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1974 British League season
League	British League
No. of competitors	17
Champions	Exeter Falcons
Knockout Cup	Sheffield Tigers
Individual	Peter Collins
Midland Cup	Leicester Lions
London Cup	Wimbledon Dons
Highest average	Ole Olsen
Division/s below	British League (Div 2)
	← 1973; 1975 →;

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	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ole Olsen	Wolverhampton	11.21
2	Ivan Mauger	Exeter	11.15
3	Phil Crump	Newport	10.77
4	Peter Collins	Belle Vue	10.73
5	John Louis	Ipswich	10.73
6	Terry Betts	King's Lynn	10.26
7	Dag Lövaas	Hackney	10.15
8	Martin Ashby	Swindon	10.10
9	John Boulger	Cradley	9.94
10	Eric Boocock	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
20/04	Cradley United	40-38	Wolverhampton
19/04	Ipswich	50-28	Oxford
12/04	Wolverhampton	48-30	Cradley United
21/03	Oxford	40-37	Ipswich

Second round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
07/06	Wolverhampton	36-42	Kings Lynn
04/06	Wimbledon	38-40	Ipswich
30/05	Ipswich	52-26	Wimbledon
29/05	Hull	38-40	Sheffield
25/05	Coventry	42-36	Leicester
22/05	Belle Vue	53-25	Halifax
18/05	Kings Lynn	45-33	Wolverhampton
17/05	Hackney	40-38	Poole
15/05	Poole	42-36	Hackney
13/05	Halifax	35-43	Belle Vue
09/05	Sheffield	52-26	Hull
07/05	Leicester	43-35	Coventry
27/04	Swindon	40-38	Newport
26/04	Newport	42-36	Swindon

Quarter-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
31/07	Poole	38-40	Kings Lynn
20/07	King's Lynn	38-40	Poole
16/07	Leicester	38-40	Ipswich
08/07	Sheffield	46-32	Newport
06/07	Belle Vue	44-32	Exeter
05/07	Newport	35-43	Sheffield
20/06	Ipswich	42-36	Leicester
10/06	Exeter	46-32	Belle Vue
24/08	Kings Lynn	42-36	Poole
21/08	Poole	45-32	Kings Lynn

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
09/09	Sheffield	46-32	Poole
04/09	Poole	37-40	Sheffield
29/08	Ipswich	50-28	Exeter
19/08	Exeter	42-36	Ipswich

Final

First leg

6 October 1974

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

Foxhall Stadium

Second leg

7 October 1974

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

Owlerton Stadium

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.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Peter Collins	3 3 3 3 3	15
2	Ivan Mauger	2 2 3 3 2	12
3	Phil Crump	1 3 2 3 3	12
4	John Louis	3 2 1 2 3	11
5	Bob Valentine	3 1 2 2 3	11
6	Dave Jessup	2 3 1 2 2	10
7	Martin Ashby	1 2 2 1 2	8
8	George Hunter	2 0 3 2 0	7
9	Barry Briggs	0 2 EF 3 2	7
10	Jim McMillan	1 3 0 1 1	6
11	John Boulger	2 1 2 EF 1	6
12	Eric Boocock	0 1 3 0 1	5
13	Bob Kilby	3 F R 1 0	4
14	Dag Lövaas	0 0 1 1 1	3
15	Terry Betts	1 0 1 0 0	2
16	Nigel Boocock	0 1 0 0 EF	1

ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded

Final leading averages

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

Midland Cup

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

First round

Team one	Team two	Score
Oxford	Swindon	41–37, 34–44
Coventry	Cradley	39–39, 28–50

Semi final round

Team one	Team two	Score
Leicester	Swindon	41–37, 41–37
Cradley	Wolverhampton	32–46, 38–40

Final

First leg

8 October 1974

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

Leicester Stadium

Second leg

11 October 1974

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

Monmore Green Stadium

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
Wimbledon	46–32	Hackney
Hackney	39–39	Wimbledon

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Exeter

Hackney

Halifax

Hull

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Leicester

Newport

Phil Crump 10.79
Reidar Eide 9.42
Neil Street 7.70
Tom Owen 5.26
Bob Coles 5.08
Roy Trigg 4.76
Geoff Mudge 4.36
Jim Tebby 4.15

Oxford

Poole

Sheffield

Swindon

Wimbledon

Wolverhampton

References

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