The 1967 British League season was the 33rd season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the third season known as the British League.
Summary The league was made up of the same 19 teams that competed in the previous year. Swindon Robins led by the world champion Barry Briggs won their first top-tier league title but were pushed all the way by Coventry Bees and West Ham Hammers. Swindon finished with four riders with averages over eight, Briggs topped the entire league with 11.05 but the contributions from Martin Ashby (8.83), Bob Kilby (8.61) and Mike Broadbank (8.55) were pivotal in the Swindon's success. Coventry Bees gained some consolation for finishing runner-up two seasons running by winning the Knockout Cup.
Final table M W D L F A Pts 1 Swindon Robins 36 24 0 12 1536 1266 48 2 Coventry Bees 36 22 2 12 1524 1275 46 3 West Ham Hammers 36 21 3 12 1514 1288 45 4 Edinburgh Monarchs 36 20 2 14 1485 1318 42 5 Hackney Hawks 36 20 1 15 1402 1400 41 6 Poole Pirates 36 17 3 16 1462 1339 37 7 Halifax Dukes 36 18 1 17 1456 1347 37 8 Wolverhampton Wolves 36 18 1 17 1423 1376 37 9 Sheffield Tigers 36 18 1 17 1333.5 1470.5 37 10 Newcastle Diamonds 36 18 0 18 1386 1417 36 11 Wimbledon Dons 36 16 3 17 1392 1409 35 12 Newport Wasps 36 17 1 18 1387 1413 35 13 Glasgow Tigers 36 16 2 18 1343 1457 34 14 Oxford Cheetahs 36 16 1 19 1368.5 1432.5 33 15 Exeter Falcons 36 16 0 20 1384.5 1418.5 32 16 Belle Vue Aces 36 16 0 20 1333.5 1463.5 32 17 Long Eaton Archers 36 14 3 19 1322 1481 31 18 Cradley Heath Heathens 36 12 0 24 1262 1533 24 19 King's Lynn Stars 36 11 0 25 1297 1505 22M = 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 11.05 2 Charlie Monk Glasgow 10.72 3 Nigel Boocock Coventry 10.43 4 Ray Wilson Long Eaton 10.43 5 Eric Boocock Halifax 10.38 6 Sverre Harrfeldt West Ham 10.30 7 Torbjörn Harrysson Newport 10.05 8 Gote Nordin Poole 10.00 9 Bengt Jansson Hackney 9.86 10 Terry Betts King's Lynn 9.70
Knockout Cup The cup was won by Coventry Bees.
Riders' Championship Barry Briggs won the British League Riders' Championship for the third consecutive year, held at Hyde Road on 21 October.
Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total1 Barry Briggs 3 3 3 3 3 152 Nigel Boocock 2 3 3 3 3143 Ray Wilson 3 3 3 2 1 124 Torbjörn Harrysson 2 0 3 3 2 10 5 Eric Boocock 3 3 2 2 0 106 Ivan Mauger 1 2 2 3 2 107 Olle Nygren1 2 2 1 3 9 8 Bengt Jansson 3 1 0 1 3 89 Göte Nordin 1 1 2 2 0 6 10 Ove Fundin 2 0 0 2 2 611 Charlie Monk 2 0 1 1 2 612 Jim Airey ef 2 1 1 1 513 Ken McKinlay 0 2 1 0 1 414 Terry Betts 1 1 1 0 1 415 Wayne Briggs 0 1 0 r n 1 16 Roy Trigg 0 0 0 0 0 017 Brian Brett (res) 0 - - - - 0 ef=engine failure, f=fell, exc=excluded
Final leading averages Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Barry Briggs Swindon 11.05 2 Nigel Boocock Coventry 10.52 3 Charlie Monk Glasgow 10.50 4 Ray Wilson Long Eaton 10.43 5 Eric Boocock Halifax 10.29 6 Sverre Harrfeldt West Ham 10.25 7 Torbjörn Harrysson Newport 10.05 8 Göte Nordin Poole 9.99 9 Bengt Jansson Hackney 9.87 10 Terry Betts King's Lynn 9.74 11 Ove Fundin Belle Vue 9.65 12 Arne Pander Oxford 9.57 13 Ken McKinlay West Ham 9.53 14 Olle Nygren Wimbledon 9.52 15 Roy Trigg Oxford 9.37 16 Ivan Mauger Newcastle 9.32 17 Hasse Holmqvist Wolverhampton 9.29 18 Bernt Persson Edinburgh 9.19 19 Dave Younghusband Halifax 9.12 20 Jim Airey Wolverhampton 9.08
London Cup West Ham won the three team London Cup for the third consecutive year. Pos Team P W D L F A Pts1 West Ham Hammers 44 0 0 230 154 82 Wimbledon Dons 410 3 181 202 23 Hackney Hawks 41 0 3 164 219 2
Midland Cup Swindon won the Midland Cup, which consisted of six teams.
First round Team one Team two ScoreLong EatonOxford 40–37, 35–43CradleyWolverhampton 40–38, 29–49
Semi final round Team one Team two ScoreSwindonOxford 48–30, 40–38Wolverhampton Coventry38–40, 29–49
Final
First leg
Second leg
Swindon won on aggregate 88–68
Riders & final averages Belle Vue
9.65 9.03 8.32 7.83 6.42 5.89 3.56 3.31 2.75 2.72 2.60 2.55
Coventry
10.52 8.97 8.66 6.33 6.25 4.89 4.08 3.23
Cradley
7.54 7.34 7.32 7.04 6.37 6.04 5.67 3.76 3.39 3.16 2.60
Edinburgh
9.19 8.99 8.13 6.50 6.46 5.84 5.31 5.14 3.56
Exeter
8.21 7.83 7.38 7.25 6.78 6.66 6.57 6.42 5.55 3.90 3.28
Glasgow
10.50 6.90 6.47 6.41 6.36 5.98 5.40 4.68 4.00 3.80 3.07
Hackney
9.87 8.95 6.25 5.82 5.33 5.05 4.97 4.66
Halifax
10.29 9.12 8.42 6.00 4.78 4.76 4.34 4.14 2.75
King's Lynn
9.74 7.95 6.27 6.05 (Kid Bodie) 5.72 4.39 4.00 3.39 2.73 2.73
Long Eaton
10.43 8.74 7.10 5.77 4.82 3.97 2.92 2.72
Newcastle
9.32 7.54 6.10 6.04 6.00 5.98 5.93 5.63 1.65
Newport
10.05 8.27 6.63 6.29 6.08 4.76 4.24
Oxford
9.57 9.37 8.29 7.51 6.06 4.95 4.68 4.00 2.40
Poole
9.99 8.25 8.00 8.00 6.29 5.91 4.94 4.68
Sheffield
7.08 7.04 6.97 6.65 6.22 6.02 5.82 5.45 3.78
Swindon
11.05 8.83 8.61 8.55 4.46 4.41 4.25
West Ham
10.25 9.53 7.54 7.09 7.03 4.76 4.46 4.36 0.80
Wimbledon
9.52 8.49 8.23 6.00 J 5.86 5.23 4.56 3.19 2.06
Wolverhampton
9.29 9.08 8.21 7.92 5.56 5.04 4.72 1.95
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References