1991 British League season

1991 British League season
LeagueBritish League
No. of competitors13
ChampionsWolverhampton Wolves
Knockout CupBradford Dukes
IndividualSam Ermolenko
Highest averageSam Ermolenko
Division/s belowBritish League (Div 2)

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.[1][2]

Summary

[edit]

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.[3][4]

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.[5][6]

Final table

[edit]
Pos Team PL W D L BP Pts
1 Wolverhampton Wolves 24 19 1 4 10 49
2 Bradford Dukes 24 15 4 5 9 43
3 Cradley Heath Heathens 24 15 1 8 10 41
4 Belle Vue Aces 24 12 3 9 6 33
5 Berwick Bandits 24 13 0 11 6 32
6 Ipswich Witches 24 12 1 11 7 32
7 Coventry Bees 24 12 0 12 6 30
8 King's Lynn Stars 24 12 1 11 5 30
9 Oxford Cheetahs 24 8 3 13 6 25
10 Poole Pirates 24 8 2 14 5 23
11 Reading Racers 24 9 0 15 3 21
12 Eastbourne Eagles 24 6 3 15 3 18
13 Swindon Robins 24 5 1 18 2 13

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

British League Knockout Cup

[edit]

The 1991 British League Knockout Cup was the 53rd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Bradford Dukes were the winners.[7][4]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
25/05 Cradley Heath 50-39 Ipswich
22/05 Wimbledon 52-38 Kings Lynn
20/05 Reading 48-42 Poole
16/05 Ipswich 46-44 Cradley Heath
13/05 Wolverhampton 50-40 Oxford
10/05 Oxford 49-41 Wolverhampton
30/04 Poole 47-43 Reading
27/04 Kings Lynn 40-50 Wimbledon
27/04 Swindon 46-44 Belle Vue
26/04 Belle Vue 55-35 Swindon
26/04 Berwick 47-43 Coventry
20/04 Coventry 46-44 Berwick

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
07/09 Cradley Heath 50-39 Reading
02/09 Reading 46-43 Cradley Heath
02/08 Berwick 43-47 Bradford
02/08 Eastbourne 50-40 Reading
16/07 Bradford 50-40 Berwick
01/07 Reading 56-34 Eastbourne
14/06 Belle Vue 44-46 Wolverhampton
10/06 Wolverhampton 42.5-47.5 Belle Vue

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
02/09 Reading 46-43 Cradley
07/09 Cradley 50-39 Reading
05/10 Bradford 56-34 Belle Vue
11/10 Belle Vue 51-39 Bradford

Final

[edit]

First leg

Bradford Dukes
Simon Wigg 14
Gary Havelock 10
Glenn Doyle 10
Craig Hodgson 8
Paul Thorp 7
Sean Wilson 1
Michael Graves 0		50 - 40Cradley Heath
Jan O. Pedersen 10
Billy Hamill 8
Alan Grahame 7
Simon Cross 7
Greg Hancock 3
Scott Smith 3
Wayne Garratt 2

Second leg

Cradley Heath
Jan O. Pedersen 11
Billy Hamill 10
Greg Hancock 9
Wayne Garratt 6
Simon Cross 5
Alan Grahame 2
Scott Smith 0		43 - 47Bradford Dukes
Simon Wigg 14
Gary Havelock 10
Paul Thorp 8
Glenn Doyle 5
Michael Graves 4
Craig Hodgson 3
Sean Wilson 3

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

Riders' Championship

[edit]

Sam Ermolenko won the British League Riders' Championship, sponsored by Dunlop Tyres. It was the held at Odsal Stadium on 20 October.[8]

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total
1 United States Sam Ermolenko 3 3 3 3 3 15
2 Denmark Hans Nielsen 3 3 3 3 2 14
3 England Joe Screen 2 3 2 2 3 12
4 United States Ronnie Correy 3 1 3 2 2 11
5 England Kelvin Tatum 1 3 3 2 1 10
6 England Marvyn Cox 0 2 2 3 3 10
7 Denmark Jan Staechmann 2 2 2 1 2 9
8 England Gary Havelock 2 2 0 3 1 8
9 Denmark Jan O. Pedersen 3 1 0 0 3 7
10 Sweden Henka Gustafsson 1 0 1 2 1 5
11 New Zealand Dave Bargh 2 1 1 0 0 4
12 England Les Collins 0 2 0 1 1 4
13 Australia Leigh Adams 1 0 0 0 2 3
14 England Alan Grahame 0 1 2 0 0 3
15 Australia Shane Parker 1 0 1 1 0 3
16 Denmark Tommy Knudsen 0 0 1 1 0 2
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired

Leading final averages

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

Riders & final averages

[edit]

Belle Vue

Berwick

Bradford

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Eastbourne/Wimbledon

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Oxford

Poole

Reading

Swindon

Wolverhampton

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  3. ^ "1991 league tables". Speedway GB.
  4. ^ a b "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.
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