1972 British League season
League | British League |
---|---|
Champions | Belle Vue Aces |
No. of competitors | 18 |
Knockout Cup | Belle Vue Aces |
Individual | Ole Olsen |
Highest average | Ole Olsen |
Division/s below | British League (Div 2) |
The 1972 British League season was the 38th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the eighth season known as the British League.[1]
Summary[]
Ipswich Witches moved up from Division Two but London lost two clubs, when the Wembley Lions and West Ham Hammers closed, reducing the league to eighteen teams.[2]
Belle Vue Aces won their third consecutive title. Their team was littered with great riders including Ivan Mauger, Sören Sjösten and the young Peter Collins; they were backed up by the consistency of Chris Pusey, Eric Broadbelt, Alan Wilkinson and Ken Eyre, which led to a comfortable title win by a clear 12 points.[3][4]
Oxford Cheetahs had a bizarre season when they were rebranded as Oxford Rebels following a takeover by a new consortium, which included former riders Bob Dugard and Danny Dunton, Dave Lanning and the famous musician Acker Bilk. The team under performed badly finishing 17th from 18 teams despite the new image. To make matters worse they signed a new Norwegian rider , who was quickly transferred to Glasgow following poor results. He died riding for Glasgow towards the end of the season (on 29 September) at Hampden Park. Kasa clipped Martin Ashby's bike in a race and hit the wooden fence receiving fatal injuries.[5][6]
Final table[]
Pos | Team | PL | W | D | L | Pts |
1 | Belle Vue Aces | 34 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 63 |
2 | Reading Racers | 34 | 25 | 1 | 8 | 51 |
3 | King's Lynn Stars | 34 | 24 | 3 | 7 | 51 |
4 | Sheffield Tigers | 34 | 23 | 3 | 8 | 49 |
5 | Leicester Lions | 34 | 17 | 5 | 12 | 39 |
6 | Ipswich Witches | 34 | 17 | 1 | 16 | 35 |
7 | Poole Pirates | 34 | 15 | 2 | 17 | 32 |
8 | Hackney Hawks | 34 | 16 | 0 | 18 | 32 |
9 | Wolverhampton Wolves | 34 | 16 | 0 | 18 | 30 |
10 | Coventry Bees | 34 | 14 | 2 | 18 | 28 |
11 | Exeter Falcons | 34 | 13 | 2 | 19 | 28 |
12 | Halifax Dukes | 34 | 13 | 2 | 19 | 28 |
13 | Wimbledon Dons | 34 | 14 | 0 | 20 | 26 |
14 | Glasgow Tigers | 34 | 12 | 2 | 20 | 25 |
15 | Swindon Robins | 34 | 12 | 1 | 21 | 25 |
16 | Cradley Heath Heathens | 34 | 11 | 3 | 20 | 25 |
17 | Oxford Rebels | 34 | 10 | 0 | 24 | 20 |
18 | Newport Wasps | 34 | 9 | 0 | 25 | 18 |
M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points
Leading riders[]
Rider | Nat | Team | C.M.A. | |
1 | Ole Olsen | Wolverhampton Wolves | 11.39 | |
2 | Ivan Mauger | Belle Vue Aces | 11.36 | |
3 | Terry Betts | King's Lynn Stars | 10.51 | |
4 | Anders Michanek | Reading Racers | 10.51 | |
5 | Barry Briggs | Swindon Robins | 10.38 | |
6 | Eric Boocock | Halifax Dukes | 10.36 | |
7 | Ronnie Moore | Wimbledon Dons | 10.34 | |
8 | Bernt Persson | Cradley Heathens | 10.27 | |
9 | Ray Wilson | Leicester Lions | 10.14 | |
10 | Martin Ashby | Swindon Robins | 10.08 | |
11 | Bob Kilby | Exeter Falcons | 9.89 | |
12 | John Boulger | Leicester Lions | 9.46 | |
13 | John Louis | Ipswich Witches | 9.39 | |
14 | Bengt Jansson | Hackney Hawks | 9.38 | |
15 | Garry Middleton | Oxford Rebels | 9.24 | |
16 | Nigel Boocock | Coventry Bees | 9.23 | |
17 | Howard Cole (a.k.a Kid Brodie) | Leicester Lions | 8.94 | |
18 | Sören Sjösten | Belle Vue Aces | 8.92 | |
19 | Christer Löfqvist | Poole Pirates | 8.90 | |
20 | Jim McMillan | Glasgow Tigers | 8.86 |
British League Knockout Cup[]
The 1972 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 34th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Belle Vue were the winners.[7]
First Round[]
Date | Team One | Score | Team Two |
---|---|---|---|
09/05 | Ipswich | 46-32 | Sheffield |
08/05 | Exeter | 48-30 | Swindon |
06/05 | Halifax | 42-36 | Leicester |
Second Round[]
Date | Team One | Score | Team Two |
---|---|---|---|
03/07 | Exeter | 50-28 | Wimbledon |
26/06 | Hackney | 52-26 | Cradley Heath |
21/06 | Poole | 52-26 | Halifax |
16/06 | Newport | 42-36 | Coventry |
16/06 | Wolverhampton | 38-40 | Reading |
15/06 | Oxford | 35-42 | Kings Lynn |
10/06 | Cradley Heath | 39-39 | Hackney |
03/06 | Belle Vue | 41-37 | Glasgow |
Quarter Finals[]
Date | Team One | Score | Team Two |
---|---|---|---|
31/08 | Ipswich | 38-40 | Reading |
05/08 | Belle Vue | 58-20 | Newport |
05/08 | Kings Lynn | 56-22 | Exeter |
04/08 | Hackney | 45-33 | Poole |
Semi Finals[]
Date | Team One | Score | Team Two |
---|---|---|---|
27/09 | Kings Lynn | 38-40 | Belle Vue |
22/09 | Hackney | 40-38 | Reading |
Final[]
First leg[]
Hackney Hawks Bengt Jansson 12 Barry Thomas 9 7 6 4 Laurie Etheridge 2 Hugh Saunders 0 | 40 - 37 | Belle Vue Aces Alan Wilkinson 11 Ivan Mauger 10 Peter Collins 6 Sören Sjösten 6 Chris Pusey 3 Eric Broadbelt 1 Ken Eyre 0 |
---|---|---|
[8] |
Second leg[]
Belle Vue Aces Sören Sjösten 10 Chris Pusey 9 Ivan Mauger 8 Ken Eyre 7 Peter Collins 5 Alan Wilkinson 4 Eric Broadbelt 2 | 45 - 33 | Hackney Hawks Bengt Jansson 12 10 Barry Thomas 6 3 Hugh Saunders 2 0 Laurie Etheridge 0 |
---|---|---|
[8] |
Belle Vue Aces were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 82-73.
Teams[]
Belle Vue Aces[]
- Eric Broadbelt
- Peter Collins
- Ken Eyre
- Ivan Mauger
- Chris Pusey
- Lou Sansom
- Sören Sjösten
- Alan Wilkinson
Coventry Bees[]
- Nigel Boocock
- Rick France
- Tony Lomas
- Ron Mountford
- Jan Simensen
Cradley Heath[]
- Bob Andrews
- Mick Handley
- John Hart
- Dave Perks
- Bernt Persson
- Roy Trigg
Exeter Falcons[]
- Bruce Cribb
- John Davis
- Kjell Gimre
- Kevin Holden
- Chris Julian
- Bob Kilby
- Mike Sampson
- Christer Sjösten
- Edgar Stangeland
Glasgow Tigers[]
- Bobby Beaton
- Arthur Browning
- Kjell Gimre
- George Hunter
- Mike Lanham
- George Major
- Jimmy McMillan
- Charlie Monk
- John Wilson
Hackney Hawks[]
- Laurie Etheridge
- Bengt Jansson
- Hugh Saunders
- Barry Thomas
Halifax Dukes[]
- Eric Boocock
- George Major
- Göte Nordin
- Tommy Roper
- John Titman
- Dave Younghusband
Ipswich Witches[]
- Phil Crump
- Tony Davey
- Brian Foote
- Tommy Johansson
- Mike Lanham
- John Louis
- Olle Nygren
- Sándor Lévai
- Billy Sanders
King's Lynn Stars[]
- Ray Bales
- Terry Betts
- Howard Cole+ (+ rode under the name of Kid Brodie)
- Phil Crump
- Garry Flood
- David Gagen
- John Jackson
- Arthur Price
- Malcolm Simmons
- Ian Turner
Leicester Lions[]
- Geoff Ambrose
- Geoff Bouchard
- John Boulger
- Malcolm Brown
- Alan Cowland
- Brian Foote
- Bruce Forrester
- Dave Jessup
- Malcolm Shakespeare
- Norman Storer
- Ray Wilson
Newport Wasps[]
- Arthur Browning
- Ronnie Genz
- Graham Plant
- Mike Sampson
- Neil Street
- Brian Woodward
Oxford Rebels[]
- Malcolm Ballard
- John Davis
- Paul Gachet
- Colin Gooddy
- Roger Johns
- Gordon Kennett
- George Major
- Ken McKinlay
- Garry Middleton
- Taffy Owen
- Lou Sansom
- Rick Timmo
Poole Pirates[]
- Mike Cake
- Brian Collins
- Odd Fossengen
- Christer Löfqvist
- Lou Sansom
- Frank Shuter
- Pete Smith
- Martin Yeates
Reading Racers[]
- Mick Bell
- Arthur Browning
- Geoff Curtis
- Roger Johns
- Dag Lövaas
- Richard May
- Anders Michanek
- Geoff Mudge
Sheffield Tigers[]
- Reidar Eide
- Arnold Haley
- Bert Harkins
- Bob Valentine
- Reg Wilson
- Doug Wyer
Swindon Robins[]
- David Ashby
- Martin Ashby
- James Bond
- Barry Briggs
- Mike Broadbank
- Garry Flood
- Norman Hunter
- Brian Leonard
Wimbledon Dons[]
- John Dews
- Trevor Hedge
- Ronnie Moore
- Tommy Jansson
- Graeme Stapleton
Wolverhampton Wolves[]
- Geoff Bouchard
- Garry Flood
- George Hunter
- Norman Hunter
- Tom Leadbitter
- George Major
- Colin Meredith
- Ole Olsen
- Jan Simensen
See also[]
- List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
- Knockout Cup (speedway)
References[]
- ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
- ^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
- ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
- ^ "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
- ^ "Svein Kasa". Speedway Plus. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
- ^ Bamford,R & Shailes,G (2007). “The Story of Oxford Speedway”. ISBN 978-0-7524-4161-0
- ^ "1972 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
- ^ a b "Season 1972" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
- British League
- 1972 in British motorsport
- 1972 in speedway