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 known as the British League.[1]

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

Summary

Ipswich Witches moved up from Division Two but London lost two clubs, when the Wembley Lions and West Ham Hammers closed, 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 Kasa, 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

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

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

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.

Teams

Belle Vue Aces

Coventry Bees

Cradley Heath

Exeter Falcons

Glasgow Tigers

Hackney Hawks

Halifax Dukes

Ipswich Witches

King's Lynn Stars

Leicester Lions

Newport Wasps

Oxford Rebels

Poole Pirates

Reading Racers

Sheffield Tigers

Swindon Robins

Wimbledon Dons

Wolverhampton Wolves

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. "Season 1972" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
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