# 1989 British League season

The 1989 British League season (also known as the Sunbrite British League for sponsorship reasons) was the 55th season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom and the 25th known as the British League.

## Summary

The Coventry Bees were the defending champions from 1988. The league was once again run over a 15-heat formula, with 7 riders per team.
Oxford Cheetahs bounced back to winning ways claiming their third title in five years. The team was led by their double world champion Hans Nielsen who by the end of the season would be world champion for the third time and top the averages for an incredible seventh season running. He was backed up by Simon Wigg, Martin Dugard, Andy Grahame, Marvyn Cox and Troy Butler, all of whom averaged from about 6 to 8 points for the season. The defending champions Coventry could only finish 5th after losing Tommy Knudsen for the season. Cradley Heath won their 8th Knockout Cup in 11 years (it would also be their last).

## Final table

| Pos | Team | PL | W | D | L | BP | Pts |
| 1 | Oxford Cheetahs | 32 | 22 | 1 | 9 | 13 | 58 |
| 2 | Wolverhampton Wolves | 32 | 19 | 2 | 11 | 12 | 52 |
| 3 | Cradley Heathens | 32 | 19 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 51 |
| 4 | Belle Vue Aces | 32 | 19 | 2 | 11 | 10 | 50 |
| 5 | Coventry Bees | 32 | 15 | 3 | 14 | 8 | 41 |
| 6 | Swindon Robins | 32 | 12 | 1 | 19 | 8 | 33 |
| 7 | Reading Racers | 32 | 13 | 1 | 18 | 5 | 32 |
| 8 | Bradford Dukes | 32 | 9 | 2 | 21 | 3 | 23 |
| 9 | King's Lynn Stars | 32 | 8 | 1 | 23 | 3 | 20 |
M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points

## British League Knockout Cup

The 1989 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 51st edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Cradley Heath Heathens were the winners for the fourth successive year if including the tied 1986 final.
First round
| Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
| 21/04 | Belle Vue | 57-33 | King's Lynn |
| 08/04 | King's Lynn | 38-52 | Belle Vue |
Quarter-finals
| Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
| 26/06 | Reading | 51-39 | Belle Vue |
| 10/06 | Cradley Heath | 50-40 | Oxford |
| 09/06 | Belle Vue | 45.5-44.5 | Reading |
| 09/06 | Oxford | 45-45 | Cradley Heath |
| 13/05 | Coventry | 45-45 | Bradford |
| 06/05 | Bradford | 46-44 | Coventry |
| 22/04 | Swindon | 45-45 | Wolverhampton |
| 10/04 | Wolverhampton | 49-41 | Swindon |
Semi-finals
| Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
| 26/08 | Bradford | 57-33 | Wolverhampton |
| 19/08 | Cradley Heath | 42-48 | Reading |
| 07/08 | Wolverhampton | 60-30 | Bradford |
| 31/07 | Reading | 40-50 | Cradley Heath |
Final
First leg
Second leg
Cradley Heath were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 95-85.

## Riders' Championship

Shawn Moran won the British League Riders' Championship. It was the held at Belle Vue Stadium on 1 October.
| Pos. | Rider | Heat Scores | Total |
| 1 | Shawn Moran | 3 3 3 3 3 | 15 |
| 2 | Hans Nielsen | 3 3 3 3 2 | 14 |
| 3 | Brian Karger | 2 3 2 2 3 | 12 |
| 4 | Martin Dugard | 1 2 1 2 3 | 9 |
| 5 | Ronnie Correy | 3 2 3 0 0 | 8 |
| 6 | Jimmy Nilsen | 0 1 3 1 3 | 8 |
| 7 | Kelvin Tatum | 2 0 1 3 2 | 8 |
| 8 | Alan Grahame | 0 2 2 2 2 | 8 |
| 9 | Richard Knight | 2 0 2 2 1 | 7 |
| 10 | Rick Miller | 3 1 1 1 1 | 7 |
| 11 | Simon Wigg | 1 1 2 3 0 | 7 |
| 12 | Lance King | 1 3 0 0 1 | 5 |
| 13 | Jeremy Doncaster | 1 2 0 1 1 | 5 |
| 14 | Peter Ravn | 2 0 0 1 2 | 5 |
| 15 | Paul Thorp | 0 1 1 0 0 | 2 |
| 16 | Glenn Hornby (res) | 0 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Scott Smith (res) | 0 0 | 0 |
| 18 | Mitch Shirra | 0 r(inj) | 0 |
* ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired

## Leading final averages

| Rider | Club | Average |
| Hans Nielsen | Oxford | 10.91 |
| Jan O. Pedersen | Cradley | 10.22 |
| Erik Gundersen | Cradley | 9.97 |
| Sam Ermolenko | Wolverhampton | 9.85 |
| Shawn Moran | Belle Vue | 9.68 |
| Kelvin Tatum | Coventry | 9.49 |
| Simon Cross | Cradley | 9.13 |
| Jeremy Doncaster | Reading | 8.61 |
| Jimmy Nilsen | Swindon | 8.41 |
| Kelly Moran | Belle Vue | 8.29 |

## Riders & final averages

Belle Vue
* Shawn Moran 9.68
* Kelly Moran 8.29
* Peter Ravn 7.54
* Gary Hicks 7.17
* Chris Morton 6.75
* Joe Screen 6.40
* Carl Stonehewer 5.50
* Gordon Whitaker 3.41
* Paul Smith 2.09
* Mike Lewthwaite 1.85
Bradford
* Paul Thorp 7.79
* Neil Evitts 7.51
* Andy Smith 7.27
* Bryan Larner 5.40
* Henrik Kristensen 4.94
* Glenn Doyle 4.76
* Antal Kocso 4.60
* Michael Graves 4.17
Coventry
* Kelvin Tatum 9.49
* Rick Miller 6.93
* Sean Wilson 6.52
* John Jørgensen 6.39
* Andy Hackett 5.49
* Roman Matoušek 5.27
* Kai Niemi 4.69
* Mike Bacon 2.95
* Paul Smith 2.55
Cradley Heath
* Jan O. Pedersen 10.22
* Erik Gundersen 9.97
* Simon Cross 9.13
* Gert Handberg 6.52
* Greg Hancock 6.06
* Alan Grahame 5.78
* John Bostin 3.00
Kings Lynn
* Richard Knight 7.83
* Lance King 7.67
* John Davis 6.74
* Allan Johansen 6.65
* Armando Dal Chiele 5.03
* Stephen Davies 4.93
* Dennis Löfqvist 4.82
* Adrian Stevens 3.56
* Paul Smith 3.14
* Roger Horspool 1.50
Oxford
* Hans Nielsen 10.91
* Simon Wigg 7.69
* Martin Dugard 7.61
* Andy Grahame 6.91
* Marvyn Cox 6.80
* Troy Butler 5.96
* Paul Dugard 2.56
* Kevin Pitts 1.64
Reading
* Jeremy Doncaster 8.61
* Mitch Shirra 7.62
* Tony Olsson 6.49
* Carl Blackbird 5.52
* Armando Castagna 5.47
* Dave Mullett 5.09
* Malcolm Holloway 4.38
* David Steen 2.56
Swindon
* Jimmy Nilsen 8.41
* Brian Karger 8.09
* Andrew Silver 7.38
* John Davis 6.67
* Peter Nahlin 6.24
* Bart Bast 5.05
* Gary Chessell 4.88
* Tom P. Knudsen 4.00 (2 matches only)
* David Smart 3.72
Wolverhampton
* Sam Ermolenko 9.85
* Ronnie Correy 7.86
* Neil Collins 6.88
* Robert Pfetzing 6.61
* Graham Jones 6.60
* Jan Staechmann 6.54
* Andy Phillips 5.73