1968 British League Division Two season

British motorcycle speedway season

1968 British League Division Two seasonLeague| British League Division Two

|

No. of competitors| 10
Champions| Belle Vue Colts
Knockout Cup| Canterbury Crusaders
Individual| Graham Plant
Highest average| Mick Handley
Division/s above| British League (Div 1)

* <- 1964
* 1969 ->

The 1968 British League Division Two season was the inaugural season of a second tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.[1][2]

## Summary

[edit]

The formation of a new division 2 was a success and attracted five new clubs to league speedway, the Nelson Admirals from Nelson in Lancashire,[3] the Crayford Highwaymen from east London,[4] the Canterbury Crusaders from Kent, the Berwick Bandits from Scotland and the Reading Racers. Additionally three other clubs, Middlesbrough, Plymouth and Rayleigh returned to league action having previously competed in the old defunct Provincial League and Weymouth returned after a 13 year absence.[5][6]

Belle Vue Aces, members of the first division, fielded a reserve side known as Belle Vue Colts and won the first league title.[7] Colt's riders Taffy Owen, Ken Eyre, Eric Broadbelt and John Woodcock all scored heavily and ended with impressive averages.[8] Canterbury in their first season of existence won the division 2 Knockout Cup beating another new team Reading in the final.[6]

## Final table

[edit]

Pos  | Team  | PL  | W  | D  | L  | Pts

|
|
|
|
|
|

1  | Belle Vue Colts | 18  | 14  | 0  | 4  | 28
2  | Nelson Admirals | 18  | 11  | 0  | 7  | 22
3  | Middlesbrough Teessiders | 18  | 10  | 1  | 7  | 21
4  | Plymouth Devils | 18  | 10  | 0  | 8  | 20
5  | Rayleigh Rockets | 18  | 9  | 1  | 8  | 19
6  | Crayford Highwaymen | 18  | 8  | 1  | 9  | 17
7  | Canterbury Crusaders | 18  | 8  | 1  | 9  | 17
8  | Reading Racers | 18  | 6  | 2  | 10  | 14
9  | Weymouth Eagles | 18  | 5  | 2  | 11  | 12
10  | Berwick Bandits | 18  | 5  | 0  | 13  | 10

## Top Five Riders (League Averages)

[edit]

| Rider  | Nat  | Team  | C.M.A.

|
|
|
|

1=  | Mick Handley |  | Crayford Highwaymen | 10.22
1=  | Mike Cake |  | Plymouth Devils | 10.22
3  | Chris Bass |  | Plymouth Devils | 9.91
4  | Dave Schofield |  | Nelson Admirals | 9.82
5  | Taffy Owen |  | Belle Vue Colts | 9.59

## British League Division Two Knockout Cup

[edit]

The 1968 British League Division Two Knockout Cup was the first edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams and coincided with the newly formed league.[9]

Previously the tier two and tier three teams had competed in the National Trophy until 1964, and although they held their own finals during some years it only served as qualification for the main competition. Canterbury Crusaders were the winners of the competition.[10]

First round

Date  | Team one  | Score  | Team two

|
|
|

26/08 | Reading | 52-44 | Rayleigh

Quarter-finals

Date  | Team one  | Score  | Team two

|
|
|

10/08 | Canterbury | 56-37 | Crayford
22/08 | Middlesbrough | 53-41 | Nelson
26/08 | Reading | 52-44 | Plymouth
24/08 | Berwick | 45-51 | Belle Vue

Semi-finals

Date  | Team one  | Score  | Team two

|
|
|

30/09 | Reading | 56-40 | Belle Vue
07/09 | Canterbury | 64-31 | Middlesbrough

### Final

[edit]

First leg

12 October 1968

Canterbury Crusaders
Peter Murray 14
Barry Crowson 14
Martyn Piddock 13
John Hibben 10
Graham Miles 7
Ken Vale 2
Pat Flanagan 0| 60 – 36| Reading Racers
Vic White 11
John Poyser 8
Ian Champion 6
Stuart Wallace 4
Phil Pratt 3
Ted Spittles 2
Dene Davies 2

|
|

| [11] |

Kingsmead Stadium

Second leg

14 October 1968

Reading Racers
John Poyser 17
Vic White 11
Ted Spittles 9
Stuart Wallace 3
Dene Davies 2
Phil Pratt 1
Ian Champion 1| 44 – 52| Canterbury Crusaders
Peter Murray 14
Barry Crowson 12
John Hibben 8
Graham Miles 6
Ken Vale 6
Martyn Piddock 5
Dave Grimley (guest) 1

|
|

| [11] |

Reading Stadium

Canterbury were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 112–80.

## Riders' Championship

[edit]

Graham Plant aged just 19, won the Rider's Championship. The final was held at Hackney Wick Stadium on 27 September. Several riders were involved in a crash, which resulted in Chris Bailey (broken wrist) and Barry Crowson (suspeted fractured thigh bone) going to hospital.[12] However, Crowson after receving an all-clear rode for his parent club West Ham Hammers the following evening.[13]

Pos. | Rider | Pts | Total

|
|
|

1 |  Graham Plant | 3 3 2 2 3 | 13
2 |  Ken Eyre | 2 3 3 3 1 | 12
3 |  Graeme Smith | 1 2 3 2 3 | 11
4 |  Mick Handley | ex 3 2 3 3 | 11
5 |  Murray Burt | 3 f 3 2 3 | 11
6 |  Allan Brown | ex 2 3 3 2 | 10
7 |  Mike Cake | 3 1 1 3 2 | 10
8 |  Tony Lomas | 2 2 0 1 2 | 7
9 |  John Poyser | 2 r 1 2 1 | 6
10 |  John Woodcock | f 2 2 ef 1 | 5
11 |  Dave Schofield | 1 1 1 1 1 | 5
12 |  Martyn Piddock | 0 0 2 1 2 | 5
13 |  Barry Crowson | 2 3 f | 5
14 |  Chris Bailey | 3 f f | 3
15 |  Barry Duke (res) | 1 1 ef | 2
16 |  Roy Williams | 1 1 0 0 0 | 2
17 |  Taffy Owen | 0 1 0 0 0 | 1
18 |  Mike Vernam (res) | 0 0 0 | 0

* f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

## Leading final averages

[edit]

| Rider  | Nat  | Team  | C.M.A.

|
|
|
|

1  | Mick Handley |  | Crayford Highwaymen  | 10.48
2  | Mike Cake |  | Plymouth  | 10.22
3  | Chris Bass |  | Plymouth  | 10.15
4  | Peter Murray |  | Canterbury  | 10.05
5  | Allan Brown |  | Middlesbrough  | 9.63

## Riders & final averages

[edit]

Belle Vue Colts

* Taffy Owen 9.35
* Ken Eyre 8.94
* Eric Broadbelt 8.15
* John Woodcock 8.15
* Chris Bailey 7.74
* Ken Moss 6.33
* Peter Thompson 5.93
* Brian Bentley 5.49

Berwick

* Bill McMillan 9.12
* Roy Williams 7.85
* Brian Whaley 7.69
* Brian Black 6.81
* Mark Hall 6.59
* Lex Milloy 5.89
* Grieves Davidson 4.53
* Alex Nichol 3.51
* Tom Blackwood 3.37
* Colin Robertson 2.71

Canterbury

* Peter Murray 10.05
* Barry Crowson 8.44
* Ken Vale 8.00
* Martyn Piddock 7.96
* John Hibben 6.85
* Tyburn Gallows 4.91
* Pat Flanagan 4.61
* Chris Raines 4.57
* Frank Wendon 4.30
* Barry Lee 3.15

Crayford

* Mick Handley 10.48
* Tony Childs 7.68
* Derek Timms 6.54
* Colin Clark 6.05
* Dai Evans 5.88
* Geoff Ambrose 5.87
* Stuart Riley 5.12
* Tony Armstrong 4.31

Middlesbrough

* Allan Brown 9.63
* Graham Plant 8.54
* Graham Edmonds 8.31
* Tom Leadbitter 6.82
* Terry Lee 6.78
* Paul O'Neal 6.07
* Pete Reading 4.75
* Alan Palmer 3.25
* John Spilsbury 2.09

Nelson

* Dave Schofield 9.54
* Alan Paynter 9.10
* Murray Burt 8.76
* Gary Peterson 8.14
* Terry Shearer 6.76
* Dave Beacon 5.79
* Jack Winstanley 5.51
* Paul Sharples 4.15

Plymouth

* Mike Cake 10.22
* Chris Bass 10.15
* Phil Woodcock 6.67
* Tony George 6.13
* Dave Whittaker 6.08
* Keith Marks 5.69
* Frank Payne 5.07
* Chris Roynon 4.75
* Ian Gills 3.23

Rayleigh

* Graeme Smith 7.55
* Mike Gardner 7.49
* Dennis Mannion 7.44
* Dingle Brown 6.48
* Laurie Etheridge 6.20
* Geoff Maloney 6.06
* Terry Stone 6.03
* Colin Tucker 3.09

Reading

* John Poyser 9.29
* Ian Champion 6.91
* Joe Weichlbauer 6.88
* Ted Spittles 6.68
* Stuart Wallace 6.20
* Dene Davies 5.39
* Ian Bottomley 4.91
* Phil Pratt 4.59

Weymouth

* Tony Lomas 9.39
* Mike Vernam 7.94
* Barry Duke 7.71
* Chris Yeatman 6.14
* Mick Steel 5.08
* Roy Carter 4.58
* Adrian Degan 3.05
* Phil Arnold 2.72

## See also

[edit]

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

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
2. ^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133\. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.129-133&rft.pub=Studio+Publications+(Ipswich)+Ltd&rft.date=1978&rft.isbn=0-904584-45-3&rft.aulast=Rogers&rft.aufirst=Martin&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:1968+British+League+Division+Two+season" class="Z3988">
3. ^ "A cinders debut". Nelson Leader. 31 May 1968. Retrieved 27 August 2024 - via British Newspaper Archive.
4. ^ "Speedway comes to Kent". Kent Messenger & Gravesend Telegraph. 3 May 1968. Retrieved 2 November 2024 - via British Newspaper Archive.
5. ^ "Teams". wwosbackup. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
6. ^ a b "Book Extract:Tears and Glory The Winged Wheel Story". Speedway Plus. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
7. ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 101\. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
8. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
9. ^ "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
10. ^ "1968 British League Division Two Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
11. ^ a b "Season 1968" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
12. ^ "Two in hospital after Big Speedway Pile-Up". Daily Mirror. 28 September 1968. Retrieved 13 June 2023 - via British Newspaper Archive.
13. ^ "Barry Crowson joins the Eagles". Eastbourne Herald. 15 February 1969. Retrieved 4 October 2024 - via British Newspaper Archive.

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Speedway in the United Kingdom

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Tier Two League
Second division|

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Champions|

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British League Division Two/National League seasons

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Speedway British League Division Two
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