1973 British League season

1973 British League season
LeagueBritish League
No. of competitors18
ChampionsReading Racers
Knockout CupBelle Vue Aces
IndividualIvan Mauger
London CupHackney Hawks
Midland CupWolverhampton Wolves
Highest averageAnders Michanek
Division/s belowBritish League (Div 2)

The 1973 British League season was the 39th season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom and the ninth season of the British League.[1][2]

Summary

Glasgow Tigers relocated to become Coatbridge Tigers.[3]

The Reading Racers won their first title, ending the dominance of Belle Vue Aces who could only finish in sixth place. Swede Anders Michanek was in imperious form, going undefeated at Reading Stadium (which was in its final year as a venue). He finished with an 11.36 average ahead of the four time world champion Ivan Mauger on 11.29. In addition to Michanek the Reading team was boosted by high scoring from Norwegian Dag Lövaas and Australian Geoff Curtis.[4] In a sensational finish to the 1973 Knockout Cup final Reading were beaten by Belle Vue in a run-off for the Cup after an aggregate draw over two legs.[5]

Reading's success had a sour note after the season had finished when Geoff Curtis returned to Australia for the Australian season and was killed in a race at the Sydney Showground in December.[6]

Final table

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Reading Racers 34 25 1 8 51
2 Sheffield Tigers 34 22 3 9 47
3 King's Lynn Stars 34 20 3 11 43
4 Leicester Lions 34 21 0 13 42
5 Ipswich Witches 34 19 2 12 41
6 Belle Vue Aces 34 19 1 14 39
7 Wolverhampton Wolves 34 18 1 15 37
8 Exeter Falcons 34 16 3 15 35
9 Halifax Dukes 34 16 2 16 34
10 Newport Wasps 34 16 0 18 32
11 Oxford Rebels 34 14 2 18 30
12 Wimbledon Dons 34 14 1 19 29
13 Swindon Robins 34 13 3 18 29
14 Poole Pirates 34 13 2 19 28
15 Coventry Bees 34 13 0 21 26
16 Hackney Hawks 34 11 4 19 26
17 Coatbridge Tigers 34 12 1 21 25
18 Cradley United 34 7 4 23 18

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Anders Michanek Sweden Reading 11.55
2 Ivan Mauger New Zealand Exeter 11.30
3 Ole Olsen Denmark Wolverhampton 11.10
4 Eric Boocock England Halifax 10.52
5 Dag Lövaas Norway Reading 10.37
6 Malcolm Simmons England King's Lynn 10.33
7 John Boulger Australia Leicester 10.25
8 Chris Pusey England Belle Vue 10.24
9 Martin Ashby England Swindon 10.11
10 John Louis England Ipswich 10.07

British League Knockout Cup

The 1973 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 35th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Belle Vue were the winners after Peter Collins of Belle Vue defeated Anders Michanek of Reading in a race-off because the tie had finished 78–78 on aggregate.[7]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
28/04 Belle Vue 48-30 Oxford
28/04 Coventry 44-34 Reading
27/04 Hackney 43-35 Swindon
26/04 Oxford 41-37 Belle Vue

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
25/06 Reading 56-22 Coatbridge
22/06 Coatbridge 41-37 Reading
15/06 Wolverhampton 43-35 Exeter
14/06 Sheffield 29-49 Belle Vue
12/06 Leicester 36-42 Kings Lynn
02/06 Belle Vue 43-35 Sheffield
02/06 Halifax 49-29 Wimbledon
30/05 Poole 40-38 Cradley Heath
26/05 Kings Lynn 42-36 Leicester
18/05 Newport 45-33 Ipswich
17/05 Ipswich 41-37 Newport
17/05 Wimbledon 37-41 Halifax
12/05 Cradley Heath 37-41 Poole
12/05 Swindon 43-35 Hackney
07/05 Exeter 37-41 Wolverhampton
28/07 Swindon 52-25 Hackney
15/06 Hackney 43-35 Swindon

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
01/09 Swindon 39-39 Wolverhampton
17/08 Newport 45-33 Reading
17/08 Wolverhampton 43-35 Swindon
13/08 Halifax 41-37 Belle Vue
10/08 Poole 39-39 Kings Lynn
30/07 Reading 55-23 Newport
18/07 Belle Vue 57-21 Halifax
23/06 Kings Lynn 47-31 Poole

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
26/09 Belle Vue 48-30 Wolverhampton
14/09 Wolverhampton 42-36 Belle Vue
05/09 Kings Lynn 40-38 Reading
03/09 Reading 52-26 Kings Lynn

Final

First leg

Reading Racers
Anders Michanek 11
Dag Lövaas 11
Geoff Curtis 9
Mick Bell 7
Richard May 4
Bobby McNeil 4
Bernie Leigh 2		47 - 31Belle Vue Aces
Peter Collins 12
Paul Tyrer 7
Eric Broadbelt 6
John Louis (guest) 3
Alan Wilkinson 2
Sören Sjösten 1
Chris Morton 0
[8]

Second leg

Belle Vue Aces
Peter Collins 10
Jim McMillan (guest) 8
Alan Wilkinson 8
Sören Sjösten 8
Eric Broadbelt 7
Paul Tyrer 6
Chris Morton 0		47 - 31Reading Racers
Anders Michanek 12
Dag Lövaas 8
Mick Bell 6
Mitch Graham 5
Trevor Geer 0
Bernie Leigh 0
Geoff Curtis R/R
[8]

Match finished 78–78 on aggregate. Belle Vue won race-off.

Riders' Championship

Ivan Mauger won the British League Riders' Championship for the second time, it was held at Hyde Road on 3 October and was sponsored by Player's No.10.[9]

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total
1 New Zealand Ivan Mauger 3 3 3 3 2 14
2 England Ray Wilson 1 3 1 3 3 11
3 Sweden Anders Michanek 3 2 EX 3 3 11
4 Denmark Ole Olsen 3 3 3 2 EX 11
5 England Arnie Haley 2 1 2 3 3 11
6 England Martin Ashby 3 3 3 EX 1 10
7 Scotland Jim McMillan 2 2 1 2 3 10
8 England John Louis 1 1 2 2 2 8
9 Sweden Sören Sjösten 1 2 3 1 F 7
10 England Trevor Hedge 0 2 2 2 EF 6
11 Australia Garry Middleton 2 0 0 1 2 5
12 England Barry Thomas 2 1 0 0 2 5
13 England Malcolm Simmons 1 0 2 1 1 4
14 Norway Reidar Eide 0 1 1 0 1 3
15 Wales Kid Brodie 0 0 1 1 1 3
16 New Zealand Bill Andrew (res) 0 0 - - - 0
17 England Pete Smith 0 EF - 0 0 0
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded

Leading final averages

Both Anders Michanek and Ivan Mauger recorded perfect 12 point average scores at home for the season, meaning they were unbeaten by any opposing rider on their own track in League competition.

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Anders Michanek Sweden Reading 11.36
2 Ivan Mauger New Zealand Exeter 11.29
3 Ole Olsen Denmark Wolverhampton 10.82
4 Chris Pusey England Belle Vue 10.55
5 Eric Boocock England Halifax 10.32
6 Malcolm Simmons England King's Lynn 10.26
7 John Boulger Australia Leicester 10.24
8 Martin Ashby England Swindon 10.18
9 John Louis England Ipswich 10.06
10 Dag Lövaas Norway Reading 10.06
11 Terry Betts England King's Lynn 9.95
12 Reidar Eide Norway Newport 977
13 Christer Löfqvist Sweden Poole 9.58
14 Ray Wilson England Leicester 9.44
15 Bernt Persson Sweden Cradley United 9.38
16 Bob Valentine Australia Sheffield 9.30
17 Dave Jessup England Leicester 9.24
18 Tommy Jansson Sweden Wimbledon 9.19
19 Howard Cole (a.k.a. Kid Brodie) Wales Cradley United 9.12
20 Peter Collins England Belle Vue 9.08

London Cup

Hackney won the London Cup for just the third time but there were now only two teams remaining in London.[10]

Results

Team Score Team
Wimbledon 40–37 Hackney
Hackney 45–33 Wimbledon

Midland Cup

Wolverhampton won the Midland Cup. The competition consisted of six teams.[11]

First round

Team one Team two Score
Swindon Oxford 51–27, 38–40
Coventry Cradley 36–42, 32–46

Semi final round

Team one Team two Score
Leicester Cradley 45–33, 56–22
Wolverhampton Swindon 43–35

Final

First leg

Wolverhampton
Ole Olsen 14
George Hunter 9
Tony Clarke 8
Gary Peterson 5
Tom Leadbitter 3.5
Ken Eyre 3
Jon Erskine r/r		42.5–35.5Leicester
Ray Wilson 11
John Boulger 9
Dave Jessup 7
Malcolm Shakespeare 6
Norman Storer 1.5
Bruce Forrester 1
Malcolm Brown 0

Second leg

Leicester
John Boulger 11
Ray Wilson 10
Norman Storer 7
Malcolm Brown 5
Malcolm Shakespeare 4
Dave Jessup 2
Bruce Forrester 0		39–39Wolverhampton
Ole Olsen 14
Tony Clarke 8
George Hunter 6
Gary Peterson 6
Ken Eyre 3
Tom Leadbitter 2
Jon Erskine r/r

Wolverhampton won on aggregate 81.5–74.5

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Coatbridge

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Exeter

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. ^ "973 - Speedway Ruined My Toffee Apple". British Speedway Plus. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  7. ^ "1973 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  8. ^ a b "Season 1973" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  9. ^ "Speedway". The People. 4 November 1973. Retrieved 2 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ^ "Hackney 1973" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  11. ^ "Midland Speedway Cup". Leicester Daily Mercury. 10 October 1973. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.