1993 British League season
LeagueBritish League
No. of competitors11
ChampionsBelle Vue Aces
Knockout CupBradford Dukes
FoursReading Racers
IndividualPer Jonsson
Highest averageSam Ermolenko
Division/s belowBritish League (Div 2)

The 1993 British League season was the 59th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 29th known as the British League.[1][2]

Summary

Belle Vue Aces won their first title since 1982. The Manchester team relied on a group of consistent riders, with no rider exceeding a 9 point average but five riders ranging from 8.75 to 6.72. The team consisted of World Under-21 champion Joe Screen, Australian Jason Lyons, Americans Bobby Ott and Shawn Moran and Dane Frede Schött.[3] The Championship was the closest in British League history with Belle Vue finishing on the same points as Wolverhampton Wolves and taking the title on heat points difference. It all came down to the last match when Belle Vue visited Wolves and pulled off a 54-53 victory. Wolves who were clear at the top of the table earlier in the season suffered a series of unfortunate injuries and were missing four riders towards the end of the season.[4]

Oxford Cheetahs dropped out of the first division resulting in their three time World Champion Hans Nielsen moving to Coventry Bees and Martin Dugard joining Eastbourne Eagles.[5]

Final table

Pos Team PL W D L BP Pts
1 Belle Vue Aces 40 24 1 15 14 63
2 Wolverhampton Wolves 40 23 0 17 17 63
3 Eastbourne Eagles 40 23 1 16 14 61
4 Arena Essex Hammers 40 21 1 18 10 53
5 Coventry Bees 40 18 3 19 13 52
6 Reading Racers 40 20 1 19 10 51
7 Bradford Dukes 40 19 3 18 7 48
8 Ipswich Witches 40 17 0 23 8 42
9 King's Lynn Stars 40 15 4 21 6 40
10 Poole Pirates 40 17 0 23 6 40
11 Cradley Heath Heathens 40 16 0 24 5 37

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

Speedway Star Knockout Cup

The 1993 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 55th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Bradford Dukes were the winners for a third consecutive year.[6]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
08/07Ipswich55-53Wolverhampton
24/05Wolverhampton64-43Ipswich
22/05Cradley Heath59-49Belle Vue
21/05Arena Essex72-36Kings Lynn
21/05Belle Vue58-48Cradley Heath
08/05Kings Lynn54-54Arena Essex
16/07Belle Vue59-47Cradley Heath
30/06Cradley Heath59-49Belle Vue

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
20/08Belle Vue60-47Wolverhampton
11/08Wolverhampton57-51Belle Vue
31/07Coventry64-44Poole
14/07Poole55-53Coventry
05/07Reading63-45Arena Essex
04/07Bradford66-42Eastbourne
27/06Eastbourne63-45Bradford
18/06Arena Essex67-41Reading

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
10/10Belle Vue61-46Arena Essex
21/09Arena Essex67-41Belle Vue
18/09Bradford61-47Coventry
14/08Coventry54-54Bradford

Final

First leg

Bradford Dukes
Kelvin Tatum 12
Sean Wilson 12
Gary Havelock 9
Antal Kocso 9
Simon Green 8
Paul Bentley 6
Darren Pearson 2		58 - 50Arena Essex Hammers
Josh Larsen 15
Leigh Adams 14
Leigh Lanham 8
Bo Petersen 7
Robert Ledwith 5
Neville Tatum 1
Colin White 0
[7]

Second leg

Arena Essex Hammers
Leigh Adams 14
Josh Larsen 12
Bo Petersen 11
Neville Tatum 6
Robert Ledwith 6
Colin White 3
Leigh Lanham 2
Russell Etherington 1		55 - 53Bradford Dukes
Kelvin Tatum 15
Gary Havelock 13
Paul Pickering 12
Sean Wilson 6
Paul Bentley 4
Darren Pearson 3
Antal Kocso 0
[8]

Bradford Dukes were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 111-105.

Fours

Reading Racers won the fours championship final (sponsored by H.E.A.T) and held at the East of England Arena on 25 July.[9][10]

Final

PosTeamPtsRiders
1Reading27Jonsson 8, Mullett 8, Castagna 7, Olsson 4
2Wolves25Ermolenko 8, Karlsson P
3Belle Vue11Screen 6
4Arena Essex9Larsen 3, Ravn 3

Riders' Championship

Per Jonsson won the British League Riders' Championship. It was due to be run at Abbey Stadium in early October but was called off twice due to wet weather before finally taking place on 31 October.[11]

Pos.RiderTotal
1Sweden Per Jonsson14
2Sweden Henka Gustafsson13+3
3England Chris Louis13+2
4Australia Leigh Adams11
5Sweden Peter Karlsson10
6Denmark Hans Nielsen10
7Sweden Tony Rickardsson8
8England Joe Screen7
9Australia Craig Boyce6
10England Simon Cross6
11New Zealand Gary Allan6
12Australia Jason Crump5
13England Kelvin Tatum5
14Australia Jason Lyons3
15England David Norris3
16England Glenn Cunningham (res)2
17England Simon Wigg1
18England Steve Camden (res)0
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired

Leading averages

Rider Team Average
United States Sam ErmolenkoWolverhampton11.12
Sweden Per JonssonReading10.34
Denmark Hans NielsenCoventry10.05
United States Greg HancockCradley Heath9.85
United States Ronnie CorreyWolverhampton9.62
Australia Leigh AdamsArena Essex9.49
Sweden Henrik GustafssonKings Lynn9.27
Sweden Tony RickardssonIpswich9.01
United States Billy HamillCradley Heath8.99
England Martin DugardEastbourne8.98

Riders & final averages

Arena Essex

Belle Vue

Bradford

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Eastbourne

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Poole

Reading

Wolverhampton

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ↑ "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  3. ↑ "1993 league tables". Speedway GB.
  4. ↑ "1993 Fixtures" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  5. ↑ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  6. ↑ "1993 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  7. ↑ "Speedway". Sunday Mirror. 17 October 1993. Retrieved 27 June 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ↑ "Dukes lift cup again". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. 23 October 1993. Retrieved 13 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ↑ "Racers' fab four are hot stuff!". Reading Evening Post. 26 July 1993. Retrieved 11 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ↑ "1993 fixtures" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  11. ↑ "Speedway results". Newcastle Journal. 1 November 1993. Retrieved 6 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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