The 1971 British League Division Two season was the second tier/division motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.
Summary The league continued with 17 teams in its fourth season despite Reading Racers moving up to Division One and two teams dropping out because there were three new entrants to the league.
Doncaster Dragons disbanded for good, with the promotion and some of the riders moving to Birmingham and re-forming the Birmingham Brummies, who had last raced in 1957. The Crayford Highwayman also dropped out and the Middlesbrough Teessiders changed their name to Teesside Teessiders. Birmingham were one of the new entrants along with Sunderland Stars (who last raced in 1964 as the Saints). Hull Vikings were the final new entrant when Ian Thomas brought speedway back to Hull, to race at the Boulevard Stadium.
Eastbourne Eagles won their first league title since their 1959 Southern Area League success. Despite losing their leading rider Dave Jessup to division 1, the Eastbourne Eagles triumphed by bringing in new signing Malcolm Ballard to support the Kennett brothers Gordon and Dave.
Final table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Eastbourne Eagles 32 22 3 7 472 Bradford Northern 32 21 1 10 433 Ipswich Witches 32 20 3 9 434 Boston Barracudas 32 18 3 11 395 Rayleigh Rockets 32 18 2 12 386 Hull Vikings 32 16 2 14 347 Crewe Kings 32 16 1 15 338 Berwick Bandits 32 16 0 16 329 Rochdale Hornets 32 16 0 16 3210 Long Eaton Rangers 32 13 3 16 2911 Birmingham Brummies 32 13 3 16 2912 Romford Bombers 32 13 0 19 2613 Teesside Teessiders 32 13 0 19 2614 Canterbury Crusaders 32 12 2 18 2615 Workington Comets 32 12 1 19 2516 Peterborough Panthers 32 11 1 20 2317 Sunderland Stars 32 9 1 22 19
Fixtures and results
Top five riders (league averages) Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 John Louis Ipswich 11.29 2 Alan Knapkin Bradford Northern 10.26 3 Alan Wilkinson Rochdale 10.15 4 Reg Wilson Hull 9.93 5 Peter Collins Rochdale 9.83
British League Division Two Knockout Cup The 1971 British League Division Two Knockout Cup (sponsored by the Speedway Express) was the fourth edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Ipswich Witches were the winners of the competition for the second successive year.
First round Date Team one Score Team two29/04 Long Eaton 46-31 Birmingham24/05 Birmingham 39-39 Long Eaton30/04 Rochdale 47-31 Hull05/05 Hull38-39 Rochdale Second round Date Team one Score Team two12/06 Ipswich 57-21 Peterborough11/06 Peterborough 33-45 Ipswich11/06 Workington 46-31 Sunderland06/06 Sunderland 37-31 Workington06/06 Eastbourne 47-31 Canterbury12/06 Canterbury 39-39 Eastbourne07/06 Crewe 54-24 Berwick12/06 Berwick 50-28 Crewe09/06 Bradford 47-31 Teesside10/06 Teesside 38-40 Bradford11/06 Rochdale 45-33 Long Eaton10/06 Long Eaton 43-35 Rochdale06/06 Boston 49-28 Romford12/06 Romford 42-36 Boston Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two29/07 Ipswich 43-35 Rayleigh24/07 Rayleigh 37-41 Ipswich23/07 Workington 51-27 Eastbourne25/07 Eastbourne 45-31 Workington19/07 Crewe 47-31 Bradford28/07 Bradford 46-32 Crewe23/07 Rochdale 41-37 Boston18/07 Boston 40-38 Rochdale Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two16/08 Crewe 49-29 Rochdale29/08 Workington38-40Ipswich02/09 Ipswich50-28 Workington03/09 Rochdale + Crewe + rained off, tie awarded to Ipswich
Final First leg
Second leg
Ipswich were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 92–64.
Leading final averages Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 John Louis Ipswich 11.31 2 Alan Knapkin Bradford Northern 10.17 3 Alan Wilkinson Rochdale 10.08 4 Tony Davey Ipswich 9.93 5 Malcolm Mackay Workington 9.81
Riders' Championship John Louis won the Rider's Championship, held at Hackney Wick Stadium on 2 October.
Pos. Rider Pts Total1 John Louis 3 3 2 3 3 14 2 Malcolm Shakespeare 2 3 3 3 2 13 3 Hugh Saunders 3 3 2 2 2 12 4 Peter Collins ex 2 3 3 3 11 5 Phil Crump 1 1 3 3 3 11 6 Arthur Price 3 2 fx 2 3 107 George Major 2 1 2 2 1 8 8 Reg Wilson r 2 f 2 2 6 9 Russ Dent 1 1 3 1 0 610 Doug Wyer 0 3 2 0 0 5 11 Ross Gilbertson 3 r 1 1 0 5 12 Dave Baugh 2 0 1 1 1 5 13 Malcolm Mackay 2 f 1 0 1 4 14 Bruce Forrester 1 0 0 1 1 3 15 Kevin Holden 0 2 f 0 0 2 16 Roger Mills (res) 2 217 Malcolm Ballard r 1 r 118 Richard Greer (res) 0 0 f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure
Riders' final averages Berwick
Doug Wyer 9.69 Maury Robinson 7.97 Andy Meldrum 7.24 Alistair Brady 7.03 Peter Kelly 5.77 Alan Paynter 5.42 Bobby Campbell 4.75 Jim Beaton 4.14 George Beaton 3.36
Birmingham
George Major 8.90 Terry Shearer 8.40 Archie Wilkinson 6.27 Chris Harrison 6.08 Malcolm Corradine 5.47 Cliff Emms 5.45 Ian Wilson .4.65 Gunther 'Hec' Haslinger 4.41
Boston
Arthur Price 8.92 Jim Ryman 8.32 Carl Glover 7.27 Russ Osborne 6.65 Jack Bywater 6.48 Tony Featherstone 6.04 Vic Cross 5.39 Ray Bales 5.28 Graham Jones 2.50
Bradford
Alan Knapkin 10.17 Alf Wells 9.02 Dave Baugh 8.49 Dave Schofield 7.54 Robin Adlington 7.13 Sid Sheldrick 5.15 Alan Bridgett 4.82 Brian Murray 4.43 Peter Thompson 4.35 Stan Dewhurst 1.91
Canterbury
Ross Gilbertson 8.93 Graham Banks 8.03 Dave Piddock 6.75 Graeme Smith 6.32 Graeme Stapleton 6.29 Phil Pratt 6.09 Ted Hubbard 5.44 Bob Tabet 4.76 Barney Kennett 4.09 John Hammond 4.00 Mike Barkaway 2.84
Crewe
Phil Crump 8.98 John Jackson 8.32 Dai Evans 7.72 Jack Millen 6.61 Ian Bottomley 6.48 Barry Meeks 5.71 Garry Moore 5.31 Dave Parry 5.21
Eastbourne
Malcolm Ballard 8.74 Gordon Kennett 8.70 Dave Kennett 7.49 Laurie Sims 7.10 Reg Trott 6.99 Roger Johns 6.89 Bobby McNeil 6.82 Mac Woolford 6.67
Hull
Reg Wilson 9.69 Tony Childs 9.22 George Devonport 7.71 Colin Tucker 6.20 Robin Amundson 5.94 Dennis Wasden 5.14 Pete Boston 4.47 Ian Bottomley 4.39 Peter Baldock 3.29
Ipswich
John Louis 11.31 Tony Davey 9.93 Pete Bailey 8.20 Peter Prinsloo 5.25 Clive Noy 5.10 Ron Bagley 5.01 Ted Howgego 4.85 Ted Spittles 4.32 Stan Pepper 3.70
Long Eaton
Malcolm Shakespeare 9.80 Roger Mills 9.41 Geoff Bouchard 8.26 Gil Farmer 4.42 Peter Wrathall 4.42 Phil Whittaker 4.36 Steve Bass 3.77 Ian Champion 3.45 Gerry Scott 2.47
Peterborough
Andy Ross 9.02 Richard Greer 7.95 Roy Carter 6.73 John Davis 5.85 Joe Hughes 5.81 John Stayte 5.59 Alan Witt 5.51 Pete Saunders 5.47 Brian Clark 5.13
Rayleigh
Hugh Saunders 9.41 Geoff Maloney 7.38 Bob Young 6.67 Allan Emmett 6.44 Nigel Rackett 6.38 Dingle Brown 5.93 Terry Stone 4.65 Dave "Tiger" Beech 4.33
Rochdale
Alan Wilkinson 10.08 Peter Collins 9.80 Paul Tyrer 7.92 Ken Moss 5.41 Graham Drury 5.40 Colin Goad 4.69 Robbie Gardner 4.66 Terry Kelly 4.27 Paul Callaghan 2.51 Clive Johnson 2.34
Romford
Kevin Holden 8.94 Bob Coles 8.06 Brian Foote 8.00 Stan Stevens 6.60 Mike Sampson 6.14 Mike Vernam 6.11 Colin Sanders 5.78 Charlie Benham 5.22 Ian Gills 4.78 Terry Shearer 4.59 Bruce Edgar 3.00
Sunderland
Russ Dent 8.16 George Barclay 7.21 John Goodall 6.43 Peter Wrathall 4.92 Alan Mackie 4.42 Brian Whaley 4.13 John Lynch 4.05 Gerry Richardson 4.00 John Knock 3.83
Teesside
Bruce Forrester 8.33 Tim Swales 7.04 Dave Durham 7.00 Bob Jameson 6.31 Terry Lee 6.09 Frank Auffret 5.92 Pete Reading 5.45 Tony Swales 4.97 Dene Davies 4.62 Mick Moore 4.46
Workington
Malcolm MacKay 9.81 Taffy Owen 8.60 Lou Sansom 7.87 Ken Vale 5.89 Dave Kumeta 4.92 Kym Amundson 4.71 Bernie Hornby 4.32 Geoff Penniket 4.15 Chris Blythe 3.93 Steve Watson 3.57
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References