1975 British League season

1975 British League season
League	British League
Champions	Ipswich Witches
No. of competitors	18
Knockout Cup	Belle Vue Aces
Individual	Peter Collins
Highest average	Ivan Mauger
Division/s below	1975 National League
	← 1974; 1976 →;

The 1975 Gulf Oil British League season was the 41st season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the 11th season known as the British League.^[1]

Summary[]

The league was sponsored for the first time by Gulf Oil. Reading Racers returned after a one-season absence to increase the size of the league back to eighteen teams and the ban on Overseas riders that rode in other leagues abroad was lifted.^[2]

The Ipswich Witches won their first title, defeating Belle Vue Aces by a solitary point. John Louis and Billy Sanders scored heavily throughout the season for Ipswich. Belle Vue found consolation by winning the Knockout Cup.^[3]^[4]

Final table[]

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Ipswich Witches	34	26	1	7	53
2	Belle Vue Aces	34	25	2	7	52
3	Newport	34	24	1	9	49
4	Exeter Falcons	34	20	3	11	45
5	Sheffield Tigers	34	21	0	13	42
6	Reading Racers	34	21	0	13	42
7	Oxford Rebels	34	18	0	16	36
8	Leicester Lions	34	16	4	14	36
9	Wimbledon Dons	34	16	2	16	34
10	Halifax Dukes	34	15	3	16	33
11	Cradley United	34	15	2	17	32
12	King's Lynn Stars	34	14	3	17	31
13	Wolverhampton Wolves	34	13	1	20	27
14	Hull Vikings	34	10	4	20	24
15	Poole Pirates	34	10	3	21	23
16	Coventry Bees	34	9	2	23	20
17	Hackney Hawks	34	9	1	24	19
18	Swindon Robins	34	8	0	26	16

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

Leading riders[]

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ivan Mauger		Exeter Falcons	11.52
2	Phil Crump		Newport	11.15
3	Peter Collins		Belle Vue Aces	11.13
4	Anders Michanek		Reading Racers	10.90
5	Ole Olsen		Wolverhampton Wolves	10.79
6	John Louis		Ipswich Witches	10.58
7	Dave Jessup		Leicester Lions	10.41
8	Malcolm Simmons		Poole Pirates	10.41
9	Martin Ashby		Swindon Robins	10.13
10	Tommy Jansson		Wimbledon Dons	10.12
11	Dag Lövaas		Oxford Rebels	10.04
12	Ray Wilson		Wolverhampton Wolves	9.90
13	Reg Wilson		Sheffield Tigers	9.79
14	Jim McMillan		Hull Vikings	9.69
15	Billy Sanders		Ipswich Witches	9.58
16	Doug Wyer		Sheffield Tigers	9.37
17	Chris Morton		Belle Vue Aces	9.27
18	Barry Briggs		Wimbledon Dons	9.23
19	Scott Autrey		Exeter Falcons	9.19
20	Reidar Eide		Newport	8.98

British League Knockout Cup[]

The 1975 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 37th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Belle Vue Aces were the winners.^[5]

First Round[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
22/05	Sheffield	44-34	Exeter
19/04	Belle Vue	49-29	Wolverhampton
18/04	Wolverhampton	37-41	Belle Vue
14/04	Exeter	47-31	Sheffield

Second Round[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
01/07	Leicester	47-31	Hackney
27/06	Hackney	40-38	Leicester
23/06	Cradley Heath	46-32	Kings Lynn
21/06	Kings Lynn	42-36	Cradley Heath
19/06	Oxford	60-18	Coventry
19/06	Ipswich	42-36	Belle Vue
16/06	Exeter	43-35	Poole
16/06	Reading	38-40	Newport
14/06	Swindon	47-31	Hull
14/06	Coventry	33-45	Oxford
11/06	Poole	41-37	Exeter
11/06	Hull	46-32	Swindon
07/06	Halifax	58-20	Wimbledon
06/06	Newport	46-32	Reading
05/06	Wimbledon	49-29	Halifax
04/06	Belle Vue	49-28	Ipswich

Quarter Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
09/08	Cradley Heath	51-27	Newport
09/08	Belle Vue	45-33	Oxford
08/08	Newport	49-29	Cradley Heath
07/08	Oxford	36-42	Belle Vue
02/08	Swindon	32-46	Leicester
29/07	Leicester	42-36	Swindon
17/07	Exeter	43-35	Halifax
05/07	Halifax	47-31	Exeter

Semi Finals[]

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
05/10	Belle Vue	44-34	Cradley Heath
27/09	Halifax	37-40	Leicester
26/09	Leicester	47-31	Halifax
22/09	Cradley Heath	32-45	Belle Vue

Final[]

First leg[]

7 October 1975

Leicester Lions Dave Jessup 11 Ila Teromaa 10 Ray Wilson 9 Frank Auffret 6 Doug Underwood 2 Tony Lomas 0 Keith White 0	38 - 40	Belle Vue Aces Peter Collins 12 Chris Morton 9 Sören Sjösten 7 4 Alan Wilkinson 4 3 1
	^[6]

Leicester Stadium

Second leg[]

22 October 1975

Belle Vue Aces Peter Collins 12 Sören Sjösten 8 8 Alan Wilkinson 8 Chris Morton 7 2 1	46 - 32	Leicester Lions Dave Jessup 8 Ray Wilson 7 Frank Auffret 6 Doug Underwood 6 Tony Lomas 3 Ila Teromaa 1 Keith White 1
	^[6]

Belle Vue Stadium

Belle Vue Aces were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 86-70.

Teams[]

Belle Vue Aces[]

Les Collins
Peter Collins
Chris Morton
Sören Sjösten
Chris Turner
Alan Wilkinson

Coventry Bees[]

Nigel Boocock
Alan Molyneux
Tommy Nilsson
Pepe Teromaa
Mitch Shirra
Bob Valentine

Cradley United[]

Carl Askew
Steve Bastable
John Boulger
Bruce Cribb
Steve Holden
Sándor Lévai
Kelvin Mullarkey
Dave Perks
Bernt Persson
Arthur Price
Chris Turner
Steve Weatherley

Exeter Falcons[]

Scott Autrey
Mike Farrell
Vic Harding
Kevin Holden
Chris Julian
Ivan Mauger
Geoff Mudge
Les Rumsey
Mike Sampson
John Titman

Hackney Hawks[]

Mike Broadbank
Laurie Etheridge
Barney Kennett
Christer Löfqvist
Dave Morton
Joe Owen
Zenon Plech
Kelvin Mullarkey
Barry Thomas

Halifax Dukes[]

Ian Cartwright
Rick France
John Jackson
Henny Kroeze
Charlie Monk
Graham Plant
Chris Pusey

Hull Vikings[]

Bobby Beaton
Arthur Browning
Alan Cowland
Alan Grahame
Vic Harding
Brian Havelock
Tommy Johansson
Jimmy McMillan
Joe Owen
Tom Owen
Colin Richardson
Mike Sampson
Lou Sansom
Steve Weatherley

Ipswich Witches[]

Tony Davey
Mike Lanham
John Louis
Billy Sanders

Leicester Lions[]

Frank Auffret
Bob Cooper
Alan Emerson
Dave Jessup
Brian Leonard
Tony Lomas
Norman Storer
Ila Teromaa
Doug Underwood
Keith White
Ray Wilson

Newport[]

Arthur Browning
Phil Crump
Reidar Eide
Phil Herne
Barney Kennett
Joe Owen
Tom Owen
Mike Sampson
Neil Street
Brian Woodward

Oxford Rebels[]

John Dews
Paul Gachet
Trevor Geer
Richard Greer
Richard Hellsen
Hasse Holmqvist
Barney Kennett
Gordon Kennett
Dag Lövaas
Steve Weatherley

Poole Pirates[]

Christoph Betzl
Eric Broadbelt
Colin Gooddy
Alan Grahame
Neil Middleditch
Malcolm Simmons
Christer Sjösten
Pete Smith
Steve Weatherley
Martin Yeates

Reading Racers[]

Mick Bell
John Davis
Bengt Jansson
Richard May
Anders Michanek
Colin Richardson

Sheffield Tigers[]

Carl Askew
Carl Glover
Arnold Haley
Reg Wilson
Doug Wyer

Swindon Robins[]

Jan Andersson
David Ashby
Martin Ashby
Geoff Bouchard
Alan Grahame
Mick Handley
Norman Hunter
Bob Kilby
Colin Richardson
Edgar Stangeland
Steve Wilcock

Wimbledon Dons[]

Barry Briggs
Bert Harkins
Tommy Jansson
Roger Johns
Reg Luckhurst
Edgar Stangeland
Larry Ross

Wolverhampton Wolves[]

Carl Askew
Arthur Browning
Alan Emerson
Alan Grahame
George Hunter
Tom Leadbitter
Colin Meredith
Ole Olsen
Gary Peterson
Malcolm Shakespeare
Finn Thomsen

References[]

^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
^ "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
^ "1975 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
^ ^a ^b "Season 1975" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.

[1] "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.

[2] Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.

[3] "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 2 July 2021.

[4] Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.

[5] "1975 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.

[S75-6] "Season 1975" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.

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v t Speedway in the United Kingdom
Current leagues	SGB Premiership SGB Championship National League List of United Kingdom speedway league champions
Former leagues	Elite League Premier League National League (1932–1964) Provincial League British League British League Division Two/National League Conference League National League Division Two National League Division Three English Dirt Track League/Northern League Southern League (1929–1931) Southern League (1952–1953) Provincial League (1936–1937) Southern Area League
See also	Knockout Cups League Riders' champions League Pairs champions League Fours champions British Speedway Championship British U-21 British U-19 Craven and Young Shields Elite Shield
See also	Speedway British Speedway Promoters' Association Speedway Control Bureau

v t United Kingdom Speedway Seasons
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Champions	League champions Cup winners