1971 British League Division Two season

1971 British League Division Two season

League	British League Division Two
No. of competitors	17
Champions	Eastbourne Eagles
Knockout Cup	Ipswich Witches
Individual	John Louis
Highest average	John Louis
Division/s above	British League (Div 1)

The 1971 British League Division Two season was the second tier/division motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.[1][2]

Summary

The league continued with 17 teams in its fourth season despite Reading Racers moving up to Division One[3] 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.[4] The Crayford Highwayman also dropped out[5] 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).[6] Hull Vikings were the final new entrant when Ian Thomas brought speedway back to Hull, to race at the Boulevard Stadium.[7]

Eastbourne Eagles won their first league title since their 1959 Southern Area League success.[8][9] 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.[6]

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Eastbourne Eagles	32	22	3	7	47
2	Bradford Northern	32	21	1	10	43
3	Ipswich Witches	32	20	3	9	43
4	Boston Barracudas	32	18	3	11	39
5	Rayleigh Rockets	32	18	2	12	38
6	Hull Vikings	32	16	2	14	34
7	Crewe Kings	32	16	1	15	33
8	Berwick Bandits	32	16	0	16	32
9	Rochdale Hornets	32	16	0	16	32
10	Long Eaton Rangers	32	13	3	16	29
11	Birmingham Brummies	32	13	3	16	29
12	Romford Bombers	32	13	0	19	26
13	Teesside Teessiders	32	13	0	19	26
14	Canterbury Crusaders	32	12	2	18	26
15	Workington Comets	32	12	1	19	25
16	Peterborough Panthers	32	11	1	20	23
17	Sunderland Stars	32	9	1	22	19

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.[10]

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
29/04	Long Eaton	46-31	Birmingham
24/05	Birmingham	39-39	Long Eaton
30/04	Rochdale	47-31	Hull
05/05	Hull	38-39	Rochdale

Second round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
12/06	Ipswich	57-21	Peterborough
11/06	Peterborough	33-45	Ipswich
11/06	Workington	46-31	Sunderland
06/06	Sunderland	37-31	Workington
06/06	Eastbourne	47-31	Canterbury
12/06	Canterbury	39-39	Eastbourne
07/06	Crewe	54-24	Berwick
12/06	Berwick	50-28	Crewe
09/06	Bradford	47-31	Teesside
10/06	Teesside	38-40	Bradford
11/06	Rochdale	45-33	Long Eaton
10/06	Long Eaton	43-35	Rochdale
06/06	Boston	49-28	Romford
12/06	Romford	42-36	Boston

Quarter-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
29/07	Ipswich	43-35	Rayleigh
24/07	Rayleigh	37-41	Ipswich
23/07	Workington	51-27	Eastbourne
25/07	Eastbourne	45-31	Workington
19/07	Crewe	47-31	Bradford
28/07	Bradford	46-32	Crewe
23/07	Rochdale	41-37	Boston
18/07	Boston	40-38	Rochdale

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
16/08	Crewe	49-29	Rochdale
29/08	Workington	38-40	Ipswich
02/09	Ipswich	50-28	Workington
03/09	Rochdale	+	Crewe

+ rained off, tie awarded to Ipswich

Final

First leg

11 October 1971

Crewe Kings Phil Crump 10 John Jackson 6 Jack Millen 6 Dai Evans 6 Garry Moore 5 Dave Parry 4 Barry Meeks 4	41 – 37	Ipswich Witches John Louis 14 Tony Davey 11 Peter Prinsloo 9 Pete Bailey 2 Clive Noy 1 Ted Howgego 0 Ray Watkins 0
	[11]

British Railways Sports Ground

Second leg

14 October 1971

Ipswich Witches John Louis 12 Tony Davey 12 Peter Prinsloo 9 Pete Bailey 8 Clive Noy 7 Ted Howgego 5 Ray Watkins 2	55 – 23	Crewe Kings John Jackson 7 Jack Millen 7 Phil Crump 6 Barry Meeks 2 Dai Evans 1 Garry Moore 1 Dave Parry 0
	[11]

Foxhall Stadium

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.[12]

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.