The 1966 British League season was the 32nd season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the second season known as the British League.^[1] Halifax Dukes won the league and then secured the league and cup double.^[2]

Summary

The League expanded to 19, with a new team, the King's Lynn Stars.^[3] Halifax Dukes won the league after 36 games and finished three points clear of Coventry Bees. The Halifax team success was due to the consistency of their riders, in particular Eric Boocock, Eric Boothroyd, Dave Younghusband and Tommy Roper who all scored heavily throughout the season. Halifax also completed the double winning the British League Knockout Cup. In the final, they easily beat Wimbledon Dons.^[4]

The four times world champion Barry Briggs topped the averages for Swindon Robins during the same season in which he sealed his fourth world title. The dangers of speedway were highlighted once again however when Welshman Ivor Hughes was killed during the league match riding for Cradley Heath Heathens against Sheffield Tigers on 20 August.^[5]

Final table

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Barry Briggs		Swindon	11.08
2	Nigel Boocock		Coventry	10.67
3	Gote Nordin		Newport	10.53
4	Eric Boocock		Halifax	10.41
5	Olle Nygren		Wimbledon	10.32
6	Colin Pratt		Hackney	9.93
7	Ken McKinlay		West Ham	9.78
8	Mike Broadbank		Swindon	9.77
9	Sverre Harrfeldt		West Ham	9.76
10	Trevor Hedge		Wimbledon	9.64

Knockout Cup

Halifax Dukes won the cup and therefore secured the league and cup double.^[6]

Riders' Championship

Barry Briggs won the British League Riders' Championship for the second consecutive year, held at Hyde Road on 22 October.^[7]

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Barry Briggs	3 3 3 3 3	15
2	Olle Nygren	2 3 3 3 3	14
3	Norman Hunter	3 2 3 2 2	12
4	Ivan Mauger	3 2 0 3 3	11
5	Ray Wilson	3 3 2 2 exc	10
6	Nigel Boocock	1 3 1 3 -	8
7	George Hunter	0 1 1 2 3	7
8	Bill Andrew	0 ef 3 1 2	6
9	Jimmy Gooch	1 1 2 1 1	6
10	Peter Vandenberg	1 1 ef 1 2	5
11	Terry Betts	2 1 2 ef ef	5
12	Charlie Monk	2 F 2 1 ef	5
13	Cyril Maidment	0 2 1 2 ef	5
14	Tommy Sweetman	2 0 ef 0 2	4
15	Eric Boocock	1 2 ef ef ef	3
16	Colin Pratt	0 0 1 0 1	2

• ef=engine failure, f=fell, exc=excluded

London Cup

West Ham successfully defended their London Cup title but once again there were just three teams competing.^[8]

Results