1974 British League season
LeagueBritish League
ChampionsExeter Falcons
No. of competitors17
Knockout CupSheffield Tigers
IndividualPeter Collins
Midland CupLeicester Lions
London CupWimbledon Dons
Highest averageOle Olsen
Division/s belowBritish League (Div 2)

The 1974 British League season was the 40th season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom and the tenth season known as the British League.[1][2]

Summary

The 1973 Champions Reading didn't compete as they no longer had a stadium, following the closure of Reading Stadium and Hull Vikings replaced them. The league was reduced to seventeen teams when the Coatbridge Tigers dropped down to Division Two. Overseas riders that rode in other leagues abroad were banned which meant that top Swedish riders such as Anders Michanek, Bernt Persson, Tommy Jansson and Christer Löfqvist didn't compete.[3]

The Exeter Falcons won their first title. They were headed by the legendary four time world champion Ivan Mauger and backed up well by Scott Autrey (8.32), Tony Lomas (7.29) and Kevin Holden (7.26).

At the end of the season Oxford Rebels finished four points above the Hull Vikings courtesy of a protest over Hull's victory against the Rebels.[4] Hull were later re-awarded the points after a close season hearing and moved above the Rebels.

Final table

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Exeter Falcons 32 25 1 6 51
2 Belle Vue Aces 32 23 0 9 46
3 Ipswich Witches 32 22 1 9 45
4 Sheffield Tigers 32 21 0 11 42
5 King's Lynn Stars 32 20 1 11 41
6 Newport 32 17 3 12 37
7 Halifax Dukes 32 14 3 15 31
8 Wimbledon Dons 32 14 1 17 29
9 Hackney Hawks 32 13 2 17 28
10 Leicester Lions 32 13 1 18 27
11 Wolverhampton Wolves 32 13 1 18 27
12 Swindon Robins 32 12 2 18 26
13 Cradley United 32 12 1 19 25
14 Poole Pirates 32 12 1 19 25
15 Coventry Bees 32 12 0 20 24
16 Hull Vikings 32 10 0 22 20
17 Oxford Rebels 32 10 0 22 20

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Ole Olsen Denmark Wolverhampton 11.21
2 Ivan Mauger New Zealand Exeter 11.15
3 Phil Crump Australia Newport 10.77
4 Peter Collins England Belle Vue 10.73
5 John Louis England Ipswich 10.73
6 Terry Betts England King's Lynn 10.26
7 Dag Lövaas Norway Hackney 10.15
8 Martin Ashby England Swindon 10.10
9 John Boulger Australia Cradley 9.94
10 Eric Boocock England Halifax 9.92


British League Knockout Cup

The 1974 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 36th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Sheffield were the winners.[5]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
20/04Cradley United40-38Wolverhampton
19/04Ipswich50-28Oxford
12/04Wolverhampton48-30Cradley United
21/03Oxford40-37Ipswich

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
07/06Wolverhampton36-42Kings Lynn
04/06Wimbledon38-40Ipswich
30/05Ipswich52-26Wimbledon
29/05Hull38-40Sheffield
25/05Coventry42-36Leicester
22/05Belle Vue53-25Halifax
18/05Kings Lynn45-33Wolverhampton
17/05Hackney40-38Poole
15/05Poole42-36Hackney
13/05Halifax35-43Belle Vue
09/05Sheffield52-26Hull
07/05Leicester43-35Coventry
27/04Swindon40-38Newport
26/04Newport42-36Swindon

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
31/07Poole38-40Kings Lynn
20/07King's Lynn38-40Poole
16/07Leicester38-40Ipswich
08/07Sheffield46-32Newport
06/07Belle Vue44-32Exeter
05/07Newport35-43Sheffield
20/06Ipswich42-36Leicester
10/06Exeter46-32Belle Vue
24/08Kings Lynn42-36Poole
21/08Poole45-32Kings Lynn

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
09/09Sheffield46-32Poole
04/09Poole37-40Sheffield
29/08Ipswich50-28Exeter
19/08Exeter42-36Ipswich

Final

First leg

Ipswich Witches
John Louis 11
Billy Sanders 10
Tony Davey 6
Mick Hines 5
Ted Howgego 3
Alan Sage 2
Trevor Jones 0		37 - 41Sheffield Tigers
Arnie Haley 13
Bob Valentine 11
Doug Wyer 8
Reg Wilson 6
Craig Pendlebury 2
Bob Paulson 1
Carl Glover 0
[6]

Second leg

Sheffield Tigers
Bob Valentine 11
Arnie Haley 8
Doug Wyer 8
Craig Pendlebury 8
Reg Wilson 7
Carl Glover 6
Bob Paulson 1		49 - 29Ipswich Witches
John Louis 13
Tony Davey 9
Billy Sanders 3
Mick Hines 2
Ted Howgego 1
Mike Lanham 1
Alan Sage 0
[7]

Sheffield Tigers were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 90-65.

Riders' Championship

Peter Collins won the British League Riders' Championship held at Hyde Road on 19 October.[8]

Pos.RiderHeat ScoresTotal
1England Peter Collins3 3 3 3 315
2New Zealand Ivan Mauger2 2 3 3 212
3Australia Phil Crump1 3 2 3 312
4England John Louis3 2 1 2 311
5Australia Bob Valentine3 1 2 2 311
6England Dave Jessup2 3 1 2 210
7England Martin Ashby1 2 2 1 28
8Scotland George Hunter2 0 3 2 07
9New Zealand Barry Briggs0 2 EF 3 27
10Scotland Jim McMillan1 3 0 1 16
11Australia John Boulger2 1 2 EF 16
12England Eric Boocock0 1 3 0 15
13England Bob Kilby3 F R 1 04
14Norway Dag Lövaas0 0 1 1 13
15England Terry Betts1 0 1 0 02
16England Nigel Boocock0 1 0 0 EF1
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded

Final leading averages

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Ole Olsen Denmark Wolverhampton 11.39
2 Peter Collins England Belle Vue 10.98
3 Ivan Mauger New Zealand Exeter 10.88
4 Phil Crump Australia Newport 10.79
5 John Louis England Ipswich 10.79
6 Terry Betts England King's Lynn 10.32
7 Dag Lövaas Norway Hackney 10.17
8 Martin Ashby England Swindon 10.09
9 John Boulger Australia Cradley 10.06
10 Bob Valentine Australia Sheffield 9.92
11 Malcolm Simmons England King's Lynn 9.78
13 Sören Sjösten Sweden Belle Vue 9.72
14 Jim McMillan Scotland Hull 9.71
15 Dave Jessup England Leicester 9.66
15 Eric Boocock England Halifax 9.61
17 Reidar Eide Norway Newport 9.42
18 Billy Sanders Australia Ipswich 9.34
19 Ray Wilson England Leicester 9.34
20 Barry Briggs New Zealand Wimbledon 9.30

Midland Cup

Leicester won the Midland Cup. The competition consisted of six teams.[9]

First round

Team one Team two Score
OxfordSwindon41–37, 34–44
CoventryCradley39–39, 28–50

Semi final round

Team one Team two Score
LeicesterSwindon41–37, 41–37
CradleyWolverhampton32–46, 38–40

Final

First leg

Leicester
Ray Wilson 11
Dave Jessup 9
Frank Auffret 9
Bob Coles (guest) 4
Malcolm Brown 4
Mick Bell 3
Norman Storer 2		42–36Wolverhampton
John Boulger (guest) 14
George Hunter 10
Malcolm Shakespeare 8
Bengt Andersson 3
Colin Meredith 1
Tom Leadbitter 0
Tony Featherstone 0

Second leg

Wolverhampton
Eric Broadbelt (guest) 12
George Hunter 9
Malcolm Shakespeare 6
Tom Leadbitter 4
Bengt Andersson 2
Colin Meredith 2
Finn Thomsen 0		35–43Leicester
Dave Jessup 10
Ray Wilson 9
Arthur Price (guest) 8
Frank Auffret 6
Norman Storer 5
Mick Bell 5
Malcolm Brown 0

Leicester won on aggregate 85–71

London Cup

Wimbledon won the London Cup but there were now only two teams remaining in London.[10]

Results

Team Score Team
Wimbledon46–32Hackney
Hackney39–39Wimbledon

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Exeter

Hackney

Halifax

Hull

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Leicester

Newport

Oxford

Poole

Sheffield

Swindon

Wimbledon

Wolverhampton

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ↑ "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  3. ↑ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  4. ↑ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  5. ↑ "1974 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  6. ↑ "Hero Haley puts Ipswich on the rack". Daily Mirror. 7 October 1974. Retrieved 7 December 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ↑ "Season 1974" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  8. ↑ "Speedway". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 21 October 1974. Retrieved 2 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ↑ "Wolves beaten in cup final". Birmingham Daily Post. 12 October 1974. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ↑ "1974 fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
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