1972 British League season

The 1972 British League season was the 38th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the eighth season of the British League.

Summary Ipswich Witches moved up from Division Two but London lost two clubs, when the Wembley Lions closed due to extra football fixtures and West Ham Hammers withrew during the early part of the season, reducing the league to eighteen teams.

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.

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 Svein Kaasa, 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.Bamford, R & Shailes, G (2007). “The Story of Oxford Speedway”.

Leicester won the Midland Cup and Reading won the Spring Gold Cup. There was no London Cup due to there being only two teams following the demise of West Ham and Wembley.

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 7 514 Sheffield Tigers 34 23 3 8 495 Leicester Lions 34 17 5 12 396 Ipswich Witches 34 17 1 16 357 Poole Pirates 34 15 2 17 328 Hackney Hawks 34 16 0 18 329 Wolverhampton Wolves 34 16 0 18 3010 Coventry Bees 34 14 2 18 2811 Exeter Falcons 34 13 2 19 2812 Halifax Dukes 34 13 2 19 2813 Wimbledon Dons 34 14 0 20 2614 Glasgow Tigers 34 12 2 20 2515 Swindon Robins 34 12 1 21 2516 Cradley Heath Heathens 34 11 3 20 2517 Oxford Rebels 34 10 0 24 2018 Newport Wasps 34 9 0 25 18M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points

Fixtures and results

Top ten riders (league averages) Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Ivan Mauger Belle Vue 11.42 2 Ole Olsen Wolverhampton 11.36 3 Eric Boocock Halifax 10.53 4 Anders Michanek Reading 10.51 5 Bernt Persson Cradley Heath 10.50 6 Terry Betts King's Lynn 10.46 7 Barry Briggs Swindon 10.38 8 Ronnie Moore Wimbledon 10.31 9 Ray Wilson Leicester 10.16 10 Martin Ashby Swindon 10.07

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.

First round Date Team one Score Team two09/05 Ipswich 46–32 Sheffield08/05 Exeter 48–30 Swindon06/05 Halifax 42–36 Leicester

Second round Date Team one Score Team two03/07 Exeter 50–28 Wimbledon26/06 Hackney 52–26 Cradley Heath21/06 Poole 52–26 Halifax16/06 Newport 42–36 Coventry16/06 Wolverhampton 38–40 Reading15/06 Oxford 35–42 Kings Lynn10/06 Cradley Heath 39–39 Hackney03/06 Belle Vue 41–37 Glasgow

Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two31/08 Ipswich 38–40 Reading05/08 Belle Vue 58–20 Newport05/08 Kings Lynn 56–22 Exeter04/08 Hackney 45–33 Poole

Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two27/09 Kings Lynn 38–40 Belle Vue22/09 Hackney 40–38 Reading

Final

First leg

Second leg

Belle Vue Aces were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 82-73.

Riders' Championship Ole Olsen won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 21 October.

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total1 Ole Olsen 3 3 3 3 3 152 Martin Ashby 2 3 3 3 3 143 Ronnie Moore 3 3 2 3 2 134 John Louis 1 1 3 3 3 11 5 Anders Michanek 3 2 1 2 1 96 Terry Betts 2 2 2 1 2 97 Ivan Mauger 3 3 ef ef 2 8 8 Garry Middleton 2 2 2 2 0 8 9 Christer Löfqvist 2 0 1 1 3 7 10 Bernt Persson ef 2 3 ex 1 6 11 Ray Wilson 0 1 2 2 0 512 Bengt Jansson 1 0 1 1 1 4 13 Bob Kilby 1 0 0 0 2 3 14 Eric Boocock 0 1 1 0 1 315 Nigel Boocock 1 ef 0 1 0 2 16 Jim McMillan (res) 2 217 Arnie Haley 0 1 0 0 0 1 ef=engine failure, f=fell, ex=excluded

Final leading averages Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Ole Olsen Wolverhampton 11.39 2 Ivan Mauger Belle Vue 11.36 3 Terry Betts King's Lynn 10.51 4 Anders Michanek Reading 10.51 5 Barry Briggs Swindon 10.38 6 Eric Boocock Halifax 10.36 7 Ronnie Moore Wimbledon 10.34 8 Bernt Persson Cradley 10.27 9 Ray Wilson Leicester 10.14 10 Martin Ashby Swindon 10.08 11 Bob Kilby Exeter 9.89 12 John Boulger Leicester 9.46 13 John Louis Ipswich 9.39 14 Bengt Jansson Hackney 9.38 15 Garry Middleton Oxford 9.24 16 Nigel Boocock Coventry 9.23 17 Howard Cole (a.k.a. Kid Brodie) King's Lynn 8.94 18 Sören Sjösten Belle Vue 8.92 19 Christer Löfqvist Poole 8.90 20 Jim McMillan Glasgow 8.86

Midland Cup Leicester won the Midland Cup. The competition consisted of six teams.

First round Team one Team two ScoreOxford Swindon 44–34, 34–44WolverhamptonCradley40–38, 39–39Swindon Oxford 39–39, 36–41

Semi final round Team one Team two ScoreSwindon Leicester 42–36, 30–48Coventry Wolverhampton 41–37, 37–41Coventry Wolverhampton 42–36, 33–45

Final

First leg

Second leg

Leicester won on aggregate 82–74

Spring Gold Cup M W D L Pts 1Reading 8 7 0 1 14 2 King's Lynn 8 5 0 3 10 3 Hackney 8 4 0 4 8 4 Wimbledon 8 3 0 5 6 5 Ipswich 8 1 0 7 2

Riders and final averages Belle Vue

11.36 8.92 8.44 8.20 6.72 6.68 5.56 5.11

Coventry

9.23 8.10 7.07 6.85 5.61 5.33 5.19 4.52 4.14

Cradley Heath

10.27 7.30 6.95 4.90 4.61 4.57 3.73 2.00 0.91

Exeter

9.89 8.23 6.29 6.06 5.85 5.75 5.28 4.89 4.00 1.18

Glasgow

8.86 8.58 8.41 6.91 4.94 4.00 3.72 3.47 2.09 1.82

Hackney

9.38 7.79 6.38 6.32 6.27 6.24 5.78 4.00 3.20

Halifax

10.36 8.16 7.39 5.87 5.70 5.36 4.03 3.57 3.53

Ipswich

9.39 7.78 7.67 6.96 5.07 4.61 4.46 4.35

King's Lynn

10.51 (Kid Bodie) 8.94 8.36 7.30 6.21 5.72 5.47 4.75 4.33

Leicester

10.14 9.46 8.68 4.98 4.81 4.47 3.93 3.25

Newport

7.45 7.15 6.41 5.28 4.49 4.36 3.75 3.49

Oxford

9.24 7.97 6.49 6.25 5.14 4.81 4.37 3.64 3.00

Poole

8.90 8.00 6.71 6.47 5.75 5.42 4.66

Reading

10.51 8.78 7.73 7.07 6.38 6.24 5.02 3.77

Sheffield

8.85 8.81 7.46 7.34 7.15 7.15 6.33

Swindon

10.38 10.08 6.08 4.88 4.62 4.21 3.88 3.56 2.00

Wimbledon

10.34 8.13 7.45 5.02 4.45 3.96 3.53 3.26 1.71

Wolverhampton

11.39 7.76 6.67 5.88 4.59 4.04 3.75 1.65

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

References