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84Team Dismantled But Gunder Steps Up
![]() Season Review
Well, following the success of 1983
new team
manager/promoter Colin Pratt had the unenviable task of
getting
the team to within the 48 point limit. The Heathens were forced to
transfer Simon Wigg to Oxford, release Peter Ravn to Wolves and to loan Jan O
Pedersen to Sheffield. |
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He was hoping to fit in the very talented Simon Cross but was not able to fit him in until the new green sheet averages came out in May. Mike Wilding was the one to go, transferred to Scunthorpe this brought about a big improvement in the Cradley side. |
L to
R. Steve Collins, Finn Jensen, Team Manager - Colin Pratt, Simon Cross, Alan
Grahame, |
During the opening weeks of the season Cradley had shocked the speedway
world by beating Belle Vue home and away to take the Premiership Trophy,
however the League Cup showed up the weakness of a very long tail and were
lucky to reach the semi-final. In the League they began their defence of the title by losing to Wimbledon home and away, that home defeat was a bitter pill to swallow as it was their first home defeat for six seasons - a British League record dating back to March 25th 1978, 93 consecutive league victories at Dudley Wood. Gundersen was a late arrival missing five of the first seven matches and with Simon Cross drafted into the side it all changed and the Heathens were on the Championship trail once again. After a tremendous run they lost at Ipswich and Reading in October and dropped another point at home to Ipswich after a real tussle. They also lost to Ipswich in the KO Cup round 2 but went on to win the League Cup defeating Belle Vue in the Final. They also won the Midland Cup beating Swindon home and away in the Final.
Cradley's season though was dominated by Erik Gundersen. Erik
won the Individual Long Track and speedway World Finals and also picked up a
third Gold Medal as a member of Denmarks winning World Team Cup side.
He finished the season by winning and retaining the Golden Helmet and almost
retained the British League Riders Championship finishing runner-up after
being excluded for a tape offence in the run-off for the title. He
climaxed a great year by being voted Denmark's Sportsman of the Year after a
Nationwide poll. |
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Riders Performance Chart
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statistics taken from the Cradley Speedway database for BL matches only.
Final League Table
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League Cup
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Following in Bruce Penhall's footsteps in 1981 and 1982 Erik Gundersen stepped up to the rostrum to take the 1984 World Championship at Sweden's Ullevi Stadium in September. Lance King joined Erik on the rostrum too in third place. It was the icing
on the cake for Erik who had earlier become World Long Track Champion and won
a gold medals as part of Denmark's World Cup winning team and World Pairs. |
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