The 1965 British League season was the 31st season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom. It was also first known as the new British League which was formed in 1965, along with the British Speedway Promoters Association (BSPA). The league was an amalgamation of the National League and the Provincial League.
Summary Norwich Stars had closed and therefore did not compete and Reg Fearman moved his Middlesbrough promotion to The Shay, which revived the Halifax Dukes who had last competed in the 1951 division 2.
West Ham Hammers were the first ever British League winners. It was their first league success since 1937. The West Ham team included Scot Ken McKinlay who finished the season third with an average of 10.72 and the Norwegian champion Sverre Harrfeldt who finished fifth in the averages. They were supported well by British internationals Norman Hunter and Malcolm Simmons. The West Ham team completed the double winning the British League Knockout Cup. In the final they defeated Exeter Falcons 63–33. The season was not a complete success because during a challenge match at West Ham Stadium a junior rider called David John Wills was killed in a race after a crash. West Ham also won the London Cup but the competition only had three teams competing.
Wimbledon Dons headed by leading Swedish rider Olle Nygren fought West Ham throughout the season and only lost the league by a single point.
Final table M W D L F A Pts 1 West Ham Hammers 34 23 1 10 1430 1215 47 2 Wimbledon Dons 34 22 2 10 1396 1245 46 3 Coventry Bees 34 20 0 14 1384 1258 40 4 Oxford Cheetahs 34 19 2 13 1308 1340 40 5 Halifax Dukes 33 18 3 12 1322 1240 39 6 Newport Wasps 34 19 0 15 1360 1288 38 7 Wolverhampton Wolves 34 18 1 15 1429 1216 37 8 Hackney Hawks 34 18 1 15 1327.5 1319.5 37 9 Exeter Falcons 34 18 0 16 1325.5 1323.5 36 10 Poole Pirates 34 17 1 16 1378 1266 35 11 Sheffield Tigers 34 16 2 16 1300 1346 34 12 Newcastle Diamonds 34 16 1 17 1363 1282 33 13 Glasgow Tigers 34 15 1 18 1315 1329 31 14 Belle Vue Aces 34 15 0 19 1328 1312 30 15 Swindon Robins 34 13 2 19 1345 1300 28 16 Cradley Heathens 33 11 1 21 1132 1438 23 17 Edinburgh Monarchs 34 11 0 23 1173 1428 22 18 Long Eaton Archers 34 7 0 27 1107 1534 14M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points
Fixtures & results
Top Ten Riders (League Average) Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Nigel Boocock Coventry 11.09 2 Barry Briggs Swindon 10.91 3 Ken McKinlay West Ham 10.72 4 Mike Broadbanks Swindon 10.54 5 Sverre Harrfeldt West Ham 10.35 6 Olle Nygren Wimbledon 10.31 7 Charlie Monk Glasgow 10.22 8 Ron How Oxford 10.16 9 Arne Pander Oxford 10.01 10 Jimmy Gooch Oxford 9.97
Knockout Cup West Ham Hammers won the Knockout Cup and completed the double of league and cup.
Riders' Championship Barry Briggs won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 16 October.
Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total1 Barry Briggs 3 3 3 2 3 142 Jimmy Gooch 2 2 3 3 3 133 Cyril Maidment 3 3 3 ef 3124 Olle Nygren 1 3 2 2 3 115 Nigel Boocock 1 2 3 3 2 116 Charlie Monk 2 3 1 2 1 9 7 Ivan Mauger 3 f 2 1 2 8 8 Pete Jarman 2 1 2 3 ef 8 9 Eric Boocock 2 2 1 1 1 7 10 Colin Gooddy 1 0 1 2 2 6 11 Jack Kitchen 1 1 ef 3 0 5 12 Ken McKinlay 3–2 f - 5 13 Gerry Jackson 0 2 0 0 1 314 George Major 0 1 ef 1 1 3 15 Ronnie Genz 0 0 0 ef 2 2 16 Alby Golden 0 1 1 0 0 2 17 Alf Wells (res) 1 - - - - 1 18 Kid Brodie (res) 0 - - - - 0 ef=engine failure, f=fell, exc=excluded
Final leading averages Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Nigel Boocock Coventry 11.12 2 Barry Briggs Swindon 10.93 3 Ken McKinlay West Ham 10.83 4 Mike Broadbanks Swindon 10.48 5 Sverre Harrfeldt West Ham 10.46 6 Charlie Monk Glasgow 10.28 7 Olle Nygren Wimbledon 10.22 8 Ron How Oxford 10.16 9 Arne Pander Oxford 10.03 10 Jimmy Gooch Oxford 9.90 11 Cyril Maidment Belle Vue 9.65 12 Ronnie Genz Poole 9.45 13 Eric Boocock Halifax 9.43 14 Norman Hunter West Ham 9.42 15 George Hunter Edinburgh 9.35 16 Ivor Brown Cradley Heath 9.27 17 Colin Gooddy Exeter 9.24 18 Reg Luckhurst Wimbledon 9.14 19 Bill Andrew Poole 9.07 20 Dave Younghusband Halifax 9.06
London Cup Pos Team P W D L F A Pts1 West Ham Hammers 4 2 1 1 196 188 52 Hackney Hawks 4 2 0 2 189 194 43 Wimbledon Dons 4 1 1 2 190 193 3
Results Team Score TeamWimbledon 53–43 HackneyHackney 52–44 West HamWest Ham 50–46 HackneyHackney 48–47 WimbledonWimbledon 48–48 West HamWest Ham 54–42 Wimbledon
Riders & final averages Belle Vue
9.65 8.06 7.52 6.37 6.03 5.50 5.25 4.12 4.10 1.67
Coventry
11.12 8.74 8.65 6.30 6.00 4.27 3.08 2.12 0.64
Cradley Heath
9.27 7.78 7.63 6.29 5.87 5.10 5.09 4.79 3.35 3.31 2.89 1.65
Edinburgh
9.35 7.34 6.61 5.42 4.94 4.83 4.42 4.17 3.88 2.50
Exeter
9.24 7.72 7.62 7.37 6.05 6.00 6.00 5.78 4.36 3.61
Glasgow
10.28 7.61 7.16 6.58 6.12 5.23 4.76 4.12
Hackney
8.69 8.51 7.51 6.79 6.60 5.49 5.15 5.04 3.45
Halifax
9.43 9.06 8.00 7.29 6.30 4.91 4.07 4.00 3.75 2.93
Long Eaton
7.96 (Kid Bodie) 6.84 6.64 6.55 5.19 5.08 4.77 3.45 2.61
Newcastle
8.76 8.75 7.35 7.30 6.23 5.92 5.77 5.44 2.92
Newport
9.00 7.90 7.78 7.74 5.88 5.77 5.41 4.88
Oxford
10.16 10.03 9.90 4.53 4.51 4.34 4.25 3.83 3.32 2.45 1.71
Poole
9.45 9.07 7.76 7.43 6.14 5.52 3.23 3.04 0.61
Sheffield
8.69 8.06 7.43 6.05 5.63 5.08 4.54
Swindon
10.93 10.48 8.83 4.29 4.00 3.93 3.24 2.00 1.47
West Ham
10.83 10.46 9.42 6.56 4.65 4.48 3.65 2.80 2.40
Wimbledon
10.22 9.14 8.55 6.77 6.01 4.91 2.60 1.44
Wolverhampton
8.70 8.33 8.19 7.39 7.20 6.98 5.64 4.62
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References