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1966 British League season

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

<small>M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points</small>

Fixtures & results

Top ten riders (league averages)

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.

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London Cup

West Ham successfully defended their London Cup title but once again there were just three teams competing.

Midland Cup

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

Midland Cup (group 1)

Midland Cup (group 2)

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.

Final leading averages

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

References