The 1968 British League Division Two season was the inaugural season of a second tier of

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

speedway in Great Britain.

Summary

The formation of a new division 2 was a success and attracted five new clubs to league speedway, the

Nelson Admirals The Nelson Admirals were a motorcycle speedway team who operated from Seedhill Stadium in Nelson, Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North ...

from

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

in Lancashire, the Crayford Highwaymen from east London, the

Canterbury Crusaders The Crusaders (formerly Canterbury Crusaders and BNZ Crusaders due to sponsorship by the Bank of New Zealand) are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Christchurch, who compete in the Super Rugby competition. They are the mos ...

from Kent, the

Berwick Bandits The Berwick Bandits are a British speedway club, based in Berwick-upon-Tweed. They currently compete in the SGB Championship, racing at Shielfield Park, with home matches usually taking place on Saturday evenings. They also run a second team in ...

from Scotland and the

Reading Racers Reading Racers are a British motorcycle speedway team. Formed in 1968, they won four British League titles during their history. The club closed in October 2008 after the lease on Smallmead Stadium was sold and the site was demolished. In 2016 a ...

. Additionally three other clubs, Middlesbrough, Plymouth and Rayleigh returned to league action having previously competed in the old defunct Provincial League and Weymouth returned after a 13 year absence.

Belle Vue Aces The Belle Vue Aces are a British motorcycle speedway, speedway club, based in Manchester. The club hold the record of having won the top tier List of United Kingdom speedway league champions, League championship 13 times. They currently compete ...

, members of the first division, fielded a reserve side known as

Belle Vue Colts The Belle Vue Colts are the junior youth development team of the Belle Vue Aces, one of the World's most famous motorcycle speedway team, based in Manchester in the northwest of England. History Belle Vue first operated a reserve team during the ...

and won the first league title. Colt's riders Taffy Owen, Ken Eyre, Eric Broadbelt and John Woodcock all scored heavily and ended with impressive averages. Canterbury in their first season of existence won the division 2 Knockout Cup beating another new team Reading in the final.

Final table

Top Five Riders (League Averages)

British League Division Two Knockout Cup

The 1968 British League Division Two Knockout Cup was the first edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams and coincided with the newly formed league. Previously the tier two and tier three teams had competed in the

National Trophy National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

until 1964, and although they held their own finals during some years it only served as qualification for the main competition.

were the winners of the competition.

First round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

First leg Second leg Canterbury were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 112–80.

Riders' Championship

Graham Plant Graham W Plant (born 15 December 1949) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from England. He won the Second Division Riders Championship in 1968 and went to a career in the British League with Leicester Lions, Newport Wasps, and Halifax Dukes. ...

aged just 19, won the Rider's Championship. The final was held at

Hackney Wick Stadium Hackney Wick Stadium was a greyhound racing and speedway stadium located at Waterden Road in the London Borough of Hackney. Origins The site chosen for the stadium was on land known as Hackney Marshes west of the River Lea and on the west sid ...

on 27 September. Several riders were involved in a crash, which resulted in Chris Bailey (broken wrist) and

Barry Crowson Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 1950 ...

(fractured thigh bone) going to hospital. * f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Leading final averages

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue Colts * Taffy Owen 9.35 * Ken Eyre 8.94 * Eric Broadbelt 8.15 *John Woodcock 8.15 *Chris Bailey 7.74 *Ken Moss 6.33 *Peter Thompson 5.93 *Brian Bentley 5.49 Berwick * Bill McMillan 9.12 * Roy Williams 7.85 *Brian Whaley 7.69 *Brian Black 6.81 *Mark Hall 6.59 *Lex Milloy 5.89 *Grieves Davidson 4.53 *Alex Nichol 3.51 *Tom Blackwood 3.37 *Colin Robertson 2.71 Canterbury * Peter Murray 10.05 *

8.44 *Ken Vale 8.00 *Martyn Piddock 7.96 *John Hibben 6.85 *Tyburn Gallows 4.91 *Pat Flanagan 4.61 *Chris Raines 4.57 *Frank Wendon 4.30 *Barry Lee 3.15 Crayford * Mick Handley 10.48 *Tony Childs 7.68 *Derek Timms 6.54 *Colin Clark 6.05 *Dai Evans 5.88 * Geoff Ambrose 5.87 *Stuart Riley 5.12 *Tony Armstrong 4.31 Middlesbrough * Allan Brown 9.63 *

8.54 *Graham Edmonds 8.31 *Tom Leadbitter 6.82 *Terry Lee 6.78 *Paul O'Neal 6.07 *Pete Reading 4.75 *Alan Palmer 3.25 *John Spilsbury 2.09 Nelson *Dave Schofield 9.54 *Alan Paynter 9.10 * Murray Burt 8.76 * Gary Peterson 8.14 *Terry Shearer 6.76 *Dave Beacon 5.79 *Jack Winstanley 5.51 *Paul Sharples 4.15 Plymouth * Mike Cake 10.22 *Chris Bass 10.15 *Phil Woodcock 6.67 *Tony George 6.13 *Dave Whittaker 6.08 *Keith Marks 5.69 *Frank Payne 5.07 *Chris Roynon 4.75 *Ian Gills 3.23 Rayleigh *

Graeme Smith Graeme Craig Smith (born 1 February 1981) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer who played for South Africa in all formats. In 2003, he was appointed captain of the national team, taking over from Shaun Pollock. He held th ...

7.55 *Mike Gardner 7.49 *Dennis Mannion 7.44 *Dingle Brown 6.48 *

Laurie Etheridge Laurie Etheridge (born 12 September 1948 in Pulborough, England) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from England. He earned one international cap for the England national speedway team. Career His first attempt at speedway, i ...

6.20 *Geoff Maloney 6.06 *Terry Stone 6.03 *Colin Tucker 3.09 Reading *John Poyser 9.29 *Ian Champion 6.91 *Joe Weichlbauer 6.88 *Ted Spittles 6.68 *Stuart Wallace 6.20 *Dene Davies 5.39 *Ian Bottomley 4.91 *Phil Pratt 4.59 Weymouth *

Tony Lomas Anthony Carl Lomas (born 10 May 1943) is a former motorcycle speedway rider From England. Biography Born in Coventry, Lomas took up speedway at a Coventry training school in 1967 and after being signed by Coventry Bees was loaned out to Weymou ...

9.39 *Mike Vernam 7.94 *Barry Duke 7.71 *Chris Yeatman 6.14 *Mick Steel 5.08 *Roy Carter 4.58 *Adrian Degan 3.05 *Phil Arnold 2.72

References

{{Speedway British League Division Two seasons Speedway British League Division Two / National League