1978 British League season

The 1978 Gulf British League season was the 44th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 14th season known as the British League.^[1]

The list of nineteen teams that competed in the league was identical to the previous season. The league was sponsored by Gulf Oil for a fourth season.^[2]

Coventry Bees won their second title and their first for ten years. Belle Vue Aces were runners-up for the fourth time in five seasons and would receive a double blow when losing in the final of the Knockout Cup. Two time world champion Ole Olsen was in sensational form for Coventry and made the difference throughout the season. Olsen would also seal his third world individual crown by the end of the season. The Coventry side consisted of an array of overseas riders including Olsen and fellow Dane Alf Busk, New Zealander Mitch Shirra, Australian Gary Guglielmi and Jiří Štancl from Czechoslovakia.^[3]

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

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Malcolm Simmons		Poole	10.78
2	Ole Olsen		Coventry	10.71
3	Scott Autrey		Exeter	10.45
4	Peter Collins		Belle Vue	10.44
5	Michael Lee		King's Lynn	10.40
6	Chris Morton		Belle Vue	10.31
7	Dave Jessup		Reading	10.24
8	Billy Sanders		Ipswich	10.23
9	Phil Crump		Bristol	9.99
10	Ivan Mauger		Hull	9.91

The 1978 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 40th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Ipswich Witches were the winners.^[4]

First round

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

First leg

Second leg

Ipswich were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 92-64.

Ole Olsen won the British League Riders' Championship for the fourth time (and third in a row), it was held at Hyde Road on 21 October and sponsored by British Leyland Cars.^[5]

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Ole Olsen	1 3 3 3 3	13
2	Peter Collins	2 2 3 3 2	12+3
3	Steve Bastable	3 2 3 3 1	12+2
4	Larry Ross	1 3 3 1 3	11
5	Scott Autrey	2 3 2 2 1	10
6	Malcolm Simmons	3 3 0 1 3	10
7	Billy Sanders	2 1 1 2 3	9
8	John Titman	3 1 2 3 0	9
9	Ian Cartright	0 2 1 2 2	7
10	Phil Crump	0 2 2 1 2	7
11	Doug Wyer	3 0 1 1 2	7
12	Ivan Mauger	2 1 0 2 EF	5
13	Phil Herne	0 0 2 R 1	3
14	Andy Heyes (res)	0 1 F R 0 1 0	2
15	Michael Lee	1 R - - -	1
16	Hans Nielsen	FX 1 0 0 -	1
17	Dave Jessup	R - - - -	0

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

The British League Pairs Championship sponsored by Gauloises, was held at Foxhall Stadium on 12 October and was jointly won by Cradley Heath Heathens and Coventry Bees. The meeting was abandoned after 14 heats due to fog but the result stood.^[6][7]

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Malcolm Simmons		Poole	10.77
2	Ole Olsen		Coventry	10.56
3	Peter Collins		Belle Vue	10.41
4	Scott Autrey		Exeter	10.40
5	Michael Lee		King's Lynn	10.23
6	Dave Jessup		Reading	10.20
7	Chris Morton		Belle Vue	10.11
8	Billy Sanders		Ipswich	9.94
9	Phil Crump		Bristol	9.92
10	Ivan Mauger		Hull	9.77

Coventry won the Midland Cup for the third consecutive year. The competition consisted of six teams.^[8]

First round

Semi final round

First leg

Second leg

Coventry won on aggregate 93–63

Wimbledon won the London Cup but White City did not compete and therefore the competition consisted of just two teams.^[9]

Results

Belle Vue

Birmingham

Bristol

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Exeter

Hackney

Halifax

Hull

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Leicester

Poole

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

White City

Wimbledon

Wolverhampton

• List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
• Knockout Cup (speedway)