# 1988 British League season

The 1988 British League season was the 54th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 24th known as the British League.

## Summary

Coventry Bees 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 and Kelvin Tatum 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

| Pos | Team | PL | W | D | L | BP | Pts |
| 1 | Coventry Bees | 40 | 31 | 2 | 7 | 18 | 82 |
| 2 | Belle Vue Aces | 40 | 26 | 1 | 13 | 13 | 66 |
| 3 | Cradley Heath Heathens | 39 | 22 | 1 | 16 | 15 | 60 |
| 4 | Oxford Cheetahs | 40 | 20 | 6 | 14 | 13 | 59 |
| 5 | Reading Racers | 40 | 20 | 3 | 17 | 12 | 55 |
| 6 | Sheffield Tigers | 39 | 19 | 2 | 18 | 8 | 48 |
| 7 | Swindon Robins | 40 | 17 | 1 | 22 | 8 | 43 |
| 8 | Wolverhampton Wolves | 40 | 15 | 3 | 22 | 8 | 41 |
| 9 | King's Lynn Stars | 40 | 14 | 3 | 23 | 7 | 38 |
| 10 | Ipswich Witches | 39 | 13 | 0 | 26 | 4 | 30 |
| 11 | Bradford Dukes | 39 | 10 | 0 | 29 | 2 | 22 |
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 were the winners for the third successive year if including the tied 1986 final.
First round
| Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
| 09/07 | King's Lynn | 47-43 | Ipswich |
| 08/07 | Ipswich | 34-55 | King's Lynn |
| 23/06 | Sheffield | 43-47 | Cradley Heath |
| 18/06 | Cradley Heath | 51-39 | Sheffield |
| 03/06 | Belle Vue | 53-37 | Bradford |
| 28/05 | Bradford | 36-54 | Belle Vue |
Quarter-finals
| Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
| 13/08 | King's Lynn | 40-50 | Cradley Heath |
| 10/08 | Cradley Heath | 53-37 | King's Lynn |
| 19/07 | Coventry | 53-37 | Reading |
| 15/07 | Belle Vue | 53-37 | Wolverhampton |
| 14/07 | Oxford | 48-42 | Swindon |
| 11/07 | Reading | 49-41 | Coventry |
| 11/07 | Wolverhampton | 45-45 | Belle Vue |
Semi-finals
| Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
| 14/10 | Belle Vue | 48-42 | Cradley Heath |
| 13/10 | Oxford | 38-49 | Coventry |
| 08/10 | Coventry | 44-46 | Oxford |
| 14/09 | Cradley Heath | 49-41 | Belle Vue |
Final
First leg
Second leg
Cradley Heath were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 100-80.

## Riders' Championship

Jan O. Pedersen won the British League Riders' Championship. It was the held at Belle Vue Stadium on 9 October.
| Pos. | Rider | Heat Scores | Total |
| 1 | Jan O. Pedersen | 3 2 3 3 3 | 14 |
| 2 | Erik Gundersen | 3 3 3 1 3 | 13 |
| 3 | Hans Nielsen | 0 3 3 3 3 | 12+3 |
| 4 | Chris Morton | 2 2 3 2 3 | 12+2 |
| 5 | Shawn Moran | 1 3 2 2 2 | 10 |
| 6 | Richard Knight | 2 3 1 2 1 | 9 |
| 7 | Ronnie Correy | 1 2 2 3 1 | 9 |
| 8 | Simon Wigg | 2 1 0 3 2 | 8 |
| 9 | Kelvin Tatum | 2 0 2 2 1 | 7 |
| 10 | Per Jonsson | 3 2 0 0 0 | 5 |
| 11 | Gary Havelock | 1 1 0 1 2 | 5 |
| 12 | Jan Andersson | 1 1 1 1 1 | 5 |
| 13 | Kelly Moran | 0 0 2 1 2 | 5 |
| 14 | Brian Karger | 3 1 1 0 0 | 5 |
| 15 | Tommy Knudsen | 0 1 0 | 1 |
| 16 | Paul Smith (res) | 0 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Carl Stonehewer (res) | 0 0 | 0 |
| 18 | Jeremy Doncaster | 0 0 0 | 0 |
* ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired

## Leading final averages

| Rider | Team | Average |
| Hans Nielsen | Oxford | 11.03 |
| Tommy Knudsen | Coventry | 10.08 |
| Erik Gundersen | Cradley Heath | 10.06 |
| Kelvin Tatum | Coventry | 10.04 |
| Jan O. Pedersen | Cradley Heath | 9.88 |
| Shawn Moran | Sheffield | 9.51 |
| Sam Ermolenko | Wolverhampton | 9.40 |
| Jeremy Doncaster | Ipswich | 9.34 |
| Chris Morton | Belle Vue | 9.01 |
| Steve Bastable | Bradford | 9.00 |

## Riders & final averages

Belle Vue
* Chris Morton 9.01
* Mike Faria 8.18
* Peter Ravn 7.70
* Paul Thorp 7.22
* Roland Danno 6.92
* Andy Smith 6.83
* Paul Smith 4.97
* Glenn Hornby 3.12
Bradford
* Gary Havelock 8.30
* Neil Evitts 7.44
* Sean Willmott 6.02
* Rob Pfetzing 5.67
* Michael Graves 5.29
* Randy Green 5.15
* Olli Tyrväinen 4.64
* Anthony Hulme 3.57
Coventry
* Tommy Knudsen 10.08
* Kelvin Tatum 10.04
* John Jørgensen 7.49
* Rick Miller 7.02
* Neville Tatum 5.00
* David Clarke 4.85
* Andy Hackett 4.79
Cradley Heath
* Erik Gundersen 10.06
* Jan O. Pedersen 9.88
* Simon Cross 8.22
* Alan Grahame 6.92
* Gert Handberg 5.10
* David Walsh 4.50
* Wayne Garratt 3.45
Ipswich
* Jeremy Doncaster 9.34
* Kai Niemi 6.87
* Armando Castagna 6.75
* Carl Blackbird 6.19
* Gerd Riss 6.07
* Steve Regeling 5.40
* Paolo Salvatelli 4.97
* Robbie Fuller 2.50
* Nigel Flatman 2.40
* Jonathan Cooper 1.45
King's Lynn
* Lance King 7.75
* John Davis 7.69
* Richard Knight 7.45
* Bo Petersen 7.26
* Allan Johansen 6.33
* Stephen Davies 6.24
* Gordon Kennett 6.00
* Adrian Stevens 3.90
* Roger Horspool 1.28
Oxford
* Hans Nielsen 11.03
* Simon Wigg 8.64
* Marvyn Cox 7.24
* Martin Dugard 6.97
* Nigel De'ath 4.32
* Alastair Stevens 3.91
* Jon Surman 3.81
* Lars Munkedal 2.80
* Peter Lloyd 2.65
Reading
* Per Jonsson 8.98
* Jan Andersson 8.93
* Mitch Shirra 8.20
* Tony Olsson 6.95
* Malcolm Holloway 5.63
* Dave Mullett 5.22
* Gary Tagg 3.09
* Rodney Payne 2.81
Sheffield
* Shawn Moran 9.51
* Kelly Moran 8.67
* Neil Collins 7.16
* Peter Carr 5.78
* Sean Wilson 5.30
* Ian M Stead 4.58
* Randy Green 4.00
* Gordon Whitaker 3.60
* Valentino Furlanetto 3.60
* Einar Kyllingstad 3.38
Swindon
* Peter Nahlin 7.68 (6 matches only)
* Brian Karger 7.48
* Andrew Silver 7.23
* Jimmy Nilsen 7.22
* Erik Stenlund 6.56
* Richard Hellsen 5.94
* Alun Rossiter 5.87
* Gary Chessell 5.41
Wolverhampton
* Sam Ermolenko 9.40
* Bo Petersen 7.67
* Ronnie Correy 7.24
* Jan Stæchmann 6.11
* Preben Eriksen 5.94
* Andy Grahame 5.73
* Andy Phillips 5.51
* Lars Munkedal 5.46
* Peter Glanz 4.42