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.^[1] Halifax Dukes won the league and then secured the league and cup double.^[2]

1966 British League season

League	British League
Season	1966
No. of competitors	19
Champions	Halifax Dukes
Knockout Cup	Halifax Dukes
Individual	Barry Briggs
London Cup	West Ham Hammers
Midland Cup	Coventry Bees
Highest average	Barry Briggs
← 1965 1967 →

Summary

The League expanded to 19, with a new team, the King's Lynn Stars.^[3] 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.^[4]

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.^[5]

Final table

		M	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Halifax 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

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 cup and therefore secured the league and cup double.^[6]

Main article: British League Knockout Cup 1966

Riders' Championship

Barry Briggs won the British League Riders' Championship for the second consecutive year, held at Hyde Road on 22 October.^[7]

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Barry Briggs	3 3 3 3 3	15
2	Olle Nygren	2 3 3 3 3	14
3	Norman Hunter	3 2 3 2 2	12
4	Ivan Mauger	3 2 0 3 3	11
5	Ray Wilson	3 3 2 2 exc	10
6	Nigel Boocock	1 3 1 3 -	8
7	George Hunter	0 1 1 2 3	7
8	Bill Andrew	0 ef 3 1 2	6
9	Jimmy Gooch	1 1 2 1 1	6
10	Peter Vandenberg	1 1 ef 1 2	5
11	Terry Betts	2 1 2 ef ef	5
12	Charlie Monk	2 F 2 1 ef	5
13	Cyril Maidment	0 2 1 2 ef	5
14	Tommy Sweetman	2 0 ef 0 2	4
15	Eric Boocock	1 2 ef ef ef	3
16	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.^[8]

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	West Ham Hammers	4	3	0	1	216	168	6
2	Wimbledon Dons	4	3	0	1	192.5	191.5	6
3	Hackney Hawks	4	0	0	4	167.5	216.5	0

Results

Team	Score	Team
Hackney	47–49	Wimbledon
Wimbledon	49–47	West Ham
West Ham	53–43	Wimbledon
Hackney	43–53	West Ham
Wimbledon	52–44	Hackney
West Ham	63–33	Hackney
Hackney	47.5–48.5	Wimbledon

Final leading average

	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

Midland Cup

Coventry won the Midland Cup, which consisted of six teams.^[9]

First round group 1

Team one	Team two	Score
Wolverhampton	Cradley	44–34, 41–37
Wolverhampton	Swindon	43–35, 26–52
Cradley	Swindon	40–38, 17–61

First round group 2

Team one	Team two	Score
Long Eaton	Coventry	37–41, 31–47
Oxford	Coventry	40–37, 33–45
Long Eaton	Oxford	32–46, 28–50

Final

First leg

16 September 1966

Wolverhampton Peter Vandenberg 10 Gordon Guasco 9 Cyril Francis 7 Brian Maxted 6 Alan Cowland 5 Dave Hemus 2 Pete Jarman 1	39–39	Coventry Nigel Boocock 14 Rick France 13 Col Cottrell 5 Jim Lightfoot 5 Roger Hill 1 Chris Harrison 1 Tom Ridley 0 Ron Mountford r/r

Monmore Green Stadium

Second leg

19 September 1966

Coventry Col Cottrell 12 Jim Lightfoot 12 Rick France 9 Nigel Boocock 8 Les Owen 6 Roger Hill 2 Chris Harrison 0 Ron Mountford r/r	49–29	Wolverhampton Gordon Guasco 8 Brian Maxted 6 Peter Vandenberg 5 Dave Hemus 4 Cyril Francis 4 Alan Cowland 2 Pete Jarman 0

Brandon Stadium

Coventry won on aggregate 88–68

Riders and final averages

Belle Vue

•   Cyril Maidment 9.55
•   Sándor Lévai 7.79
•   Dick Fisher 7.54
•   Norman Nevitt 5.86
•   Gordon McGregor 5.35
•   Bill Powell 5.01
•   Jim Yacoby 4.27
•   Taffy Owen 0.36

Coventry

•   Nigel Boocock 10.54
•   Ron Mountford 9.29
•   Rick France 9.22
•   Jim Lightfoot 8.81
•   Col Cottrell 5.52
•   Les Owen 4.31
•   Chris Harrison 3.06
•   Roger Hill 2.74
•   Tom Ridley 2.12

Cradley Heath

•   Ivor Brown 7.88
•   Chris Julian 6.51
•   Chum Taylor 6.32
•   Clive Featherby 6.10
•   Ivor Hughes 5.65
•   Howard Cole (Kid Brodie) 5.48
•   Eric Hockaday 3.64
•   Ron Cooper 3.58
•   Joe Weichlbauer 2.40
•   Matt Mattocks 2.33
•   Ken Wakefield 2.00

Edinburgh

•   George Hunter 8.17
•   Bengt Jansson 7.65
•   Doug Templeton 7.42
•   Reidar Eide 5.83
•   Dudley McKean 5.27
•   Bill Landels 5.20
•   Bert Harkins 4.81
•   Jimmy Tannock 4.55

Exeter

•   Tommy Sweetman 9.11
•   Neil Street 8.23
•   Colin Gooddy 7.32
•   Jimmy Squibb 6.61
•   Jack Geran 6.23
•   Chris Blewett 5.37
•   Ted Laessing 4.80
•   Alan Smith 4.77
•   Doug Dearden 2.40

Glasgow

•   Charlie Monk 9.27
•   Alf Wells 7.47
•   Bluey Scott 7.06
•   Willie Templeton 6.75
•   Maury Mattingley 6.35
•   Jonny Faafeng 5.30
•   Bill McMillan 4.95
•   Jimmy McMillan 3.54

Hackney

•   Colin Pratt 10.00
•   Roy Trigg 8.63
•   Gerry Jackson 6.81
•   Les McGillivray 5.40
•   Brian Davies 5.25
•   Malcolm Brown 4.58
•   Ernie Baker 3.44
•   Sandy McGillivray 2.86
•   John Poyser 2.00

Halifax

•   Eric Boocock 10.46
•   Eric Boothroyd 9.29
•   Dave Younghusband 8.82
•   Tommy Roper 7.54
•   Bert Kingston 6.00
•   Bob Jameson 5.38
•   Dennis Gavros 4.98
•   Greg Kentwell 4.00
•   Maury Robinson 2.33

King's Lynn

•   Terry Betts 9.41
•   Peter Moore 9.18
•   David Crane 6.20
•   Alan Jay 4.90
•   Stan Stevens 4.73
•   Alan Smith 3.75
•   Howdy Byford 3.55
•   Ken Adams 2.61
•   John Mills 2.61
•   Cyril Crane 2.17

Long Eaton

•   Ove Fundin 9.64
•   Ray Wilson 8.63
•   Leif Enecrona 7.68
•   Ray Cresp 6.72
•   Norman Storer 5.14
•   Vic White 4.97
•   Dennis Newton 4.96
•   John Mills 4.44
•   Nils Ringstrom 4.12
•   Greg Kentwell 4.00

Newcastle

•   Ivan Mauger 9.82
•   Peter Kelly 8.05
•   Brian Brett 7.74
•   Graham Coombes 6.37
•   Mike Watkin 6.11
•   Russ Dent 5.82
•   Dave Gifford 4.57
•   Alan Butterfield 5.20

Newport

•   Gote Nordin 10.44
•   Jack Biggs 7.23
•   Jon Erskine 6.03
•   Tim Bungay 5.54
•   Geoff Penniket 5.43
•   Alby Golden 5.34
•   Bob Hughes 4.75
•   Ken Vale 3.68

Oxford

•   Arne Pander 9.53
•   Jimmy Gooch 8.14
•   Eddie Reeves 5.96
•   John Bishop 5.86
•   Maury McDermott 5.04
•   Des Lukehurst 4.10
•   Tony Clarke 3.93
•   Peter Seaton 1.00

Poole

•   Bill Andrew 9.12
•   Ronnie Genz 8.83
•   Geoff Mudge 8.22
•   Colin McKee 6.18
•   Pete Smith 5.76
•   Wayne Briggs 5.48
•   Norman Strachan 5.43
•   Bruce Cribb 4.20

Sheffield

•   John Dews 8.12
•   Bob Paulson 7.81
•   Billy Bales 7.27
•   Jack Kitchen 7.16
•   George Major 6.86
•   John Hart 5.93
•   Eric Hockaday 5.70
•   Arnold Haley 5.68
•   Alan Jay 4.82

Swindon

•   Barry Briggs 11.12
•   Mike Broadbank 9.60
•   Martin Ashby 9.01
•   Clive Hitch 5.88
•   Bob Kilby 5.67
•   Mike Keen 5.29
•   Frank Shuter 4.48
•   Pete Munday 2.48

West Ham

•   Sverre Harrfeldt 9.89
•   Ken McKinlay 9.67
•   Norman Hunter 9.42
•   Malcolm Simmons 6.14
•   Brian Leonard 5.89
•   Reg Trott 4.30
•   Ted Ede 3.53
•   Don Smith 3.00
•   Terry Stone 2.32

Wimbledon

•   Olle Nygren 10.40
•   Trevor Hedge 9.39
•   Reg Luckhurst 8.68
•   Bob Dugard 6.95
•   Jim Tebby 3.97
•   Tony Childs 3.23
•   Peter Jackson 3.20
•   John Edwards 2.88

Wolverhampton

•   Peter Vandenberg 8.67
•   Gordon Guasco 7.77
•   Pete Jarman 6.57
•   Alan Cowland 5.47
•   James Bond 5.46
•   Cyril Francis 5.46
•   Brian Maxted 5.31
•   Dave Hemus 5.14

See also

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

References

1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
2. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
3. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
4. "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
5. "Ivor Hughes". Cradley Speedway. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
6. "HALIFAX DUKES". Greyhound Derby.com. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
7. "Briggs keeps rider's title despite rain". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 24 October 1966. Retrieved 31 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
8. "West Ham Hammers 1966" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
9. "Coventry Win Midland Cup". Birmingham Daily Post. 20 September 1966. Retrieved 19 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.