The 1972 British League Division Two season was the second tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.
Summary The league still consisted of 17 teams with two teams leaving the league and two teams entering. The Rochdale Hornets had disbanded for good at the end of the previous season, whilst Ipswich Witches moved up to the British League. Two newly created teams Ellesmere Port Gunners and Scunthorpe Saints joined the league. The Romford Bombers promotion and team moved to the West Ham Stadium replacing the defunct West Ham Hammers at the stadium but halfway through the season, they moved again to become Barrow Happy Faces as their sponsor at the time was Duckhams Oil - its happy face logo was prominently displayed on the team's race jackets.
Crewe Kings won their first title and completed the league and cup double. Crewe were led by their Australian Phil Crump who finished top of the league averages and won the Riders' Championship. John Jackson also finished with an impressive average, as did their new signing Australian international Garry Flood. Flood would only ride the one season in speedway and would go on to win eight Australian Motocross Championships.
Final table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Crewe Kings 32 22 1 9 452 Boston Barracudas 32 21 1 10 433 Peterborough Panthers 32 21 0 11 424 Rayleigh Rockets 32 17 4 11 385 Eastbourne Eagles 32 18 2 12 386 Birmingham Brummies 32 18 1 13 377 Workington Comets 32 18 0 14 368 Hull Vikings 32 16 0 16 329 Barrow Happy Faces 32 15 1 16 3110 Teesside Teessiders 32 14 3 15 3111 Bradford Northern 32 15 0 17 3012 Sunderland Stars 32 13 2 17 2813 Canterbury Crusaders 32 13 1 18 2714 Berwick Bandits 32 12 3 17 2715 Ellesmere Port Gunners 32 12 0 20 2416 Long Eaton Rangers 32 11 2 19 2417 Scunthorpe Saints 32 5 1 26 11
Fixtures and results
Top five riders (league averages) Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Phil Crump Crewe 11.10 2 Geoff Maloney Rayleigh 10.53 3 Richard Greer Peterborough 9.98 4 John Harrhy Peterborough 9.93 5 John Jackson Crewe 9.91
British League Division Two Knockout Cup The 1972 British League Division Two Knockout Cup (sponsored by the Speedway Express) was the fifth edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Crewe Kings were the winners of the competition.
First round Date Team one Score Team two01/05 Crewe 49-29 Ellesmere Port02/05 Ellesmere Port 33-45 Crewe Second round Date Team one Score Team two05/06 Crewe 59-19 Scunthorpe04/06 Scunthorpe 19-59 Crewe04/06 Sunderland 55-23 Workington09/06 Workington 46-31 Sunderland25/06 Eastbourne 50-28 Long Eaton08/06 Long Eaton 38-40 Eastbourne04/06 Boston 46-32 Rayleigh17/06 Rayleigh 43-35 Boston09/06 Peterborough 52-26 Barrow13/06 Barrow 36-42 Peterborough07/06 Bradford 52-26 Berwick10/06 Berwick 39-38 Bradford05/06 Birmingham 43-35 Canterbury10/06 Canterbury 41-37 Birmingham08/06Teesside 48-30 Hull07/06 Hull 40-38 Teesside Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two03/07 Crewe 53-25 Sunderland03/07 Sunderland 42-36 Crewe09/07Eastbourne 45-33 Boston02/07 Boston 40-38 Eastbourne07/07 Peterborough 36-14 Bradford05/07 Bradford 45-33 Peterborough03/07 Birmingham 48-30 Teesside06/07 Teesside 41-37Birmingham Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two31/07 Crewe 47-31 Eastbourne30/07 Eastbourne 44-34 Crewe04/08 Peterborough 43-35 Birmingham14/08Birmingham 42-36 Peterborough Final First leg
Second leg
Crewe were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 89–67.
Leading final averages Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Phil Crump Crewe 11.13 2 Geoff Maloney Rayleigh 10.34 =3 Richard Greer Peterborough 10.03 =3 John Jackson Crewe 10.03 5 Malcolm Ballard Eastbourne 9.94
Riders' Championship Phil Crump won the Rider's Championship, held at Wimbledon Stadium on 14 October.
Pos. Rider Pts Total1 Phil Crump r 3 3 3 3 12+32 Arthur Price 3 2 3 2 2 12+2 3 Bob Coles 3 3 1 1 3 11+34 Ross Gilbertson 3 3 2 3 fex 11+disq 5 Roger Mills 1 2 2 3 2 106 Malcolm Ballard f 0 3 3 3 9 7 Bob Young 1 1 2 2 9 8 Doug Templeton 2 1 2 2 1 89 George Major 1 0 3 2 2 810 Dave Baugh 2 1 ex 1 3 711 Paul Tyrer 2 3 ex ex 0 5 12 Taffy Owen 1 0 2 0 1 4 13 Dave Durham 1 1 0 1 1 414 Richard Greer 0 2 1 0 1 4 15 Russ Dent 2 0 0 1 0 316 Tony Childs 0 2 0 0 0 217 John Jackson (res) 1 018 Ray Watkins (res) 0 0 0 f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure
North Eastern Trophy M W D L Pts 1 Berwick 6 4 1 1 9 2 Teesside 6 3 1 2 7 3 Hull 6 2 1 3 5 4 Sunderland 6 0 3 3 3
Riders' final averages Barrow
Bob Coles 8.61 Mike Sampson 8.35 Mike Watkin 6.75 Tom Owen 5.36 Ian Hindle 4.95 Chris Roynon 4.57 Bobby Campbell 4.36 Keith Evans 4.33 Alan Mackie 3.69
Berwick
Jimmy Gallacher 8.35 Andy Meldrum 8.35 Doug Templeton 8.31 Willie Templeton 7.27 Jim Beaton 6.34 Graham Jones 4.26 George Beaton 4.00 Geoff Davies 3.87 Dennis Jackson 3.07 Alistair Brady 2.53
Birmingham
Pete Bailey 9.57 Arthur Browning 9.42 George Major 7.87 Terry Shearer 7.55 Mick Hines 7.34 Malcolm Corradine 6.00 Mike Lanham 5.94 Cliff Emms 5.83 Archie Wilkinson 5.00 Mike Gardner 4.32 Steve Wilson 3.84
Boston
Arthur Price 9.10 Jim Ryman 8.58 Russ Osborne 7.72 Carl Glover 7.38 Tony Featherstone 6.38 Ray Bales 6.27 Vic Cross 5.87 Jack Bywater 5.23
Bradford
Dave Baugh 8.69 Alan Knapkin 8.11 Robin Adlington 7.89 Colin Meredith 5.92 Alf Wells 5.92 Alan Bridget 5.82 Barry Meeks 4.81 Sid Sheldrick 4.73 Mick Fielding 3.88 Mick Fairbairn 3.54
Canterbury
Ross Gilbertson 9.46 Graham Banks 7.62 Ted Hubbard 7.26 Dave Piddock 7.03 Bob Hughes 6.46 Barney Kennett 6.25 Les Rumsey 4.87 Trevor Jones 4.31 Charlie Benham 3.49 Mike Vernam 3.33 Gary Cottham Sr. 3.20
Crewe
Phil Crump 11.13 John Jackson 10.03 Garry Flood 8.40 Dai Evans 7.12 Dave Morton 6.60 Dave Parry 5.76 Peter Nicholas 5.00 Garry Moore 4.56
Eastbourne
Malcolm Ballard 9.94 Gordon Kennett 8.68 Bobby McNeil 7.84 Roger Johns 7.24 Reg Trott 5.60 Trevor Geer 5.51 Derek Cook 5.42 Paul Gachet 5.14 Simon Bruce 3.91
Ellesmere Port
Paul Tyrer 8.47 Graham Drury 6.56 Colin Goad 6.42 Robbie Gardner 6.40 Cyril Francis 5.65 Ian Gills 5.41 Chris Blythe 4.50 Paul Callaghan 4.45 Geoff Pusey 1.90
Hull
Tony Childs 9.03 Dave Mills 8.59 Robin Amundson 7.73 Stan Stevens 6.76 Dennis Gavros 5.71 Bryan Loakes 5.40 Pete Boston 4.95 Clark Facey 4.54 Dennis Wasden 4.31 Colin Tucker 4.15 Bernie Hornby 1.82
Long Eaton
Geoff Bouchard 8.06 Roger Mills 7.95 Joe Hughes 6.29 Steve Bass 5.77 Chris Harrison 4.42 Peter Jarvis 4.05 Cliff Emms 3.40 Phil Whittaker 3.39 Gil Farmer 3.06 Ian Champion 2.67 Brian Woodhouse 1.56
Peterborough
Richard Greer 10.03 John Harrhy 9.93 (7 matches only) John Davis 8.13 Roy Carter 8.12 Clive Noy 6.63 Ted Howgego 6.57 Alan Witt 5.09 Brian Clark 5.05 Pete Saunders 5.04 Frank Smith 4.67 John Amies 4.12 David Ashby 3.89
Rayleigh
Geoff Maloney 10.34 Bob Young 8.74 Brian Foote 8.67 Allan Emmett 8.21 Trevor Barnwell 6.22 Dingle Brown 6.12 Dave "Tiger" Beech 5.90 Nigel Rackett 5.12 Ivan Miller 5.04 Peter Claridge 4.38 Terry Stone 3.79
Scunthorpe
Brian Maxted 6.36 Terry Kelly 6.00 Ray Watkins 5.80 Phil Bass 5.78 Doug Underwood 5.08 Ian Wilson 5.00 Rod Haynes 4.79 Brian Osborn 4.07 Alan Bellham 3.70 John Bowerman 3.67 Peter Taylor 2.82
Sunderland
Jack Millen 8.69 Graeme Smith 8.29 Russ Dent 7.25 George Barclay 6.88 Dave Gatenby 5.27 Peter Wrathall 4.16 Jim Wells 3.81
Teesside
Roger Wright 8.56 Dave Durham 7.90 Bruce Forrester 7.35 Frank Auffret 6.93 Pete Reading 6.54 Tim Swales 5.97 Mick Moore 5.79 Tony Swales 4.32 Maxwell Clift .3.00
Workington
Taffy Owen 8.8 Lou Sansom 8.53 Malcolm MacKay 8.47 Mitch Graham 6.43 Kym Amundson 5.89 Steve Watson 5.13 Dave Kumeta 4.04 Darryl Stobbart 4.00 Lindsay Davies 3.71
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References