in speedway