1982

Cup Double, BL Runners-Up & World Champ Again!

Season Review

Team manager Pete Adams had some big changes in 1982, Dave Shields decided to stay in Australia and Bent Rasmussen stayed back home in Denmark. John McNeil joined Weymouth.
Adams first signing was Bruce Penhall's protege Lance King he was joined by Andy Reid from Glasgow and Ian Gledhill from Mildenhall, but Ian failed to establish himself in the team and was loaned out to Oxford and replaced by Jan Verner from Swindon.
The Heathens carried on winning as before led by the brilliant Penhall. Before the end of March they had beaten Ipswich home and away to become inaugural winners of the Premiership Trophy. They lost only two matches in winning the League Cup Northern Region both against Coventry but again beat Ipswich home and away in the Final. The Witches must have thought that the Heathens were their bogey team as Heathens beat them again home and away in the KO Cup a month later!
They went on to win the KO Cup beating Eastbourne in the semi-final and Belle Vue in the Final.

L to R. Phil Collins, Team Manager - Peter Adams, Wayne Jackson,
Ian Gledhill, Lance King,
front row: Alan Grahame, Erik Gundersen. on bike - Bruce Penhall,
(photo by kind permission of Speedway Star & News)

By the middle of August the Heathens were again sitting on the top of the British League with 30 out of 34 points. They were odds-on favourites to retain the championship with nearest rivals Belle Vue totalling 28 out of a possible 38 points. Then one disastrous weekend Cradley's title hopes were shattered, on Saturday August 14th they dropped two vital points at Coventry when Bruce Penhall crashed in the last heat.
The next day Penhall led the USA to their first ever World Team Cup win at White City. That same night a phone call from Bruce informed Cradley that he was quitting the sport to concentrate on a film career in Holywood. From that moment Cradley were knocked off course. Adams introduced National League stars Simon Wigg, Steve Lawson and Ashley Pullen to cover for Penhall's absence but the plain fact was that once the World Champ had gone Cradley failed to win another match away from home. Eventually finishing second to Belle Vue in the table.

Penhall went on to win his second World Championship in the Los Angeles Coliseum on August 28th, and then retired from speedway. In just five years this blond, blue eyed darling of the speedway terraces had collected virtually all the individual and team awards that speedway had to offer from the supreme prize of Individual World Champion to share the World Team Cup, the World Best Pairs, British League Championship and National and regional cups.
However as the brilliant superstar moved on, another star emerged in young Erik Gundersen who reached the Intercontinental Final of the World Championship, scored 15 point maximums in both legs of the KO Cup Final and ended the season with a green sheet average of 10.72, which made him second in the table to controversial Yorkshire man Kenny Carter who won the Golden Hammer at Dudley Wood.

Riders Performance Chart

1982 Cradley 'The Heathens'.

Rider	Matches	Rides	Points	Bonus	Total	Aver
E.Gundersen	25	106	280	4	284	10.72
B.Penhall	15	62	152	9	161	10.39
Al.Grahame	28	121	260	26	286	9.45
S.Wigg	4	16	29	3	32	8.00
P.Collins	27	115	184	36	220	7.65
L.King	23	95	133	27	160	6.74
S.Lawson	3	9	9	1	10	4.44
S.Cross	2	6	5	1	6	4.00
I.Gledhill	5	16	10	2	12	3.00
J.Verner	15	47	30	5	35	2.98
A.Reid	25	74	42	11	53	2.86
B.Barrett	2	7	4	1	5	2.86
W.Jackson	4	11	4	1	5	1.82

statistics taken from the Cradley Speedway database for BL matches only.

Final League Table

British League

Team	PL	W	D	L	BP	For	Ag	Pts
Belle Vue	28	23	0	5	--	1224	957	46
CRADLEY	28	20	0	8	--	1208	972	40
Ipswich	28	16	2	10	--	1159.5	959.5	34
Coventry	28	16	2	10	--	1120	1061	34
Sheffield	28	14	3	11	--	1124	1059	31
Birmingham	28	13	1	14	--	1096	1084	27
Hackney	28	12	3	13	--	1058.5	1121.5	27
Swindon	28	13	1	14	--	1042	1140	27
Reading	28	12	2	14	--	1078	1103	26
Leicester	28	13	0	15	--	1061	1122	26
Wimbledon	28	12	2	14	--	1010.5	1171.5	26
Eastbourne	28	11	3	14	--	1099	1082	25
Halifax	28	10	1	17	--	1076	1104	21
Kings Lynn	28	9	3	16	--	1025	1156	21
Poole	28	3	3	22	--	978.5	1204.5	9

K.O.Cup Round 1 - 1st leg Cradley 43 Sheffied 35 Bruce Penhall 12, Erik Gundersen 10, Alan Grahame 8, Phil Collins 7, (G)Ari Kopenon 4, Simon Cross 2, Ian Gledhill 0 Round 1 - 2nd leg Sheffield 42 Cradley 36 Bruce Penhall 12, Alan Grahame 7, Phil Collins 6, Erik Gundersen 4, Lance King 4, Ian Gledhill 2, Andy Reid 1 Cradley win 79-77 on aggregate Round 2 - 1st leg Ipswich 38.5 Cradley 39.5 Bruce Penhall 14, Erik Gundersen 14, Alan Grahame 9, Lance King 1.5, Andy Reid 1. Phil Collins 0, Jan Verner 0. Round 2 - 2nd leg Cradley 41 Ipswich 37 Bruce Penhall 11, Alan Grahame 8, Erik Gundersen 8, Phil Collins 7, Andy Reid 4, Lance King 3, Jan Verner 0. Cradley win 80.5-75.5 on aggregate Semi-Final - 1st leg Cradley 48 Eastbourne 30 Erik Gundersen 11, Alan Grahame 9, Lance King 9, (G)Wayne Brown 6, (G)Kenny McKinna 6, Jan Verner 4, Andy Reid 3. Semi-Final - 2nd leg Eastbourne 41 Cradley 36 Erik Gundersen 12, Lance King 10, Alan Grahame 5, Steve Lawson 5, Andy Reid 3, Kevin Hawkins 1, Jan Verner 0. Cradley win 84-71 on aggregate Final - 1st leg Cradley 46 Belle Vue 32 Erik Gundersen 15, Lance King 13, Phil Collins 7, Simon Wigg 5, Andy Reid 3, Alan Grahame 3, Wayne Jackson 0. Final - 2nd leg Belle Vue 43 Cradley 35 Erik Gundersen 15, Lance King 8, Alan Grahame 8, Simon Wigg 2, Phil Collins 1, Andy Reid 1, Cradley win the K.O.Cup 81-75 on aggregate

League Cup
Section 'A'

Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Ipswich	14	12	0	2	602	486	24
Eastbourne	14	8	2	4	555	535	18
Wimbledon	14	8	1	5	560	531	17
Poole	14	6	0	8	542	549	12
Hackney	14	6	0	8	541	549	12
Reading	14	6	0	8	533	558	12
Kings Lynn	14	5	0	9	521	571	10
Swindon	14	3	1	10	508	583	7
Section 'B'
Team	P	W	D	L	For	Ag	Pts
Cradley	14	8	2	2	510.5	424.5	18
Coventry	12	9	0	3	490.5	443.5	18
Belle Vue	12	6	2	4	485	451	14
Halifax	11	6	1	4	453	404	13
Birmingham	12	3	1	8	453	480	7
Leicester	11	3	1	7	400	457	7
Sheffield	12	2	1	9	400	532	5
Final - 1st leg Cradley 42 Ipswich 36 Bruce Penhall 11, Erik Gundersen 9, Alan Grahame 8, Phil Collins 5, Simon Cross 5, Steve Lawson 2, Andy Reid 2. *Final - 2nd leg* Ipswich 37 Cradley 41 Bruce Penhall 13, Erik Gundersen 10, Alan Grahame 9, Simon Wigg 6, Phil Collins 3, Jan Verner 0, Andy Reid 0. *Cradley win the League Cup 83-71 on aggregate*

Midland Cup Semi-Final - 1st leg Cradley 49 Swindon 29 Alan Grahame 11, (G)Billy Sanders 10, Erik Gundersen 9, Jan Verner 6, Phil Collins 5, Andy Reid 5, (G)Wayne Brown 3. Semi-Final - 2nd leg Swindon 24 Cradley 54 Erik Gundersen 12, (G)Shawn Moran 10, Lance King 9, Phil Collins 9, Alan Grahame 8, Jan Verner 4, Andy Reid 2. Cradley win 103-53 on aggregate Final - 1st leg Cradley 43 Coventry 35 Erik Gundersen 15, Phil Collins 7, Simon Wigg 6, Lance King 6, Alan Grahame 5, Andy Reid 4, Bill Barrett dnr Final - 2nd leg Coventry 44 Cradley 34 Erik Gundersen 9, Simon Wigg 7, Alan Grahame 5, Lance King 5, Andy Reid 5, Phil Collins 3, Coventry win 79-77 on aggregate.

Cradley started the season winning the Premiership against Ipswich 84-72 In September we hosted an International 4 team event - U.S.A 35 - England 28 - Denmark 27 - Australia 17 The Golden Hammer was won by Kenny Carter Golden Hammer

Bruce Penhall succesfully defended his World Championship crown in front of his 'home' crowd in the vast Colisium in Los Angeles California and then promptly retired from speedway on the rostrum to pursue a Hollywood acting career.
He came - he saw and he conquered, the sports top prize defended, a share in the World Team Cup, World Best Pairs, British League Championship and all the National and Regional Cups.
He certainly left his mark!

Penhall - World Speedway Champion - By Steve Johnson

Bruce Penhall profle

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