The 1987 British League season was the 53rd season of the top tier of

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Daytona International Speedway, a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida. *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta. *Indianapolis Motor Spe ...

in the United Kingdom and the 23rd known as the

British League The British League was the main motorcycle speedway league in Britain from its formation in 1965 until 1995 when British speedway was restructured. It initially had a single division, with a British League Division Two, second division starting i ...

Summary

Coventry Bees Coventry Bees are a motorcycle speedway team that existed from 1929 to 2018. They raced at Brandon Stadium, Brandon, Warwickshire, Brandon near Coventry, England. They are eight times champions of Britain. History Origins and 1920s The firs ...

comfortably won the league finishing 16 points clear of Cradley Heath. The same five main riders who made up the 1986 team rode through the 1987 season but crucially four of them improved on their 1986 averages.

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and

Kelvin Tatum Kelvin Martin Tatum Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 8 February 1964) is a former British international motorcycle speedway and grasstrack rider. He earned 65 international caps for the England national speedway team. Career Tatum atte ...

both hit over 10, while Rick Miller and

David Bargh David Andrew Bargh (born 14 March 1962) is a former speedway rider from New Zealand. He earned 8 caps for the New Zealand national speedway team. Speedway career Bargh is a four times champion of New Zealand, winning the New Zealand Champi ...

both improved by about 2 points on average.

John Jørgensen John Jørgensen (born 18 July 1962 in Middelfart, Denmark) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from Denmark. He earned 54 caps for the Denmark national speedway team. He is not to be confused with Johnny Jørgensen, the 1989 ...

also remained consistent for the Bees. Coventry also won the League Cup but lost to Cradley in the final of the Knockout Cup. The double defending champions

Oxford Cheetahs The Oxford Cheetahs are a British Motorcycle speedway, speedway teamLawson,K (2018) “Riders, Teams and Stadiums”. based at Oxford Stadium, in Oxford, England. They were founded in 1939 and are five times champions of Britain, in 1964 Speed ...

were forced to release

Simon Wigg Simon Antony Wigg (15 October 1960 – 15 November 2000) was an English speedway, grasstrack and longtrack rider. He won five World Long Track Championships and finished runner-up in the Speedway World Championship in 1989.Rogers, G.(2005 ...

to Hackney and

Per Sorensen Per or PER may refer to: Places * Peru (IOC country code) * Pér, a village in Hungary * Perthshire (Chapman code), historic county in Scotland Science and technology * Physics education research * Packed Encoding Rules, in computing, an ASN.1 wi ...

because of the 45 point limit. They finished second from bottom despite Hans Nielsen topping the averages once again. The second leg replay of the League Cup final was the last ever meeting held at Hyde Road.

Final table

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

Fixtures and results

British League Knockout Cup

The 1987 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 49th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams.

Cradley Heath Heathens Cradley Heathens were a motorcycle speedway team from Dudley, England. The team was founded in 1947 and competed primarily at the top level of British speedway at Dudley Wood Stadium until its closure in 1995. The team was revived as Dudley Heath ...

were the winners for the second successive year if including the tied 1986 final. First round Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final First leg Second leg Cradley Heath were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 94-86.

League Cup

The League Cup was contested as a league format.

won the final over two legs defeating

Belle Vue Aces The Belle Vue Aces are a British speedway club, based in Manchester. The club hold the record of having won the top tier League championship 14 times. They currently compete in the SGB Premiership, racing at The National Speedway Stadium, wit ...

84–72 on aggregrate. It was the last time that the competition was contested. Qualifying table Results Semi-finals Final Replay first leg Replay second leg Coventry were declared League Cup winners, winning on aggregate 84-72.

Riders' Championship

Hans Nielsen won the

British League Riders' Championship The British League Riders Championship was an individual motorcycle speedway contest between the top riders (or two riders) with the highest Calculated Match Average, average from each club competing in the British League in the UK, or the top ...

for the second successive year. It was the held at Hyde Road on 12 October, shortly before the venue closed for good. *ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired

Pairs

The

British League Pairs Championship The British League Pairs Championship was a motorcycle speedway contest between the top two riders from each club competing in the British League in the United Kingdom, or the top division thereof when it had multiple divisions. History The me ...

was held at Smallmead Stadium on 12 July and was won by Oxford for the third consecutive year. Final In the final Nilsen fell and was excluded and Shirra touched the tapes and was excluded, leaving Nielsen and Grahame to complete a 7-0 (pts) uncontested heat.

Leading final averages

Midland Cup

Cradley Heath won the Midland Cup. The competition consisted of six teams. First round Semi final round

Final

Because of cancellations due to bad weather the final of the competition doubled up as the Knockout Cup final (see above for details).

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue * 8.92 * 8.41 * 8.38 * 6.35 * 5.82 * 5.55 * 3.92 * 2.65 Bradford * 8.58 * 8.47 * 7.35 * 7.31 * 5.73 * 5.71 * 4.97 * 1.48 Coventry * 10.25 * 10.06 * 8.20 * 7.80 * 7.46 * 3.44 * 2.58 * 2.18 * 2.13 Cradley Heath * 10.44 * 9.60 * 9.33 * 5.10 * 4.94 * 3.94 * 3.79 * 3.47 * 1.18 Hackney * 9.38 * 7.03 * 6.10 * 5.60 * 5.40 * 5.22 * 5.20 * 5.08 Ipswich * 9.67 * 8.00 * 7.61 * 6.39 * 5.03 * 4.58 * 4.05 * 3.97 * 2.20 King's Lynn * 8.35 * 6.67 * 6.42 * 6.25 * 5.34 * 5.27 * 4.94 * 4.93 * 4.39 Oxford * 11.38 * 8.53 * 7.87 * 5.68 * 4.39 * 3.72 * 3.63 * 3.04 Reading * 9.34 * 8.99 * 6.95 * 6.60 * 6.45 * 6.02 * 2.57 * 1.33 Sheffield * 9.47 * 9.23 * 7.59 * 7.26 * 5.50 * 4.72 * 3.88 Swindon * 9.61 * 9.36 * 7.35 * 6.73 * 6.55 * 6.37 * 5.73 * 1.54 * 0.63 Wolverhampton * 9.86 * 7.28 * 6.33 * 6.01 * 5.48 * 4.74 * 3.20 * 1.26 * 0.40

References

{{British Speedway League seasons British League 1987 in British motorsport 1987 in speedway