1980 British League season explained

The 1980 British League season was the 46th season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom and the 16th season known as the British League.^{[1] [2]}

Summary

The league comprised 17 teams - one fewer than the previous season. Exeter Falcons had dropped down to the National League. Hackney Hawks underwent a dramatic transformation from being the bottom side in 1979 to title contenders in 1980, but their challenge faded in the last few weeks and Reading Racers were crowned champions for the second time.^{[3] [4]}

Reading's success came down to three strong heat leaders, Swedish champion Jan Andersson, their new American signing Bobby Schwartz and England international John Davis. All three produced season averages around the 10 mark, which enabled the team to constantly pick up victories.^[5] Cradley Heathens successfully retained their Knockout Cup crown overcoming a huge first leg deficit in the final.

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Reading Racers	32	24	1	7	49
2	Hackney Hawks	32	23	0	9	46
3	Belle Vue Aces	32	21	1	10	43
4	Coventry Bees	32	20	2	10	42
5	Cradley Heath Heathens	32	20	0	12	40
6	Ipswich Witches	32	16	2	14	34
7	King's Lynn Stars	32	17	0	15	34
8	Swindon Robins	32	16	2	14	34
9	Poole Pirates	32	15	2	15	32
10	Halifax Dukes	32	15	1	16	31
11	Leicester Lions	32	14	0	18	28
12	Hull Vikings	32	11	5	16	27
13	Wimbledon Dons	32	12	2	18	26
14	Birmingham Brummies	32	11	1	20	23
15	Wolverhampton Wolves	32	9	2	21	20
16	Eastbourne Eagles	32	9	1	22	19
17	Sheffield Tigers	32	8	0	24	16

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Peter Collins		Belle Vue	10.70
2	Hans Nielsen		Wolverhampton	10.70
3	Dave Jessup		King's Lynn	10.52
4	Bo Petersen		Hackney	10.46
5	Bruce Penhall		Cradley	10.46
6	Michael Lee		King's Lynn	10.17
7	Chris Morton		Belle Vue	10.11
8	Jan Andersson		Reading	10.08
9	Scott Autrey		Swindon	9.97
10	Bobby Schwartz		Reading	9.95

British League Knockout Cup

The 1980 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 42nd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Cradley Heath were the winners.^[6]

First round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
06/05	Leicester	59-49	Poole
05/05	Poole	53-55	Leicester

Second round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
17/07	Coventry	54-54	Birmingham
09/07	Cradley Heath	60-48	Kings Lynn
04/07	Wolverhampton	53-55	Sheffield
09/06	Birmingham	56-51	Coventry
06/06	Eastbourne	52.5-55.5	Swindon
05/06	Sheffield	56-52	Wolverhampton
03/06	Hull	67-41	Hackney
31/05	Belle Vue	60-48	Wimbledon
31/05	Halifax	57-50	Reading
31/05	Swindon	62-46	Eastbourne
30/05	Hackney	45-63	Hull
29/05	Wimbledon	57-51	Belle Vue
29/05	Ipswich	66-42	Leicester
27/05	Leicester	54-54	Ipswich
25/05	Kings Lynn	58-50	Cradley Heath
21/04	Reading	62-46	Halifax

Quarter-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
03/09	Birmingham	76-30	Sheffield
23/08	Belle Vue	68-40	Hull
21/08	Cradley Heath	54-54	Reading
21/08	Sheffield	49-58	Birmingham
04/08	Reading	53-55	Cradley Heath
19/07	Swindon	63-45	Ipswich
17/07	Ipswich	55-53	Swindon
09/07	Hull	66-42	Belle Vue

Semi-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
01/10	Cradley Heath	67-41	Birmingham
24/09	Belle Vue	59-49	Swindon
15/09	Birmingham	56-52	Cradley Heath
30/08	Swindon	56-52	Belle Vue

Final

First leg

Second leg

Cradley Heath were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 116-100.

Riders' Championship

Les Collins won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 18 October and sponsored by Gauntlet (Leyland Used Cars).^[7]

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=70px	Heat Scores	width=50px	Total
1		3 3 3 3 2	14
2		1 2 3 3 3	12
3		3 3 1 2 2	11
4		2 1 3 3 1	10
5		2 1 2 2 3	10
6		3 2 2 1 2	10
7		3 3 0 0 3	9
8		2 2 1 0 3	8
9		2 3 1 1 0	7
10		0 0 2 2 2	6
11		0 1 1 2 1	5
12		1 1 3 0 0	5
13		0 0 0 3 1	4
14	Michael Lee	1 2 0 - -	3
15		1 0 2 0 0	3
16	Bernie Collier (res)	1 1 - - -	2
17		0 0 0 1 -	1
18	Mike Wilding (res)	0 - - - -	0

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

Final leading averages

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Hans Nielsen		Wolverhampton	10.69
2	Peter Collins		Belle Vue	10.67
=3	Dave Jessup		King's Lynn	10.39
=3	Bruce Penhall		Cradley	10.39
5	Bo Petersen		Hackney	10.27
6	Michael Lee		King's Lynn	10.14
7	Chris Morton		Belle Vue	10.09
8	Jan Andersson		Reading	10.04
9	Bobby Schwartz		Reading	10.00
10	Scott Autrey		Swindon	9.92

Midland Cup

Cradley Heath won the Midland Cup, sponsored by the Trustee Savings Bank. The competition consisted of six teams.^[8]

First round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Swindon	Wolverhampton	43–35, 39–39
Cradley	Birmingham	51–27, 48–30

Semi final round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Swindon	Coventry	41–37, 36–42
Leicester	Cradley	35–43, 30–48

Final

First leg

Second leg

Cradley Heath won on aggregate 88–68

London Cup

Wimbledon won the London Cup but the competition consisted of just Wimbledon and Hackney.^[9]

Results

width=100	Team	width=70	Score	width=100	Team
Wimbledon	43–35	Hackney
Hackney	42–36	Wimbledon

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• 10.67
• 10.09
• 7.69
• 6.33
• 6.24
• 5.35
• 5.17
• 4.91
• 4.25
• 4.22

Birmingham

• 8.57
• 8.24
• 7.39
• 6.22
• 6.09
• 5.97
• 5.93
• 5.56
• 3.70
• 2.70

Coventry

• 9.52
• 8.54
• 8.10
• 6.83
• 6.27
• 5.83
• 5.61
• 4.00

Cradley Heath

• 10.39
• 8.32
• 8.17
• 8.13
• 8.09
• 5.32
• 5.16
• 4.84
• 4.23
• 4.05
• 1.78
• 0.73

Eastbourne

• 9.71
• 8.35
• 6.28
• 6.12
• 5.57
• 4.87
• 4.64
• 4.24
• 3.87
• 3.61
• 1.81

Hackney

• 10.27
• 8.12
• 7.76
• 5.49
• 5.29
• 5.19
• 4.94
• 4.24

Halifax

• 8.92
• 7.92
• 6.54
• 6.06
• 5.80
• 5.39
• 3.50
• 2.86

Hull

• 9.32
• 9.00
• 7.57
• 6.68
• 6.47
• 5.17
• 4.84
• 4.67
• 4.65
• 4.17

Ipswich

• 9.09
• 8.80
• 8.34
• 7.20
• 6.37
• 5.82
• 5.77
• 5.33
• 4.80
• 4.72

King's Lynn

• 10.39
• 10.14
• 8.95
• 6.52
• 5.22
• 4.26
• 3.82

Leicester

• 8.93
• 7.69
• 7.42
• 6.38
• 6.20
• 5.91
• 5.60
• 5.23

Poole

• 9.40
• 9.11
• 7.26
• 6.96
• 6.76
• 4.95
• 4.77
• 4.00
• 1.11

Reading

• 10.04
• 10.00
• 9.59
• 7.37
• 5.87
• 5.30
• 4.98
• 1.80

Sheffield

• 8.00
• 7.11
• 6.37
• 6.20
• 5.56 (6 matches only)
• 5.09
• 5.04
• 4.86
• 4.37
• 3.67
• 3.23

Swindon

• 9.92
• 9.59
• 7.41
• 7.24
• 6.53
• 5.54
• 5.42
• 5.31
• 5.00
• 2.72
• 2.00

Wimbledon

• 9.12
• 8.22
• 8.08
• 6.36
• 5.82
• 5.08
• 3.06
• 2.46
• 2.24

Wolverhampton

• 10.69
• 7.08
• 7.01
• 5.85
• 5.73
• 5.36
• 5.33
• 5.07
• 3.93
• 3.68
• 2.62

See also

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: Historic league tables. Speedway Archive.
2. Book: Oakes, Peter. 1981 Speedway Yearbook. 1981. 80. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-86215-017-5.
3. Web site: 1979 league tables. Speedway GB.
4. Web site: 1980 league tables. Speedway GB.
5. Web site: HISTORY ARCHIVE. British Speedway. 3 July 2021.
6. Web site: 1980 British League Knockout Cup. Speedway archive.
7. News: Speedway . The People . 21 October 1979 . 4 June 2023 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
8. News: Schwartz is a cup hit for Cradley . Sandwell Evening Mail . 10 October 1980 . British Newspaper Archive. 21 October 2023 . subscription .
9. Web site: 1980 fixtures and results . Speedway Researcher . 1 October 2023.