1970 British League Division Two season

League	British League Division Two
No. of competitors	17
Champions	Canterbury Crusaders
Knockout Cup	Ipswich Witches
Individual	Dave Jessup
Highest average	Gary Peterson
Division/s above	British League (Div 1)
← 1969 1971 →

The 1970 British League Division Two season was the third season of second tier motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.^[1][2]

Team changes

The league expanded from 16 to 17 teams in its third season. Plymouth Devils dropped out and were replaced by Peterborough Panthers. Peterborough promoted by Allied Presentations (headed by Maurice Littlechild) were to race at the East of England Showground.^[3][4]

Workington Comets under the promotion of Ian Thomas and Jeff Brownhut also joined the league and raced at Derwent Park.^[5][6]

Before the season got underway the 1968 and 1969 champions Belle Vue Colts disbanded with most of their riders and the promotion team moving to Rochdale and becoming the Rochdale Hornets.^[7] Doncaster changed their nickname from Stallions to Dragons.

Summary

Two teams changed venue during the season. In July, the Nelson Admirals moved to Bradford to become Bradford Northern and in August, the King's Lynn Starlets promotion moved to Boston and became the Boston Barracudas.^[8][9]

Canterbury Crusaders won their first title.^[10][11] New Zealander Graeme Smith averaged 10.49 for the Crusaders and was well backed up by Barry Crowson (9.17) and Barry Thomas (9.11).^[12] Another New Zealander Gary Peterson topped the averages riding initially for the Nelson Admirals and then Bradford Northern.

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Canterbury Crusaders	32	23	1	8	47
2	Eastbourne Eagles	32	22	1	9	45
3	Rochdale Hornets	32	21	2	9	44
4	Bradford Northern	32	21	2	9	37
5	Middlesbrough Teessiders	32	18	0	14	36
6	Ipswich Witches	32	17	2	13	36
7	Crewe Kings	32	17	1	14	35
8	Romford Bombers	32	17	1	14	35
9	Reading Racers	32	17	0	15	34
10	Peterborough Panthers	32	14	2	16	30
11	Workington Comets	32	13	1	18	27
12	Rayleigh Rockets	32	13	1	18	27
13	Boston Barracudas	32	12	2	18	26
14	Crayford Highwaymen	32	11	1	20	23
15	Doncaster Dragons	32	11	1	20	23
16	Berwick Bandits	32	10	0	22	20
17	Long Eaton Rangers	32	8	3	21	19

Top Five Riders (League Averages)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Gary Peterson		Bradford Northern	10.79
2	Graeme Smith		Canterbury	10.41
3	Eric Broadbelt		Rochdale	10.08
4	Paul O'Neil		Crewe	9.91
5	Archie Wilkinson		Crayford	9.85

Knockout Cup

The 1970 British League Division Two Knockout Cup was the third edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Ipswich Witches were the winners of the competition defeating Berwick Bandits in the final. The Bandits were surprise finalists given their final league placing which was second from bottom of the table.^[13]

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
11/04	Rayleigh	48-30	Peterborough
19/04	Rochdale	43-35	Long Eaton
20/04	Crewe	49-29	Nelson
26/04	Eastbourne	34-44	Canterbury
30/04	Ipswich	51-27+	Crayford
02/05	Berwick	53-25	Doncaster
07/05	Teesside	54-24	King's Lynn
07/05	Romford	48-30	Reading

+ first match abandoned with score at 25-17

Quarter-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
17/05	Rochdale	48-30	Romford
21/05	Ipswich	46-31	Rayleigh
23/05	Berwick	40-36	Teesside
06/06	Canterbury	52-26	Crewe

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
07/07	Berwick	44-34	Canterbury
27/08	Ipswich	42-36	Rochdale

Final

First leg

Second leg

Ipswich were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 82–74.

Riders' Championship

Dave Jessup won the Rider's Championship, held at Hackney Wick Stadium on 25 September. Jessup was aged just 17 at the time.^[15]

Pos.	Rider	Pts	Total
1	Dave Jessup	3 3 3 3 2	14
2	Barry Crowson	2 3 3 2 2	12+3
3	Gary Peterson	2 3 1 3 3	12+2
4	Eric Broadbelt	3 1 2 2 3	11
5	Tom Leadbitter	3 2 3 1 1	10
6	John Harrhy	f 3 2 3 1	9
7	Bob Valentine	2 2 3 2 0	9
8	Paul O'Neil	1 1 3 3	8
9	Richard May	1 2 2 ef 2	7
10	Ross Gilbertson	3 ef 2 2 0	7
11	Andy Ross	1 0 1 1 2	5
12	Arthur Price	2 2 0 1 0	5
13	Geoff Maloney	0 1 1 1 1	4
14	Maury Robinson	ex 0 0 0	3
15	Tony Childs	1 1 ef 0	3
16	Gordon McGregor	1 0 0 r	1
17	Ken Vale (res)	0	0

• f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Final leading averages

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Gary Peterson		Bradford Northern/Nelson	10.76
2	Graeme Smith		Canterbury	10.49
3	Eric Broadbelt		Rochdale	10.07
5	Taffy Owen		Workington	9.94
5	Paul O'Neil		Crewe	9.69

Riders' final averages

Berwick

Boston/King's Lynn (Boston took over fixtures mid-season)

Bradford (Bradford took over Nelson's fixtures mid-season)

Canterbury

Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=1970_British_League_Division_Two_season
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