1972 British League season
LeagueBritish League
ChampionsBelle Vue Aces
No. of competitors18
Knockout CupBelle Vue Aces
IndividualOle Olsen
Midland CupLeicester Lions
Highest averageOle Olsen
Division/s belowBritish League (Div 2)

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.[1]

Summary

Ipswich Witches moved up from Division Two but London lost two clubs, when the Wembley Lions closed and West Ham Hammers withrew during the early part of the season, reducing the league to eighteen teams.[2]

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.[3][4]

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.[5][6]

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 51
4 Sheffield Tigers 34 23 3 8 49
5 Leicester Lions 34 17 5 12 39
6 Ipswich Witches 34 17 1 16 35
7 Poole Pirates 34 15 2 17 32
8 Hackney Hawks 34 16 0 18 32
9 Wolverhampton Wolves 34 16 0 18 30
10 Coventry Bees 34 14 2 18 28
11 Exeter Falcons 34 13 2 19 28
12 Halifax Dukes 34 13 2 19 28
13 Wimbledon Dons 34 14 0 20 26
14 Glasgow Tigers 34 12 2 20 25
15 Swindon Robins 34 12 1 21 25
16 Cradley Heath Heathens 34 11 3 20 25
17 Oxford Rebels 34 10 0 24 20
18 Newport Wasps 34 9 0 25 18

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)

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

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
09/05Ipswich46-32Sheffield
08/05Exeter48-30Swindon
06/05Halifax42-36Leicester

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
03/07Exeter50-28Wimbledon
26/06Hackney52-26Cradley Heath
21/06Poole52-26Halifax
16/06Newport42-36Coventry
16/06Wolverhampton38-40Reading
15/06Oxford35-42Kings Lynn
10/06Cradley Heath39-39Hackney
03/06Belle Vue41-37Glasgow

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
31/08Ipswich38-40Reading
05/08Belle Vue58-20Newport
05/08Kings Lynn56-22Exeter
04/08Hackney45-33Poole

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
27/09Kings Lynn38-40Belle Vue
22/09Hackney40-38Reading

Final

First leg

Hackney Hawks
Bengt Jansson 12
Barry Thomas 9
Geoff Maloney 7
Dave Kennett 6
Eddie Reeves 4
Laurie Etheridge 2
Hugh Saunders 0		40 - 37Belle Vue Aces
Alan Wilkinson 11
Ivan Mauger 10
Peter Collins 6
Sören Sjösten 6
Chris Pusey 3
Eric Broadbelt 1
Ken Eyre 0
[8]

Second leg

Belle Vue Aces
Sören Sjösten 10
Chris Pusey 9
Ivan Mauger 8
Ken Eyre 7
Peter Collins 5
Alan Wilkinson 4
Eric Broadbelt 2		45 - 33Hackney Hawks
Bengt Jansson 12
Geoff Maloney 10
Barry Thomas 6
Dave Kennett 3
Hugh Saunders 2
Eddie Reeves 0
Laurie Etheridge 0
[8]

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.[9]

Pos.RiderHeat ScoresTotal
1Denmark Ole Olsen3 3 3 3 315
2England Martin Ashby2 3 3 3 314
3New Zealand Ronnie Moore3 3 2 3 213
4England John Louis1 1 3 3 311
5Sweden Anders Michanek3 2 1 2 19
6England Terry Betts2 2 2 1 29
7New Zealand Ivan Mauger3 3 ef ef 28
8Australia Garry Middleton2 2 2 2 08
9Sweden Christer Löfqvist2 0 1 1 37
10Sweden Bernt Perssonef 2 3 ex 16
11England Ray Wilson0 1 2 2 05
12Sweden Bengt Jansson1 0 1 1 14
13England Bob Kilby1 0 0 0 23
14England Eric Boocock0 1 1 0 13
15England Nigel Boocock1 ef 0 1 02
16Scotland Jim McMillan (res)22
17England Arnie Haley0 1 0 0 01
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, ex=excluded

Final leading averages

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

Midland Cup

Leicester won the Midland Cup. The competition consisted of six teams.[10]

First round

Team one Team two Score
OxfordSwindon44–34, 34–44
WolverhamptonCradley40–38, 39–39
SwindonOxford39–39, 36–41

Semi final round

Team one Team two Score
SwindonLeicester42–36, 30–48
CoventryWolverhampton41–37, 37–41
CoventryWolverhampton42–36, 33–45

Final

First leg

Wolverhampton
Ole Olsen 14
Jon Erskine 10
Dave Gifford 8
George Hunter 6
Dave Baugh 2
Tom Leadbitter 1
Jan Simensen r/r		41–37Leicester
John Boulger 11
Malcom Shakespeare 8
Ray Wilson 5
Norman Storer 5
Alan Cowland 4
Dave Jessup 4
Malcolm Brown 0

Second leg

Leicester
John Boulger 10
Ray Wilson 9
Malcom Shakespeare 6
Alan Cowland 6
Norman Storer 5
Dave Jessup 5
Malcolm Brown 4		45–33Wolverhampton
Jan Simensen 10
Ole Olsen 9
Jon Erskine 7
Dave Gifford 4
Dave Baugh 2
Tom Leadbitter 1
George Hunter r/r

Leicester won on aggregate 82–74

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Exeter

Glasgow

Hackney

Halifax

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Leicester

Newport

Oxford

Poole

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

Wimbledon

Wolverhampton

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ↑ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  3. ↑ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  4. ↑ "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  5. ↑ "Svein Kasa". Speedway Plus. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  6. ↑ Bamford,R & Shailes,G (2007). “The Story of Oxford Speedway”. ISBN 978-0-7524-4161-0
  7. ↑ "1972 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  8. 1 2 "Season 1972" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  9. ↑ "Michanek fifth". Reading Evening Post. 23 October 1972. Retrieved 2 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ↑ "Speedway". Daily Mirror. 25 October 1972. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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