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The 1991 British League season was the 57th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 27th known as the British League.

Summary

Wolverhampton Wolves won the league for the first time in their history. The club which was first founded in 1928 had only ever won the Provincial Midland League in 1962 and the Provincial League in 1963. They were led by their American star Sam Ermolenko, who became the first rider to push Hans Nielsen from the top of the averages after eight consecutive years at the top. The Wolves team relied on two more American riders, Ronnie Correy and Sam's younger brother Charles Ermolenko, in addition to Englishman Graham Jones to seal the title from Bradford. Bradford gained consolation by winning the Knockout Cup, led by English international pair Simon Wigg and Gary Havelock.

Wimbledon Dons started the season but only ran until June before withdrawing from the league. The entire team was relocated to Arlington Stadium and raced as the Eastbourne Eagles for the remainder of the season.

Final table

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

British League Knockout Cup

The 1991 British League Knockout Cup was the 53rd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Bradford Dukes were the winners.

First round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

First leg

Second leg

Bradford Dukes were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 97-83.

Riders' Championship

Sam Ermolenko won the British League Riders' Championship, sponsored by Dunlop Tyres. It was the held at Odsal Stadium on 20 October.

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Sam Ermolenko	3 3 3 3 3	15
2	Hans Nielsen	3 3 3 3 2	14
3	Joe Screen	2 3 2 2 3	12
4	Ronnie Correy	3 1 3 2 2	11
5	Kelvin Tatum	1 3 3 2 1	10
6	Marvyn Cox	0 2 2 3 3	10
7	Jan Staechmann	2 2 2 1 2	9
8	Gary Havelock	2 2 0 3 1	8
9	Jan O. Pedersen	3 1 0 0 3	7
10	Henka Gustafsson	1 0 1 2 1	5
11	Dave Bargh	2 1 1 0 0	4
12	Les Collins	0 2 0 1 1	4
13	Leigh Adams	1 0 0 0 2	3
14	Alan Grahame	0 1 2 0 0	3
15	Shane Parker	1 0 1 1 0	3
16	Tommy Knudsen	0 0 1 1 0	2

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

Leading final averages

Rider	Team	Average
Sam Ermolenko	Wolverhampton	10.74
Hans Nielsen	Oxford	10.50
Kelvin Tatum	Berwick	9.92
Gary Havelock	Bradford	9.89
Jimmy Nilsen	Berwick	9.63
Ronnie Correy	Wolverhampton	9.58
Jan O. Pedersen	Cradley Heath	9.54
Andy Grahame	Eastbourne	9.44
Martin Dugard	Oxford	9.12
Henrik Gustafsson	Kings Lynn	9.06

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• Shawn Moran 8.45
• Kelly Moran 8.28
• Neil Collins 7.60
• Joe Screen 7.59
• Tony Olsson 7.32
• Carl Stonehewer 6.09
• Darren Sumner 5.22
• Paul Smith 5.09
• Nigel Leaver 3.88
• Frank Andersen 3.31

Berwick

• Kelvin Tatum 9.92
• Jimmy Nilsen 9.63
• Richard Knight 7.85
• David Walsh 5.86
• Scott Robson 4.73
• David Blackburn 4.56
• Rob Grant Sr. 3.89
• Kevin Little 2.65
• Michael Lowrie 1.70
• David Nagel 1.33

Bradford

• Gary Havelock 9.89
• Simon Wigg 8.43
• Paul Thorp 8.32
• Glenn Doyle 6.94
• Sean Wilson 6.79
• Craig Hodgson 6.61
• Michael Graves 3.51

Coventry

• Tommy Knudsen 8.64
• Rick Miller 7.90
• John Jørgensen 7.56
• Roman Matoušek 6.77
• Peter Ravn 6.76
• Michael Warren 4.84
• Andy Hackett 4.39
• Mark Robinson 3.38
• Andy Meredith 2.77
• David Haynes 0.19

Cradley Heath

• Jan O. Pedersen 9.54
• Billy Hamill 8.77
• Greg Hancock 8.24
• Gert Handberg 8.20
• Alan Grahame 6.56
• Simon Cross 5.29
• Mark Robinson 4.46
• Scott Smith 3.15
• Wayne Garratt 3.07

Eastbourne/Wimbledon

• Andy Grahame 9.44
• Bobby Ott 8.48
• Armando Castagna 6.67
• John Davis 6.59
• Nathan Simpson 5.88
• Gordon Kennett 4.98
• Deon Prinsloo 4.75
• Neville Tatum 4.29
• Jesper Olsen 3.59

Ipswich

• Chris Louis 8.44
• Tony Rickardsson 8.15
• Neville Tatum 7.33
• Zdenek Tesar 6.96
• David Norris 6.39
• Shane Parker 6.25
• Alastair Stevens 5.17
• Ben Howe 3.74

King's Lynn

• Henka Gustaffson 9.06
• Mark Loram 8.28
• Bohumil Brhel 7.08
• Dennis Lofqvist 5.51
• Nigel Leaver 4.50
• Kevin Brice 4.23
• Paul Fry 4.13

Oxford

• Hans Nielsen 10.50
• Martin Dugard 9.12
• Craig Boyce 7.17
• Dean Barker 7.13
• Mark Carlson 4.00
• Glenn Cunningham 2.95
• Kieran McCullagh 2.93
• Spencer Timmo 2.64
• Darren Grayling 1.91

Poole

• Marvyn Cox 8.67
• Steve Schofield 8.00
• Gary Allan 6.43
• Mick Poole 6.32
• Tony Langdon 6.21
• Tom P. Knudsen 4.78
• Alun Rossiter 4.08
• Steve Leigh 2.06

Reading

• Jeremy Doncaster 8.47
• Mitch Shirra 8.43
• Todd Wiltshire 8.41
• Jan Andersson 7.67
• Dave Mullett 6.78
• Ray Morton 6.50
• Scott Humphries 4.47
• Davd Steen 2.38
• Terry Mussett 1.41

Swindon

• Leigh Adams 8.55
• John Davis 8.47
• Andy Smith 7.75
• Peter Nahlin 7.12
• Dean Standing 6.36
• Andrew Silver 5.87
• Paul Smith 4.49
• Paul Dugard 4.38
• Rod Colquhoun 4.00

Wolverhampton

• Sam Ermolenko 10.74
• Ronnie Correy 9.58
• Graham Jones 7.25
• Charles Ermolenko 6.57
• Scott Norman 5.32
• Andy Phillips 5.32
• Wayne Carter 4.29
• Lars Munkedal 3.75

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 4 July 2021.
3. "1991 league tables". Speedway GB.
4. ^ "1991 Season Review". Cradley Speedway.
5. "1991 fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
6. "Dons say farewell to Wimbledon Stadium". Harrow Observer. 5 July 1991. Retrieved 25 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "1991 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
8. "Speedway". Nottingham Evening Post. 21 October 1991. Retrieved 6 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 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
• 1991 in British motorsport