The 1988 British League season was the 54th season of the top tier of

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta *Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana Types of races and race cours ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and the 24th known as the

British League The British League was the main motorcycle speedway league in Britain from its formation in 1965 until 1995 when British speedway was restructured. It initially had a single division, with a second division starting in 1968 (which was renamed the ...

Summary

Coventry Bees Coventry Bees were a motorcycle speedway team that existed from 1929 to 2018. They raced at Brandon Stadium, Brandon near Coventry, England. History A Coventry team was first formed in 1928 and competed in the inaugural season of the Souther ...

won the league for the second successive year and again by a 16 point margin. The Bees also reached the Knockout Cup final losing to Cradley Heath. Remarkably it was Cradley's seventh Cup win in 10 years. With the League Cup scrapped the Coventry team had less fixtures to ride and their pairing of

Tommy Knudsen Tommy Knudsen (born 9 November 1961 in Roager, Denmark) is a former Motorcycle speedway rider who won eight Speedway World Team Cups, and two World Pairs. Career Knudsen first became known when he won the Danish Under-16 ...

and

Kelvin Tatum Kelvin Martin Tatum MBE (born 8 February 1964, in Epsom, Surrey) is a former British international motorcycle speedway and grasstrack rider. Career Tatum attended Brighton College from 1977 to 1980. He started riding speedway bikes at Hackn ...

were once again the catalyst for the seasons success finishing 2nd and 4th respectively in the averages. Hans Nielsen topped the averages again for the sixth consecutive season.

Final table

M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points

British League Knockout Cup

The 1988 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 50th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams.

Cradley Heath Heathens Cradley Heathens was a motorcycle speedway team from Dudley, England. The team was founded in 1947 and competed at the top level of British speedway until its closure in 1995. It was revived as Dudley Heathens in 2010, competing in the National L ...

were the winners for the third successive year if including the tied 1986 final. First round Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final First leg Second leg Cradley Heath were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 100-80.

Leading final averages

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue * 9.01 * 8.18 * 7.70 * 7.22 * 6.92 * 6.83 * 4.97 * 3.12 Bradford * 8.30 * 7.44 * 6.02 * 5.67 * 5.29 * 5.15 * 4.64 * 3.57 Coventry * 10.08 * 10.04 * 7.49 * 7.02 * 5.00 * 4.85 * 4.79 Cradley Heath * 10.06 * 9.88 * 8.22 * 6.92 * 5.10 * 4.50 * 3.45 Ipswich * 9.34 * 6.87 * 6.75 * 6.19 * 6.07 * 5.40 * 4.97 * 2.50 * 2.40 * 1.45 King's Lynn * 7.75 * 7.69 * 7.45 * 7.26 * 6.33 * 6.24 * 6.00 * 3.90 * 1.28 Oxford * 11.03 * 8.64 * 7.24 * 6.97 * 4.32 * 3.91 * 3.81 * 2.80 * 2.65 Reading * 8.98 * 8.93 * 8.20 * 6.95 * 5.63 * 5.22 * 3.09 * 2.81 Sheffield * 9.51 * 8.67 * 7.16 * 5.78 * 5.30 * 4.58 * 4.00 * 3.60 * 3.60 * 3.38 Swindon * 7.68 (6 matches only) * 7.48 * 7.23 * 7.22 * 6.56 * 5.94 * 5.87 * 5.41 Wolverhampton * 9.40 * 7.67 * 7.24 * 6.11 * 5.94 * 5.73 * 5.51 * 5.46 * 4.42

References