1991 British League season explained

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

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

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

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

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	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

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	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

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	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

First legSecond 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.^[8]

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=70px	Heat Scores	width=50px	Total
1		3 3 3 3 3	15
2		3 3 3 3 2	14
3		2 3 2 2 3	12
4		3 1 3 2 2	11
5		1 3 3 2 1	10
6		0 2 2 3 3	10
7		2 2 2 1 2	9
8		2 2 0 3 1	8
9		3 1 0 0 3	7
10		1 0 1 2 1	5
11		2 1 1 0 0	4
12		0 2 0 1 1	4
13		1 0 0 0 2	3
14		0 1 2 0 0	3
15		1 0 1 1 0	3
16		0 0 1 1 0	2

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

Leading final averages

width=200	Rider	width=200	Team	width=40	Average
Sam Ermolenko	Wolverhampton	10.74
	Oxford	10.50
Kelvin Tatum	Berwick	9.92
Gary Havelock	Bradford	9.89
	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

• 8.45
• 8.28
• 7.60
• 7.59
• 7.32
• 6.09
• 5.22
• 5.09
• 3.88
• 3.31

Berwick

• 9.92
• 9.63
• 7.85
• 5.86
• 4.73
• 4.56
• 3.89
• 2.65
• 1.70
• 1.33

Bradford

• 9.89
• 8.43
• 8.32
• 6.94
• 6.79
• 6.61
• 3.51

Coventry

• 8.64
• 7.90
• 7.56
• 6.77
• 6.76
• 4.84
• 4.39
• 3.38
• 2.77
• 0.19

Cradley Heath

• 9.54
• 8.77
• 8.24
• 8.20
• 6.56
• 5.29
• 4.46
• 3.15
• 3.07

Eastbourne/Wimbledon

• 9.44
• 8.48
• 6.67
• 6.59
• 5.88
• 4.98
• 4.75
• 4.29
• 3.59

Ipswich

• 8.44
• 8.15
• 7.33
• 6.96
• 6.39
• 6.25
• 5.17
• 3.74

King's Lynn

• 9.06
• 8.28
• 7.08
• 5.51
• 4.50
• 4.23
• 4.13

Oxford

• 10.50
• 9.12
• 7.17
• 7.13
• 4.00
• 2.95
• 2.93
• 2.64
• 1.91

Poole

• 8.67
• 8.00
• 6.43
• 6.32
• 6.21
• 4.78
• 4.08
• 2.06

Reading

• 8.47
• 8.43
• 8.41
• 7.67
• 6.78
• 6.50
• 4.47
• 2.38
• 1.41

Swindon

• 8.55
• 8.47
• 7.75
• 7.12
• 6.36
• 5.87
• 4.49
• 4.38
• 4.00

Wolverhampton

• 10.74
• 9.58
• 7.25
• 6.57
• 5.32
• 5.32
• 4.29
• 3.75

See also

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: Historic league tables. Speedway Archive.
2. Web site: HISTORY ARCHIVE. British Speedway. 4 July 2021.
3. Web site: 1991 league tables. Speedway GB.
4. Web site: 1991 Season Review. Cradley Speedway.
5. Web site: 1991 fixtures and results . Speedway Researcher . 14 February 2023.
6. News: Dons say farewell to Wimbledon Stadium . Harrow Observer . 5 July 1991 . British Newspaper Archive . subscription . 25 September 2024.
7. Web site: 1991 British League Knockout Cup. Speedway archive.
8. News: Speedway . Nottingham Evening Post . 21 October 1991 . 6 June 2023 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .