Reading win the Division One KO Cup for the first time in their history
WITH Wolverhampton visiting Smallmead tonight for a KO Cup match, we look back at the last and only time Reading lifted the trophy at this level and the extraordinary manner in which they won it.
1990 saw Reading and their riders have the best season in their proud history. The Racers stormed to the British League Championship and also some of the riders picked up their own individual success, such as: Per Jonsson - World Champion. Jeremy Doncaster - winner of the British semi-final, Overseas Final, Czech Golden Helmet, and runner-up with England in the World Team Cup. Todd Wilshire - third in the World Final, second in the World Pairs Final with Australia and SWAPA Rider of the Year. Armando Castagna - Italian Champion. One trophy had always eluded the Racers though - The Division One KO Cup.
Reading lined-up against the Bradford Dukes in the Final as they went looking for the league and cup double - but it was to become the most controversial double in the sport's history. The Racers beat the Aces 53-36 in the first leg of the semi-final and must have felt reasonably confident of doing enough in the second and deciding leg in Manchester to secure a final spot. The Racers were without Jeremy Doncaster, with Marvyn Cox guesting, but then lost Todd Wiltshire to injury in his second ride and Reading looked as if they were going to be up against it. As a result the Aces then went onto batter the Racers 57-33 for a 93-86 aggregate win that would see Belle Vue line-up in the 1990 KO Cup final against Northern rivals Bradford - or would they?
The big argument centred around Belle Vue's use of rider-replacement for Danish international Peter Ravn. In the build up to the meeting Ravn had been in dispute with the Aces bosses and had declared he would never ride for the Manchester club again. The day before the second leg of the semi-final the BSPA Management Committee agreed Ravn was withholding his services and, granted Belle Vue a facility against the Racers for the big cup tie. The Aces decided to use it the following night despite a pre-meeting protest by Reading, but that was not to be the end of it. The Speedway Control Board discussed the Racers appeal and ruled that because they hadn't included Ravn's name in the programme and had not named a number eight, they were not entitled to use rider-replacement and amended the second leg score to 51-38 which gave Reading a route to the Final with an overall four point aggregate success (91-87).
Belle Vue's and most neutral fans were furious and it was a decision that led to Aces promoter John Perrin to announce he would quit at the end of the season - a spur-of-the-moment decision he later rescinded. There was talk of Bradford and Belle Vue getting together and staging their own ‘alternative' Cup Final, but nothing came of that and the tribunal result meant there would be a new name on the KO Cup trophy.
Reading were installed as favourites to lift the trophy, but the odds swung back in Dukes favour as the Racers made heavy weather of the first leg at Smallmead and only ran out 51-39 winners. Todd Wilshire led the way with a 15-point maximum for Reading and, Per Jonsson gave excellent support with paid 14. Marvyn Cox top-scored for the Dukes with 11 points, but the man who did most damage was reserve Glen Doyle with 10 (paid 11) - the Australian would be a key man in the second leg at Odsal in five days time.
Would a 12-point lead be enough for Reading? Especially considering the Racers had lost twice already in 1990 at Odsal in their league meetings, which included a 53-37 drubbing. A large army of Racers travelled up to Yorkshire on Saturday October 13th, nervous, their fingers firmly crossed and hopeful that their heroes could do enough to lift the trophy for the first time in their history.
Wiltshire kept it tight by winning a shared heat 1, but Bradford hopes took a major jolt when they lost the services of Doyle as a result of a first bend fall in heat 2. The Aussie was taken to hospital, which was thankfully later reported as nothing more than severe bruising, but was out of the remainder of the Cup Final.
This gave Reading the edge they needed on the night and, although they trailed on the night by four points after heat 7, a 5-1 from Jan Andersson and Dave Mullett in heat 8 levelled things up and restored the Racers 12-point aggregate lead. Heat 10 saw Doncaster and Armando Castagna race to another 5-1, which put Reading into a lead they never sacrificed. Cox won heat 13 for the Dukes, but with Wiltshire and Castagna filling in behind the GB star for a share of the points, the ensuing 3-3 was enough to give the Racers an aggregate win and the 1990 KO Cup trophy. The final two races of the tie were favourable to Reading and despite all the doubts about a 12-point lead being enough to defend, the Racers actually ended up winning the second leg as well by a score of 47-43.
Outside of Berkshire the lifting of the trophy for Reading wasn't the most popular in the sport's history, particularly because of the events surrounding Racers ‘win' in the semi-final against Belle Vue. Never was the terrace chant of: "No one likes us but we don't care" more apt.
It turned out to be a double night of success for the Smallmead Club, as whilst the Racers riders and management were celebrating in the Odsal bar with the supporters, news broke that results elsewhere around the country meant that Reading couldn't be caught in their quest for the League Championship. The Racers were crowned British League Champions and KO Cup winners in the same night.
