# 1993 British League season

The 1993 British League season was the 59th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 29th known as the British League.

## Summary

Belle Vue Aces won their first title since 1982. The Manchester team relied on a group of consistent riders, with no rider exceeding a 9-point average but five riders ranging from 8.75 to 6.72. The team consisted of World Under-21 champion Joe Screen, Australian Jason Lyons, Americans Bobby Ott and Shawn Moran and Dane Frede Schött. The Championship was the closest in British League history with Belle Vue finishing on the same points as Wolverhampton Wolves and taking the title on heat points difference. It all came down to the last match when Belle Vue visited Wolves and pulled off a 54–53 victory. Wolves who were clear at the top of the table earlier in the season suffered a series of injuries and were missing four riders towards the end of the season.
Oxford Cheetahs dropped out of the first division resulting in their three time World Champion Hans Nielsen moving to Coventry Bees and Martin Dugard joining Eastbourne Eagles.

## Final table

| Pos | Team | PL | W | D | L | BP | Pts |
| 1 | Belle Vue Aces | 40 | 24 | 1 | 15 | 14 | 63 |
| 2 | Wolverhampton Wolves | 40 | 23 | 0 | 17 | 17 | 63 |
| 3 | Eastbourne Eagles | 40 | 23 | 1 | 16 | 14 | 61 |
| 4 | Arena Essex Hammers | 40 | 21 | 1 | 18 | 10 | 53 |
| 5 | Coventry Bees | 40 | 18 | 3 | 19 | 13 | 52 |
| 6 | Reading Racers | 40 | 20 | 1 | 19 | 10 | 51 |
| 7 | Bradford Dukes | 40 | 19 | 3 | 18 | 7 | 48 |
| 8 | Ipswich Witches | 40 | 17 | 0 | 23 | 8 | 42 |
| 9 | King's Lynn Stars | 40 | 15 | 4 | 21 | 6 | 40 |
| 10 | Poole Pirates | 40 | 17 | 0 | 23 | 6 | 40 |
| 11 | Cradley Heath Heathens | 40 | 16 | 0 | 24 | 5 | 37 |
M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points

## Speedway Star Knockout Cup

The 1993 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 55th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Bradford Dukes were the winners for a third consecutive year.
First round
| Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
| 08/07 | Ipswich | 55-53 | Wolverhampton |
| 24/05 | Wolverhampton | 64-43 | Ipswich |
| 22/05 | Cradley Heath | 59-49 | Belle Vue |
| 21/05 | Arena Essex | 72-36 | Kings Lynn |
| 21/05 | Belle Vue | 58-48 | Cradley Heath |
| 08/05 | Kings Lynn | 54-54 | Arena Essex |
| 16/07 | Belle Vue | 59-47 | Cradley Heath |
| 30/06 | Cradley Heath | 59-49 | Belle Vue |
Quarter-finals
| Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
| 20/08 | Belle Vue | 60-47 | Wolverhampton |
| 11/08 | Wolverhampton | 57-51 | Belle Vue |
| 31/07 | Coventry | 64-44 | Poole |
| 14/07 | Poole | 55-53 | Coventry |
| 05/07 | Reading | 63-45 | Arena Essex |
| 04/07 | Bradford | 66-42 | Eastbourne |
| 27/06 | Eastbourne | 63-45 | Bradford |
| 18/06 | Arena Essex | 67-41 | Reading |
Semi-finals
| Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
| 10/10 | Belle Vue | 61-46 | Arena Essex |
| 21/09 | Arena Essex | 67-41 | Belle Vue |
| 18/09 | Bradford | 61-47 | Coventry |
| 14/08 | Coventry | 54-54 | Bradford |

### Final

First leg
Second leg
Bradford Dukes were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 111-105.

## Fours

Reading Racers won the fours championship final (sponsored by H.E.A.T) and held at the East of England Arena on 25 July.
Final
| Pos | Team | Pts | Riders |
| 1 | Reading | 27 | Jonsson 8, Mullett 8, Castagna 7, Olsson 4 |
| 2 | Wolves | 25 | Ermolenko 8, Karlsson P |
| 3 | Belle Vue | 11 | Screen 6 |
| 4 | Arena Essex | 9 | Larsen 3, Ravn 3 |

## Riders' Championship

Per Jonsson won the British League Riders' Championship. It was due to be run at Abbey Stadium in early October but was called off twice due to wet weather before finally taking place on 31 October.
| Pos. | Rider | Total |
| 1 | Per Jonsson | 14 |
| 2 | Henka Gustafsson | 13+3 |
| 3 | Chris Louis | 13+2 |
| 4 | Leigh Adams | 11 |
| 5 | Peter Karlsson | 10 |
| 6 | Hans Nielsen | 10 |
| 7 | Tony Rickardsson | 8 |
| 8 | Joe Screen | 7 |
| 9 | Craig Boyce | 6 |
| 10 | Simon Cross | 6 |
| 11 | Gary Allan | 6 |
| 12 | Jason Crump | 5 |
| 13 | Kelvin Tatum | 5 |
| 14 | Jason Lyons | 3 |
| 15 | David Norris | 3 |
| 16 | Glenn Cunningham (res) | 2 |
| 17 | Simon Wigg | 1 |
| 18 | Steve Camden (res) | 0 |
* ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded r-retired

## Leading averages

| Rider | Team | Average |
| Sam Ermolenko | Wolverhampton | 11.12 |
| Per Jonsson | Reading | 10.34 |
| Hans Nielsen | Coventry | 10.05 |
| Greg Hancock | Cradley Heath | 9.85 |
| Ronnie Correy | Wolverhampton | 9.62 |
| Leigh Adams | Arena Essex | 9.49 |
| Henrik Gustafsson | Kings Lynn | 9.27 |
| Tony Rickardsson | Ipswich | 9.01 |
| Billy Hamill | Cradley Heath | 8.99 |
| Martin Dugard | Eastbourne | 8.98 |

## Riders & final averages

Arena Essex
* Leigh Adams 9.49
* Bo Petersen 8.42
* Brian Karger 8.34
* Josh Larsen 7.16
* Peter Ravn 7.12
* Colin White 6.84
* Troy Pratt 6.07
* Robert Ledwith 5.78
* Andy Galvin 4.31
* Neville Tatum 3.16
* Russell Etherington 1.23
Belle Vue
* Joe Screen 8.75
* Bobby Ott 8.17
* Jason Lyons 7.90
* Shawn Moran 7.58
* Frede Schött 6.72
* Paul Smith 5.77
* Shawn Venables 5.63
* Max Schofield 5.17
* Carl Stonehewer 4.84
* Jon Armstrong 4.18
* Peter Scully 3.69
* Mike Lewthwaite 3.45
Bradford
* Gary Havelock 8.89
* Kelvin Tatum 8.86
* Jimmy Nilsen 7.60
* Sean Wilson 7.21
* Craig Hodgson 6.75
* Paul Bentley 5.34
* Darren Pearson 4.80
* Antal Kocso 4.76
* Stuart Swales 4.32
* Simon Green 3.46
* Richard Smith 0.67
Coventry
* Hans Nielsen 10.05
* John Jørgensen 7.76
* Simon Wigg 7.71
* Andy Smith 7.47
* Brian Andersen 6.75
* Jacob Olsen 5.42
* Andy Meredith 4.07
* Chris Clarence 3.27
* Mark Bruton 3.20
* Jon Armstrong 3.14
* Scott Kirton 2.50
Cradley Heath
* Greg Hancock 9.85
* Billy Hamill 8.99
* Simon Cross 22
* Gert Handberg 6.15
* Scott Smith 5.95
* Morten Andersen 5.84
* Andy Grahame 5.20
* Alan Grahame 4.64
* Justin Walker 4.56
* Anthony Boyd 3.22
Eastbourne
* Martin Dugard 8.98
* Peter Nahlin 8.02
* David Norris 7.33
* Dean Barker 7.04
* Andrew Silver 6.91
* Stefan Dannö 6.53
* John Wainwright 5.73
* Darren Grayling 5.48
* Nathan Gaymer 3.80
* Paul Dugard 3.04
* Mark Bruton 1.52
Ipswich
* Tony Rickardsson 9.01
* Chris Louis 8.36
* Mitch Shirra 6.85
* Shaun Tacey 6.62
* Shane Parker 6.00
* Savalas Clouting 5.98
* Leigh Lanham 5.91
* Ben Howe 4.99
* Zdeněk Tesař 4.63
* Claus Jacobsen 4.32
* Miroslaw Kowalik 3.51
* Lawrence Hare 1.57
King's Lynn
* Henka Gustaffson 9.27
* Mark Loram 7.96
* Richard Knight 6.90
* Bohumil Brhel 6.16
* Glenn Doyle 5.99
* Emmerson Fairweather 5.16
* Darren Spicer 4.98
* Tomáš Topinka 4.70
* Andy Mountain 3.11
* Paul Dugard 3.10
* Kevin Brice 3.03
Poole
* Craig Boyce 7.40
* Lars Gunnestad 6.97
* Jorgen Johansson 6.77
* Steve Schofield 6.76
* Ray Morton 6.31
* John Cook 5.63
* Justin Elkins 5.14
* Scott Swain 4.72
* Matthew Cross 4.37
* Martin Willis 3.46
Reading
* Per Jonsson 10.34
* Armando Castagna 7.88
* Dave Mullett 7.39
* Jeremy Doncaster 6.83
* Tony Olsson 6.10
* Phil Morris 5.66
* Kenneth Nystrom 4.83
* Peter Glanz 4.37
* Lance Sealey 3.19
Wolverhampton
* Sam Ermolenko 11.12
* Ronnie Correy 9.62
* Peter Karlsson 8.10
* Mikael Karlsson 6.70
* Charles Ermolenko 6.33
* Graham Jones 6.04
* Stephen Morris 5.98
* Gordon Kennett 4.62
* Phil Ashcroft 4.14
* Neil Evitts 3.90
* John Wainwright 3.63
* Craig Taylor 1.82