1971 British League Division Two season

The 1971 British League Division Two season was the second tier/division motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.

Summary

The league continued with 17 teams in its fourth season despite Reading Racers moving up to Division One and two teams dropping out because there were three new entrants to the league.
Doncaster Dragons disbanded for good, with the promotion and some of the riders moving to Birmingham and re-forming the Birmingham Brummies, who had last raced in 1957. The Crayford Highwayman also dropped out and the Middlesbrough Teessiders changed their name to Teesside Teessiders. Birmingham were one of the new entrants along with Sunderland Stars. Hull Vikings were the final new entrant when Ian Thomas brought speedway back to Hull, to race at the Boulevard Stadium.
Eastbourne Eagles won their first league title since their 1959 Southern Area League success. Despite losing their leading rider Dave Jessup to division 1, the Eastbourne Eagles triumphed by bringing in new signing Malcolm Ballard to support the Kennett brothers Gordon and Dave.

British League Division Two Knockout Cup

The 1971 British League Division Two Knockout Cup was the fourth edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Ipswich Witches were the winners of the competition for the second successive year.
First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
29/04	Long Eaton	46-31	Birmingham
24/05	Birmingham	39-39	Long Eaton
30/04	Rochdale	47-31	Hull
05/05	Hull	38-39	Rochdale

Second round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
12/06	Ipswich	57-21	Peterborough
11/06	Peterborough	33-45	Ipswich
11/06	Workington	46-31	Sunderland
06/06	Sunderland	37-31	Workington
06/06	Eastbourne	47-31	Canterbury
12/06	Canterbury	39-39	Eastbourne
07/06	Crewe	54-24	Berwick
12/06	Berwick	50-28	Crewe
09/06	Bradford	47-31	Teesside
10/06	Teesside	38-40	Bradford
11/06	Rochdale	45-33	Long Eaton
10/06	Long Eaton	43-35	Rochdale
06/06	Boston	49-28	Romford
12/06	Romford	42-36	Boston

Quarter-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
29/07	Ipswich	43-35	Rayleigh
24/07	Rayleigh	37-41	Ipswich
23/07	Workington	51-27	Eastbourne
25/07	Eastbourne	45-31	Workington
19/07	Crewe	47-31	Bradford
28/07	Bradford	46-32	Crewe
23/07	Rochdale	41-37	Boston
18/07	Boston	40-38	Rochdale

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
16/08	Crewe	49-29	Rochdale
29/08	Workington	38-40	Ipswich
02/09	Ipswich	50-28	Workington
03/09	Rochdale	+	Crewe

+ rained off, tie awarded to Ipswich

Final

First leg
Second leg
Ipswich were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 92–64.

Riders' Championship

John Louis won the Rider's Championship, held at Hackney Wick Stadium on 2 October.

Pos.

Rider

Pts

Total

Riders' final averages

Berwick

Doug Wyer 9.69
Maury Robinson 7.97
Andy Meldrum 7.24
Alistair Brady 7.03
Peter Kelly 5.77
Alan Paynter 5.42
Bobby Campbell 4.75
Jim Beaton 4.14
George Beaton 3.36

Birmingham

George Major 8.90
Terry Shearer 8.40
Archie Wilkinson 6.27
Chris Harrison 6.08
Malcolm Corradine 5.47
Cliff Emms 5.45
Ian Wilson.4.65
Gunther 'Hec' Haslinger 4.41

Boston

Arthur Price 8.92
Jim Ryman 8.32
Carl Glover 7.27
Russ Osborne 6.65
Jack Bywater 6.48
Tony Featherstone 6.04
Vic Cross 5.39
Ray Bales 5.28
Graham Jones 2.50

Bradford

Alan Knapkin 10.17
Alf Wells 9.02
Dave Baugh 8.49
Dave Schofield 7.54
Robin Adlington 7.13
Sid Sheldrick 5.15
Alan Bridgett 4.82
Brian Murray 4.43
Peter Thompson 4.35
Stan Dewhurst 1.91

Canterbury

Ross Gilbertson 8.93
Graham Banks 8.03
Dave Piddock 6.75
Graeme Smith 6.32
Graeme Stapleton 6.29
Phil Pratt 6.09
Ted Hubbard 5.44
Bob Tabet 4.76
Barney Kennett 4.09
John Hammond 4.00
Mike Barkaway 2.84

Crewe

Phil Crump 8.98
John Jackson 8.32
Dai Evans 7.72
Jack Millen 6.61
Ian Bottomley 6.48
Barry Meeks 5.71
Garry Moore 5.31
Dave Parry 5.21

Eastbourne

Malcolm Ballard 8.74
Gordon Kennett 8.70
Dave Kennett 7.49
Laurie Sims 7.10
Reg Trott 6.99
Roger Johns 6.89
Bobby McNeil 6.82
Mac Woolford 6.67

Hull

Reg Wilson 9.69
Tony Childs 9.22
George Devonport 7.71
Colin Tucker 6.20
Robin Amundson 5.94
Dennis Wasden 5.14
Pete Boston 4.47
Ian Bottomley 4.39
Peter Baldock 3.29

Ipswich

John Louis 11.31
Tony Davey 9.93
Pete Bailey 8.20
Peter Prinsloo 5.25
Clive Noy 5.10
Ron Bagley 5.01
Ted Howgego 4.85
Ted Spittles 4.32
Stan Pepper 3.70

Long Eaton

Malcolm Shakespeare 9.80
Roger Mills 9.41
Geoff Bouchard 8.26
Gil Farmer 4.42
Peter Wrathall 4.42
Phil Whittaker 4.36
Steve Bass 3.77
Ian Champion 3.45
Gerry Scott 2.47

Peterborough

Andy Ross 9.02
Richard Greer 7.95
Roy Carter 6.73
John Davis 5.85
Joe Hughes 5.81
John Stayte 5.59
Alan Witt 5.51
Pete Saunders 5.47
Brian Clark 5.13

Rayleigh

Hugh Saunders 9.41
Geoff Maloney 7.38
Bob Young 6.67
Allan Emmett 6.44
Nigel Rackett 6.38
Dingle Brown 5.93
Terry Stone 4.65
Dave "Tiger" Beech 4.33

Rochdale

Alan Wilkinson 10.08
Peter Collins 9.80
Paul Tyrer 7.92
Ken Moss 5.41
Graham Drury 5.40
Colin Goad 4.69
Robbie Gardner 4.66
Terry Kelly 4.27
Paul Callaghan 2.51
Clive Johnson 2.34

Romford

Kevin Holden 8.94
Bob Coles 8.06
Brian Foote 8.00
Stan Stevens 6.60
Mike Sampson 6.14
Mike Vernam 6.11
Colin Sanders 5.78
Charlie Benham 5.22
Ian Gills 4.78
Terry Shearer 4.59
Bruce Edgar 3.00

Sunderland

Russ Dent 8.16
George Barclay 7.21
John Goodall 6.43
Peter Wrathall 4.92
Alan Mackie 4.42
Brian Whaley 4.13
John Lynch 4.05
Gerry Richardson 4.00
John Knock 3.83

Teesside

Bruce Forrester 8.33
Tim Swales 7.04
Dave Durham 7.00
Bob Jameson 6.31
Terry Lee 6.09
Frank Auffret 5.92
Pete Reading 5.45
Tony Swales 4.97
Dene Davies 4.62
Mick Moore 4.46

Workington

Malcolm MacKay 9.81
Taffy Owen 8.60
Lou Sansom 7.87
Ken Vale 5.89
Dave Kumeta 4.92
Kym Amundson 4.71
Bernie Hornby 4.32
Geoff Penniket 4.15
Chris Blythe 3.93
Steve Watson 3.57