1972 British League Division Two season

The 1972 British League Division Two season was the second tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.[1][2]

1972 British League Division Two season
LeagueBritish League Division Two
ChampionsCrewe Kings
No. of competitors17
Knockout CupCrewe Kings
IndividualPhil Crump
Highest averagePhil Crump
Division/s aboveBritish League (Div 1)

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.[3]

Crewe Kings won their first title and completed the league and cup double.[4][5] 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.[3][6]

Final table
Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Crewe Kings 32 22 1 9 45
2 Boston Barracudas 32 21 1 10 43
3 Peterborough Panthers 32 21 0 11 42
4 Rayleigh Rockets 32 17 4 11 38
5 Eastbourne Eagles 32 18 2 12 38
6 Birmingham Brummies 32 18 1 13 37
7 Workington Comets 32 18 0 14 36
8 Hull Vikings 32 16 0 16 32
9 Barrow Happy Faces 32 15 1 16 31
10 Teesside Teessiders 32 14 3 15 31
11 Bradford Northern 32 15 0 17 30
12 Sunderland Stars 32 13 2 17 28
13 Canterbury Crusaders 32 13 1 18 27
14 Berwick Bandits 32 12 3 17 27
15 Ellesmere Port Gunners 32 12 0 20 24
16 Long Eaton Rangers 32 11 2 19 24
17 Scunthorpe Saints 32 5 1 26 11

Top Five Riders
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Phil Crump Crewe Kings 11.10
2 Geoff Maloney Rayleigh Rockets 10.53
3 Richard Greer Peterborough Panthers 9.98
4 John Harrhy Peterborough Panthers 9.93
5 John Jackson Crewe Kings 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.[7]

First Round
Date Team One Score Team Two
01/05Crewe49-29Ellesmere Port
02/05Ellesmere Port33-45Crewe

Second Round
Date Team One Score Team Two
05/06Crewe59-19Scunthorpe
04/06Scunthorpe19-59Crewe
04/06Sunderland55-23Workington
09/06Workington46-31Sunderland
25/06Eastbourne50-28Long Eaton
08/06Long Eaton38-40Eastbourne
04/06Boston46-32Rayleigh
17/06Rayleigh43-35Boston
09/06Peterborough52-26Barrow
13/06Barrow36-42Peterborough
07/06Bradford52-26Berwick
10/06Berwick39-38Bradford
05/06Birmingham43-35Canterbury
10/06Canterbury41-37Birmingham
08/06Teesside48-30Hull
07/06Hull40-38Teesside

Quarter Finals
Date Team One Score Team Two
03/07Crewe53-25Sunderland
03/07Sunderland42-36Crewe
09/07Eastbourne45-33Boston
02/07Boston40-38Eastbourne
07/07Peterborough36-14Bradford
05/07Bradford45-33Peterborough
03/07Birmingham48-30Teesside
06/07Teesside41-37Birmingham

Semi Finals
Date Team One Score Team Two
31/07Crewe47-31Eastbourne
30/07Eastbourne44-34Crewe
04/08Peterborough43-35Birmingham
14/08Birmingham42-36Peterborough

Final

First leg

Crewe Kings
John Jackson 12
Garry Flood 10
Phil Crump 9
Dave Parry 7
Dai Evans 6
Garry Moore 4
Peter Nicholas 3		51 – 27Peterborough Panthers
Roy Carter 11
Brian Clark 6
John Davis 4
John Amies 3
David Ashby 1
Ted Howgego 1
Frank Smith 1
Richard Greer R/R
[8]
British Railways Sports Ground

Second leg

Peterborough Panthers
Richard Greer 11
Roy Carter 10
Brian Clark 6
John Davis 5
Ted Howgego 4
David Ashby 3
John Amies 1		40 – 38Crewe Kings
Phil Crump 12
John Jackson 10
Garry Flood 8
Garry Moore 6
Dai Evans 2
Dave Parry 0
Peter Nicholas 0
[8]

Crewe were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 89–67.


See also

References
  1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  3. "teams". wwosbackup. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  4. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  5. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 101. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  6. "Gary Flood - One of Australia's all-time motocross legends". Motorcross history. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  7. "1972 British League Division Two Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  8. "1972 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.