The 1966 British League season was the 32nd season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the second season known as the British League. Halifax Dukes won the league and then secured the league and cup double.

Summary The League expanded to 19, with a new team, the King's Lynn Stars. Halifax Dukes won the league after 36 games and finished three points clear of Coventry Bees. The Halifax team success was due to the consistency of their riders, in particular Eric Boocock, Eric Boothroyd, Dave Younghusband and Tommy Roper who all scored heavily throughout the season. Halifax also completed the double winning the British League Knockout Cup. In the final, they easily beat Wimbledon Dons.

The four times world champion Barry Briggs topped the averages for Swindon Robins during the same season in which he sealed his fourth world title. The dangers of speedway were highlighted once again however when Welshman Ivor Hughes was killed during the league match riding for Cradley Heath Heathens against Sheffield Tigers on 20 August.

Coventry won the Midland Cup, West Ham the London Cup and Halifax Dukes the Northern Cup.

Final table M W D L F A Pts 1Halifax Dukes 36 27 0 9 1574 1229 54 2 Coventry Bees 36 25 1 10 1548 1255 51 3 Swindon Robins 36 23 0 13 1553 1248 46 4 Wimbledon Dons 36 22 0 14 1485 1314 44 5 Newcastle Diamonds 36 20 0 16 1491.5 1304.5 40 6 Poole Pirates 36 19 2 15 1443 1356 40 7 West Ham Hammers 36 19 1 10 1499.5 1304.5 39 8 Glasgow Tigers 36 18 0 18 1395 1394 36 9 Wolverhampton Wolves 36 17 2 17 1340.5 1461.5 36 10 Exeter Falcons 36 17 1 18 1392.5 1403.5 35 11 Sheffield Tigers 36 17 0 19 1410 1394 34 12 Edinburgh Monarchs 35 17 0 18 1310.5 1413.5 34 13 Belle Vue Aces 36 16 0 20 1362 1443 32 14 Hackney Hawks 36 15 1 20 1347.5 1456.5 31 15 Oxford Cheetahs 36 14 2 20 1291 1510 30 16 King's Lynn Stars 36 15 0 21 1275 1524 30 17 Newport Wasps 36 12 1 23 1319 1486 25 18 Long Eaton Archers 36 12 1 23 1286 1516 25 19 Cradley Heath Heathens 35 10 0 25 1196 1506 20 M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points

Fixtures & results

Top ten riders (league averages) Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Barry Briggs Swindon 11.08 2 Nigel Boocock Coventry 10.67 3 Gote Nordin Newport 10.53 4 Eric Boocock Halifax 10.41 5 Olle Nygren Wimbledon 10.32 6 Colin Pratt Hackney 9.93 7 Ken McKinlay West Ham 9.78 8 Mike Broadbank Swindon 9.77 9 Sverre Harrfeldt West Ham 9.76 10 Trevor Hedge Wimbledon 9.64

Knockout Cup Halifax Dukes won the Knockout Cup and therefore secured the league and cup double.

Riders' Championship Barry Briggs won the British League Riders' Championship for the second consecutive year, held at Hyde Road on 22 October.

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total1 Barry Briggs 3 3 3 3 3 152 Olle Nygren 2 3 3 3 3 143 Norman Hunter 3 2 3 2 2 124 Ivan Mauger 3 2 0 3 3 115 Ray Wilson 3 3 2 2 exc106 Nigel Boocock 1 3 1 3 - 87 George Hunter 0 1 1 2 3 78 Bill Andrew 0 ef 3 1 2 69 Jimmy Gooch 1 1 2 1 1 610 Peter Vandenberg 1 1 ef 1 2 511 Terry Betts 2 1 2 ef ef 512 Charlie Monk 2 F 2 1 ef 513 Cyril Maidment 0 2 1 2 ef 514 Tommy Sweetman 2 0 ef 0 2 415 Eric Boocock 1 2 ef ef ef 316 Colin Pratt 0 0 1 0 1 2 ef=engine failure, f=fell, exc=excluded

London Cup West Ham successfully defended their London Cup title but once again there were just three teams competing. Pos Team P W D L F A Pts1 West Ham Hammers 4 3 0 1216 168 62 Wimbledon Dons 4 30 1 192.5 191.5 63 Hackney Hawks 4 0 0 4 167.5 216.5 0

Midland Cup Coventry won the Midland Cup, which consisted of six teams.

Midland Cup (group 1) M W D L Pts 1Wolverhampton 4 3 0 1 6 2 Swindon 4 2 0 2 4 3 Cradley Heath 4 1 0 3 2

Midland Cup (group 2) M W D L Pts 1Coventry 4 3 0 1 6 2 Oxford 4 3 0 1 6 3 Long Eaton 4 0 0 4 0

Final

First leg

Second leg

Coventry won on aggregate 88–68

Northern Cup Due to the late entry of Edinburgh and Glasgow, several British league results doubled for the Northern Cup. M W L Pts BP Total 1Halifax 10 7 3 7 5 12 2 Sheffield 10 6 4 6 3 9 3 Newcastle 10 5 5 5 3.5 8.5 4 Glasgow 9 5 4 5 0 5 5 Edinburgh 9 3 6 4 1 4 5 Middlesbrough 8 2 6 2 0.5 2.5

Final leading averages Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Barry Briggs Swindon 11.12 2 Nigel Boocock Coventry 10.54 3 Eric Boocock Halifax 10.46 4 Göte Nordin Newport 10.44 5 Olle Nygren Wimbledon 10.40 6 Colin Pratt Hackney 10.00 7 Sverre Harrfeldt West Ham 9.89 8 Ivan Mauger Newcastle 9.82 9 Ken McKinlay West Ham 9.67 10 Mike Broadbank Swindon 9.60 11 Trevor Hedge Wimbledon 9.39 12 Cyril Maidment Belle Vue 9.55 13 Arne Pander Oxford 9.53 14 Norman Hunter West Ham 9.42 15 Terry Betts King's Lynn 9.41 16 Trevor Hedge Wimbledon 9.39 17 Eric Boothroyd Halifax 9.29 18 Ron Mountford Coventry 9.29 19 Charlie Monk Glasgow 9.27 20 Rick France Coventry 9.22

Riders and final averages Belle Vue

9.55 7.79 7.54 5.86 5.35 5.01 4.27 0.36

Coventry

10.54 9.29 9.22 8.81 5.52 4.31 3.06 2.74 2.12

Cradley Heath

7.88 6.51 6.32 6.10 5.65 (Kid Brodie) 5.48 3.64 3.58 2.40 2.33 2.00

Edinburgh

8.17 7.65 7.42 5.83 5.27 5.20 4.81 4.55

Exeter

9.11 8.23 7.32 6.61 6.23 5.37 4.80 4.77 2.40

Glasgow

9.27 7.47 7.06 6.75 6.35 5.30 4.95 3.54

Hackney

10.00 8.63 6.81 5.40 5.25 4.58 3.44 2.86 2.00

Halifax

10.46 9.29 8.82 7.54 6.00 5.38 4.98 4.00 2.33

King's Lynn

9.41 9.18 6.20 4.90 4.73 3.75 3.55 2.61 2.61 2.17

Long Eaton

9.64 8.63 7.68 6.72 5.14 4.97 4.96 4.44 4.12 4.00

Newcastle

9.82 8.05 7.74 6.37 6.11 5.82 4.57 5.20

Newport

10.44 7.23 6.03 5.54 5.43 5.34 4.75 3.68

Oxford

9.53 8.14 5.96 5.86 5.04 4.10 3.93 1.00

Poole

9.12 8.83 8.22 6.18 5.76 5.48 5.43 4.20

Sheffield

8.12 7.81 7.27 7.16 6.86 5.93 5.70 5.68 4.82

Swindon

11.12 9.60 9.01 5.88 5.67 5.29 4.48 2.48

West Ham

9.89 9.67 9.42 6.14 5.89 4.30 3.53 3.00 2.32

Wimbledon

10.40 9.39 8.68 6.95 3.97 3.23 3.20 2.88

Wolverhampton

8.67 7.77 6.57 5.47 5.46 5.46 5.31 5.14

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

References