The 1990 British League season was the 56th 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 continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and the 26th 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

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 ...

won the league for the first time since 1980. The domination of speedway in recent years by

Oxford Cheetahs The Oxford Cheetahs are a British speedway teamLawson,K (2018) “Riders, Teams and Stadiums”. based at Oxford Stadium, in Oxford, England. They were founded in 1939 and are five times champions of Britain, in 1964, 1985, 1986, 1989 and ...

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 Southern ...

and

Cradley 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 ...

had come to an end. The Reading team was an extremely strong all round squad, highlighted by the fact that

Per Jonsson Per Jonsson (born 21 March 1966 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a former speedway rider who won the Speedway World Championship in 1990, and finished runner-up in 1992. Career In 1985, his second season with the Reading Racers, the team won six major ...

who finished third in the Reading averages would become World Champion by the end of the season. Veteran English international

Jeremy Doncaster Jeremy Doncaster (born 16 June 1961 in Grimsby, England) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider who won the World Team Cup in 1989, top scoring for Great Britain with 13 points. He also finished in third place in the 1989 World F ...

and their new Australian signing

Todd Wiltshire Todd Wiltshire (born 26 September 1968 in Bankstown, New South Wales) is a retired Australian motorcycle speedway rider who competed at the highest level of the sport, finishing a career best third in the 1990 Individual Speedway World Champ ...

topped the Reading averages and they were supported by fans favourite Jan Andersson,

Dave Mullett Dave Mullett (born 27 June 1965) is a former international speedway rider from England. Speedway career Mullett reached the final of the British Speedway Championship on five occasions in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1996. He rode in the top t ...

and Tony Olsson. The team went on to complete the league and cup double after beating Bradford in the cup final. Hans Nielsen of Oxford topped the averages for an incredible eighth season running and also won the

British League Riders' Championship The British League Riders Championship was an individual motorcycle speedway contest between the top riders (or two riders) with the highest average from each club competing in the British League in the UK, or the top division of the league during ...

for the third time.

Final table

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

British League Knockout Cup

The 1990 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 52nd edition of the

Knockout Cup A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

for tier one teams.

were the winners.

First round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

First leg Second leg Reading Racers were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 98-82.

Riders' Championship

Hans Nielsen won the

for the third time. It was the held at

Belle Vue Stadium Belle Vue Stadium was a greyhound racing track in Belle Vue, Manchester, England, where the first race around an oval track in Britain was held on 24 July 1926. It has also been used for motorcycle speedway, as the home ground of Elite League t ...

on 14 October. *ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired

Final leading averages

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue * 8.42 * 8.00 * 7.18 * 7.01 * 6.69 * 5.76 * 4.73 * 3.08 Bradford * 8.63 * 8.50 * 7.69 * 6.90 * 6.16 * 6.13 * 2.02 * 2.00 Coventry * 8.93 * 7.82 * 6.77 * 5.85 * 5.74 * 5.55 * 5.33 * 2.86 * 1.95 * 0.67 Cradley Heath * 9.37 * 8.73 * 6.80 * 6.21 * 6.18 * 5.51 * 2.48 King's Lynn * 7.77 * 7.38 * 7.09 * 5.90 * 5.63 * 5.57 * 5.33 * 0.89 Oxford * 10.36 * 8.26 * 7.52 * 5.81 * 5.54 * 5.05 * 3.47 * 1.84 Reading * 9.09 * 8.77 * 8.39 * 7.22 * 6.42 * 6.31 * 6.25 * 2.51 * 2.16 Swindon * 8.57 * 7.91 * 7.53 * 7.31 * 7.15 * 7.01 * 5.67 * 5.08 Wolverhampton * 8.87 * 8.85 * 6.18 * 5.70 * 5.57 * 5.42 * 4.73 * 3.45

References

{{British Speedway League seasons British League 1990 in British motorsport