1973 British League season

1973 British League season

League	British League
Champions	Reading Racers
No. of competitors	18
Knockout Cup	Belle Vue Aces
Individual	Ivan Mauger
Highest average	Ivan Mauger
Division/s below	British League (Div 2)
← 1972 1974 →

The 1973 British League season was the 39th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the ninth season known as the British League.^[1][2]

Summary[]

Glasgow Tigers relocated to become Coatbridge Tigers.^[3]

The Reading Racers won their first title, ending the dominance of Belle Vue Aces who could only finish in sixth place. Swede Anders Michanek was in imperious form, going undefeated at Reading Stadium (which was in its final year as a venue). He finished with a 11.36 average ahead of the four time world champion Ivan Mauger on 11.29. In addition to Michanek the Reading team was boosted by high scoring from Norwegian Dag Lövaas and Australian Geoff Curtis.^[4] In a sensational finish to the 1973 Knockout Cup final Reading were beaten by Belle Vue in a run-off for the Cup after an aggregate draw over two legs.^[5]

Reading's success had a sour note after the season had finished when Geoff Curtis returned to Australia for the Australian season and was killed in a race at the Sydney Showground in December.^[6]

Final table[]

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Reading Racers	34	25	1	8	51
2	Sheffield Tigers	34	22	3	9	47
3	King's Lynn Stars	34	20	3	11	43
4	Leicester Lions	34	21	0	13	42
5	Ipswich Witches	34	19	2	12	41
6	Belle Vue Aces	34	19	1	14	39
7	Wolverhampton Wolves	34	18	1	15	37
8	Exeter Falcons	34	16	3	15	35
9	Halifax Dukes	34	16	2	16	34
10	Newport Wasps	34	16	0	18	32
11	Oxford Rebels	34	14	2	18	30
12	Wimbledon Dons	34	14	1	19	29
13	Swindon Robins	34	13	3	18	29
14	Poole Pirates	34	13	2	19	28
15	Coventry Bees	34	13	0	21	26
16	Hackney Hawks	34	11	4	19	26
17	Coatbridge Tigers	34	12	1	21	25
18	Cradley United	34	7	4	23	18

M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points

Leading riders[]

Both Michanek and Mauger recorded perfect 12 point average scores at home for the season, meaning they were unbeaten by any opposing rider on their own track in League competition.

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Anders Michanek		Reading Racers	11.36
2	Ivan Mauger		Exeter Falcons	11.29
3	Ole Olsen		Wolverhampton Wolves	10.82
4	Chris Pusey		Belle Vue Aces	10.55
5	Eric Boocock		Halifax Dukes	10.32
6	Malcolm Simmons		King's Lynn Stars	10.26
7	John Boulger		Leicester Lions	10.24
8	Martin Ashby		Swindon Robins	10.18
9	John Louis		Ipswich Witches	10.06
10	Dag Lövaas		Reading Racers	10.06
11	Terry Betts		King's Lynn Stars	9.95
12	Reidar Eide		Newport Wasps	977
13	Christer Löfqvist		Poole Pirates	9.58
14	Ray Wilson		Leicester Lions	9.44
15	Bernt Persson		Cradley United	9.38
16	Bob Valentine		Sheffield Tigers	9.30
17	Dave Jessup		Leicester Lions	9.24
18	Tommy Jansson		Wimbledon Dons	9.19
19	Howard Cole (a.k.a Kid Brodie)		Cradley United	9.12
20	Peter Collins		Belle Vue Aces	9.08

British League Knockout Cup[]

The 1973 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 35th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Belle Vue were the winners after Peter Collins of Belle Vue defeated Anders Michanek of Reading in a race-off because the tie had finished 78-78 on aggregate.^[7]

First Round[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
28/04	Belle Vue	48-30	Oxford
28/04	Coventry	44-34	Reading
27/04	Hackney	43-35	Swindon
26/04	Oxford	41-37	Belle Vue

Second Round[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
25/06	Reading	56-22	Coatbridge
22/06	Coatbridge	41-37	Reading
15/06	Wolverhampton	43-35	Exeter
14/06	Sheffield	29-49	Belle Vue
12/06	Leicester	36-42	Kings Lynn
02/06	Belle Vue	43-35	Sheffield
02/06	Halifax	49-29	Wimbledon
30/05	Poole	40-38	Cradley Heath
26/05	Kings Lynn	42-36	Leicester
18/05	Newport	45-33	Ipswich
17/05	Ipswich	41-37	Newport
17/05	Wimbledon	37-41	Halifax
12/05	Cradley Heath	37-41	Poole
12/05	Swindon	43-35	Hackney
07/05	Exeter	37-41	Wolverhampton
28/07	Swindon	52-25	Hackney
15/06	Hackney	43-35	Swindon

Quarter Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
01/09	Swindon	39-39	Wolverhampton
17/08	Newport	45-33	Reading
17/08	Wolverhampton	43-35	Swindon
13/08	Halifax	41-37	Belle Vue
10/08	Poole	39-39	Kings Lynn
30/07	Reading	55-23	Newport
18/07	Belle Vue	57-21	Halifax
23/06	Kings Lynn	47-31	Poole

Semi Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
26/09	Belle Vue	48-30	Wolverhampton
14/09	Wolverhampton	42-36	Belle Vue
05/09	Kings Lynn	40-38	Reading
03/09	Reading	52-26	Kings Lynn

Final[]

First leg[]

Second leg[]

Match finished 78-78 on aggregate. Belle Vue won race-off.

Teams[]

Belle Vue Aces[]

• Eric Broadbelt
• Peter Collins
• 
• 
• 
• Chris Morton
• 
• Chris Pusey
• 
• Sören Sjösten
• 
• Alan Wilkinson

Coatbridge Tigers[]

• 
• 
• 
• 
• Bobby Beaton
• 
• 
• Kjell Gimre
• Roger Johns
• Ken McKinlay
• Jimmy McMillan
• Neil Middleditch
• Egon Müller
• 
• 
• 
• Christer Sjösten
• 
• 
• John Wilson

Coventry Bees[]

• 
• Nigel Boocock
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Roger Johns
• 
• George Major
• Garry Middleton
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Cradley United[]

• Geoff Ambrose
• 
• Howard Cole+ (+ rode under the name of Kid Brodie)
• 
• Bruce Cribb
• 
• 
• Colin Gooddy
• 
• 
• 
• Roger Johns
• 
• Ulf Lövaas
• George Major
• Ken McKinlay
• 
• Dave Perks
• Bernt Persson
• 

Exeter Falcons[]

• Scott Autrey
• 
• 
• Kevin Holden
• 
• Chris Julian
• Bob Kilby
• Tony Lomas
• 
• Ivan Mauger
• Neil Middleditch
• Mike Sampson
• Frank Shuter

Hackney Hawks[]

• Mike Broadbank
• 
• Laurie Etheridge
• 
• Bengt Jansson
• Roger Johns
• Barney Kennett
• 
• 
• 
• Peter Moore
• Dave Morton
• Tommy Nilsson
• 
• Glyn Taylor
• Hugh Saunders
• Barry Thomas

Halifax Dukes[]

• Bill Andrew
• Frank Auffret
• Eric Boocock
• Paul Gachet
• 
• 
• Carl Glover
• Jan Terje Gravningen
• 
• 
• 
• John Jackson
• Charlie Monk
• 
• John Titman
• 

Ipswich Witches[]

• Mike Lanham
• John Louis
• Olle Nygren
• Tony Davey
• 
• 
• Tommy Johansson
• 
• 
• Billy Sanders

King's Lynn Stars[]

• Ray Bales
• Terry Betts
• 
• Phil Crump
• 
• 
• 
• David Gagen
• Richard Hellsen
• 
• Ken McKinlay
• 
• Kelvin Mullarkey
• 
• 
• Arthur Price
• 
• Malcolm Simmons
• 
• Ian Turner

Leicester Lions[]

• Geoff Ambrose
• Frank Auffret
• John Boulger
• Malcolm Brown
• Brian Foote
• Bruce Forrester
• Dave Jessup
• 
• Malcolm Shakespeare
• Norman Storer
• Keith White
• Ray Wilson

Newport[]

• Alan Cowland
• Reidar Eide
• 
• Geoff Mudge
• Paul Gachet
• Roger Mills
• Graham Plant
• Pete Smith
• 
• Neil Street
• 
• Roy Trigg
• Rick Woods
• Brian Woodward

Oxford Rebels[]

• Malcolm Ballard
• Mike Broadbank
• 
• John Davis
• John Dews
• Paul Gachet
• Hasse Holmqvist
• 
• Roger Johns
• Gordon Kennett
• Bob Kilby
• Tony Lomas
• 
• 
• Rick Timmo

Poole Pirates[]

• 
• Mike Broadbank
• 
• Arthur Browning
• 
• 
• Brian Collins
• John Davis
• Odd Fossengen
• Roger Johns
• Christer Löfqvist
• 
• 
• 
• Pete Smith
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Antoni Woryna
• Martin Yeates

Reading Racers[]

• Mick Bell
• Geoff Bouchard
• Mike Broadbank
• Geoff Curtis
• 
• Trevor Geer
• Carl Glover
• 
• Richard Greer
• Roger Johns
• 
• 
• Dag Lövaas
• Richard May
• 
• Anders Michanek
• 
• Dave Morton
• 
• 
• 
• 

Sheffield Tigers[]

• Rick France
• Arnold Haley
• 
• 
• 
• Bob Valentine
• Reg Wilson
• Doug Wyer

Swindon Robins[]

• David Ashby
• Martin Ashby
• George Barclay
• Geoff Bouchard
• Arthur Browning
• Paul Gachet
• Carl Glover
• Mick Handley
• Norman Hunter
• Roger Johns
• 
• 
• 
• Brian Leonard
• 
• 
• Edgar Stangeland
• Doug Underwood
• 
• 

Wimbledon Dons[]

• 
• 
• Alan Cowland
• 
• 
• Bert Harkins
• Trevor Hedge
• Tommy Jansson
• 
• Reg Luckhurst
• 
• Graeme Stapleton

Wolverhampton Wolves[]

• 
• 
• Arthur Browning
• 
• 
• 
• Ken Eyre
• 
• 
• 
• 
• Carl Glover
• 
• Phil Herne
• George Hunter
• Roger Johns
• Tom Leadbitter
• George Major
• Colin Meredith
• Ole Olsen
• 
• Gary Peterson
• 

See also[]

• List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
• Knockout Cup (speedway)

References[]