The 1973 British League Division Two season was the second tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.
Summary The 1973 season saw the league expanded to 18 teams with the addition of Chesterton Potters. The team had last raced during the 1963 Provincial Speedway League season under the name of the Stoke Potters.
Boston Barracudas won their first title and went on to win the league and cup double. Boston had finished runner-up to Crewe Kings the previous season, with decent season averages recorded by five riders Arthur Price, Jim Ryman, Carl Glover, Russ Osborne and Ray Bales. With a largely unchanged team, they went one place better by sealing the league title. Boston won easily, 14 points clear of their nearest rival, and four of the five riders improved their averages from 1972. Arthur Price also won the Riders' Championship.
Final table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Boston Barracudas 33 29 0 4 582 Workington Comets 34 21 2 11 443 Eastbourne Eagles 34 19 2 13 404 Peterborough Panthers 34 19 1 14 395 Birmingham Brummies 34 19 0 15 386 Teesside Tigers 34 19 0 15 387 Bradford Northern 34 18 0 16 368 Crewe Kings 34 17 1 16 359 Long Eaton Rangers 33 16 1 16 3310 Barrow Bombers 34 15 2 17 3211 Sunderland Stars 34 15 2 17 3212 Hull Vikings 34 13 5 17 3113 Chesterton Potters 34 14 1 19 2914 Ellesmere Port Gunners 34 14 0 20 2815 Canterbury Crusaders 34 13 2 19 2816 Scunthorpe Saints 34 12 1 21 2517 Berwick Bandits 34 11 1 22 2318 Rayleigh Rockets 34 9 3 22 21
Fixtures and results
v=Void at 39-36, not restaged
Top five riders (leading averages) Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Lou Sansom Workington Comets 10.56 2 Alan Knapkin Bradford Northern 10.04 3 Jack Millen Sunderland 9.80 4 Carl Glover Boston 9.56 5 Ken McKinlay Scunthorpe 9.50
British League Division Two Knockout Cup The 1973 British League Division Two Knockout Cup was the sixth edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Boston Barracudas were the winners of the competition.
First round Date Team one Score Team two19/05 Canterbury 44-34 Eastbourne13/05Eastbourne 37-41 Canterbury Second round Date Team one Score Team two03/06 Boston 58-20 Crewe04/06 Crewe 44-34 Boston08/06 Peterborough 56-22 Barrow05/06 Barrow 45-32 Peterborough13/06 Bradford 48-29 Ellesmere Port05/06 Ellesmere Port 42-35 Bradford04/06 Birmingham 46-32 Scunthorpe03/06 Scunthorpe 38-40 Birmingham08/06 Workington 45-33 Berwick09/06 Berwick 42-36 Workington31/05 Teesside 48-30 Sunderland08/06 Sunderland 38-40 Teesside09/06 Rayleigh 46-32 Hull30/05 Hull 43-34 Rayleigh07/06 Long Eaton 48-30 Canterbury09/06 Canterbury 42-36 Long Eaton Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two24/06 Boston 50-28 Peterborough29/06 Peterborough 37-41 Boston04/07 Bradford 48-30 Birmingham02/07 Birmingham 47-31 Bradford27/07 Workington 53-25 Teesside 26/07 Teesside 44-33 Workington21/07 Rayleigh 49-29 Long Eaton26/07 Long Eaton 36-42 Rayleigh Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two19/08 Boston 46-32 Bradford22/08 Bradford 43-35 Boston30/08 Workington 60-18 Rayleigh18/08 Rayleigh 43-35 Workington
Final first leg
Final second leg
Boston were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 89–66.
Leading final averages Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Lou Sansom Workington 10.50 2 Alan Knapkin Bradford Northern 10.03 3 Jack Millen Sunderland 9.74 4 Ken McKinlay Scunthorpe 9.69 5 Carl Glover Boston 9.62
Riders' Championship Arthur Price won the Rider's Championship, held at Wimbledon Stadium on 6 October.
Pos. Rider Pts Total1 Arthur Price 3 2 1 3 3 12+32 Bobby McNeil 2 3 3 1 3 12+23 Lou Sansom 3 1 2 3 3 12+14 Bruce Forrester 3 3 3 2 f 115 Dave Baugh 3 2 3 3 f 116 Mike Broadbanks 1 0 3 3 3 107 Richard Greer 2 3 1 2 2 108 Graham Drury 0 3 2 2 2 99 Arthur Browning 1 1 2 1 2 710 Barney Kennett 1 0 1 2 1 511 Geoff Bouchard 0 2 0 1 2 512 Ken McKinlay ef 2 2 0 413 Dave Morton 2 1 ex 314 Jim Wells (res) 2 0 0 1 0 315 Willie Templeton (res) 1 0 1 1 316 Tom Owen fx 0 f 1 117 Dave Mills 1 f 118 Bob Young (res) 1 f 1 f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure
North Eastern Trophy M W D L Pts 1Teesside 6 5 1 0 11 2 Sunderland 6 2 1 3 5 3 Hull 6 2 0 4 4 4 Berwick 6 2 0 4 4
Riders and final averages Barrow
Tom Owen 8.32 Mike Sampson 8.31 Terry Kelly 7.40 Sid Sheldrick 6.98 Chris Bailey 6.97 Craig Pendlebury 6.50 Joe Owen 6.21 Chris Roynon 5.69 Keith Evans 5.60
Berwick
Doug Templeton 8.12 Willie Templeton 7.38 Andy Meldrum 7.09 Graham Jones 4.81 Chris Quigley 4.55 Denny Morter 4.17 Ettienne Olivier 4.15 Rob Hollingworth 4.00 Geoff Davies 2.98 Dennis Jackson 2.14
Birmingham
Arthur Browning 8.85 Ted Howgego 8.62 George Major 8.29 John Hart 8.29 Phil Herne 7.59 Mike Lanham 7.23 Malcolm Corradine 7.21 Steve Wilson 5.78 Terry Shearer 5.26 Alan Grahame 3.29
Boston
Carl Glover 9.62 Arthur Price 9.14 Jim Ryman 8.42 Russ Osborne 7.85 Dave Piddock 7.81 Ray Bales 7.28 David Gagen 6.94 Tony Featherstone 6.88 Les Glover 3.40
Bradford
Alan Knapkin 10.03 Dave Baugh 9.23 Robin Adlington 7.93 Tony Featherstone 7.74 Brenton Langlois 5.71 Mick Fairbairn 5.65 Colin Meredith 5.37 Mike Fullerton 4.75 Tony Freegard 4.67 Rob Maxfield 4.40 Rod Chessell 3.45
Canterbury
Barney Kennett 7.38 Peter Murray 6.90 Ted Hubbard 6.75 Derek Cook 6.41 Trevor Jones 6.33 Graham Banks 5.96 Dave Piddock 5.71 Les Rumsey 5.71 Gary Cottham Sr. 4.61 Dave Gooderham 4.30
Chesterton
Mike Broadbank 9.24 Mick Handley 6.70 Geoff Pusey 6.20 Alan Bridgett 5.90 Roger Parker 5.70 Brian Woodward 5.52 Cyril Francis 5.11 Martin Yeates 4.76 Nigel Wasley 4.15
Crewe
John Jackson 8.55 Geoff Ambrose 8.50 Dave Morton 8.44 Wayne Forrest 5.44 Glyn Taylor 5.29 Ian Cartwright 4.88 Keith White 4.68 Peter Thompson 3.78 Cliff Anderson 3.26
Eastbourne
Bobby McNeil 9.34 Roger Johns 8.59 Paul Gachet 7.32 Trevor Geer 6.26 Mike Vernam .5.62 Neil Middleditch 4.82 Eric Dugard 4.54 Jimmy Squibb 4.17
Ellesmere Port
Graham Drury 9.03 Paul O'Neal 7.94 Robbie Gardner 6.99 Colin Goad 6.51 Chris Morton 6.29 Barry Booth 4.35 Gerald Smitherman 4.24 Roger Austin 4.14 Wayne Hughes 3.40 Paul Callaghan 2.29
Hull
Dave Mills 9.29 Tony Childs 8.49 Alan Cowland 7.66 Robin Amundson 7.60 Dennis Gavros 5.55 Pete Boston 4.58 Dennis Wasden 4.42 Kelvin Mullarkey 4.31 Clark Facey 4.00 Grahame Dawson 3.17 Roger Austin 2.80 Eddie Argall 1.94
Long Eaton
Roger Mills 8.28 Geoff Bouchard 8.20 Norman Strachan 7.41 Phil Bass 6.93 Dave Harvey 6.18 Alan Molyneux 5.55 Alan Witt 5.55 Joe Hughes 4.51 Steve Bass 4.00 Mick Moore 3.65 Ian Teale 2.48
Peterborough
Richard Greer 8.96 John Davis 8.86 Frank Smith 7.31 Brian Clark 7.27 Ted Howgego 6.40 Roy Carter 6.07 Jack Walker 5.72 Roy Sizmore 4.00 Ken Matthews 2.63
Rayleigh
Peter Moore 8.30 Bob Young 7.04 Trevor Barnwell 6.59 Dave "Tiger" Beech 6.12 Les Ott 5.87 Brian Foote 5.75 Terry Stone 5.27 Peter Cairns 4.96 Pete Wigley 4.56 Dingle Brown 4.29 Steve Clarke 3.58
Scunthorpe
Ken McKinlay 9.69 Ian Hindle 8.18 Dingle Brown 6.18 Rod Haynes 5.87 Jack Bywater 5.40 Doug Underwood 4.64 Rex Garrod 4.58 Chris Emery 3.30
Sunderland
Jack Millen 9.74 Dave Gatenby 7.56 Jim Wells 7.44 Russ Dent 6.21 George Barclay 6.10 Terry Barclay 4.66 Brian Havelock 4.64 Peter Wrathall 4.07 John Robson 1.14
Teesside
Bruce Forrester 9.15 Frank Auffret 8.61 Roger Wright 7.47 Pete Reading 6.85 Dave Durham 6.35 Tim Swales 6.12 Russ Hodgson 5.38 Tom Black 4.95 Mick Moore 4.00
Workington
Lou Sansom 10.50 Malcolm MacKay 8.88 Mitch Graham 8.07 Taffy Owen 7.44 Kym Amundson 5.51 Steve Watson 5.41 Bernie Hornby 3.57 Darryl Stobbart 3.53
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References