1973 British League season
LeagueBritish League
ChampionsReading Racers
No. of competitors18
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
28/04Belle Vue48-30Oxford
28/04Coventry44-34Reading
27/04Hackney43-35Swindon
26/04Oxford41-37Belle Vue

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
25/06Reading56-22Coatbridge
22/06Coatbridge41-37Reading
15/06Wolverhampton43-35Exeter
14/06Sheffield29-49Belle Vue
12/06Leicester36-42Kings Lynn
02/06Belle Vue43-35Sheffield
02/06Halifax49-29Wimbledon
30/05Poole40-38Cradley Heath
26/05Kings Lynn42-36Leicester
18/05Newport45-33Ipswich
17/05Ipswich41-37Newport
17/05Wimbledon37-41Halifax
12/05Cradley Heath37-41Poole
12/05Swindon43-35Hackney
07/05Exeter37-41Wolverhampton
28/07Swindon52-25Hackney
15/06Hackney43-35Swindon

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
01/09Swindon39-39Wolverhampton
17/08Newport45-33Reading
17/08Wolverhampton43-35Swindon
13/08Halifax41-37Belle Vue
10/08Poole39-39Kings Lynn
30/07Reading55-23Newport
18/07Belle Vue57-21Halifax
23/06Kings Lynn47-31Poole

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
26/09Belle Vue48-30Wolverhampton
14/09Wolverhampton42-36Belle Vue
05/09Kings Lynn40-38Reading
03/09Reading52-26Kings 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.RiderHeat ScoresTotal
1New Zealand Ivan Mauger3 3 3 3 214
2England Ray Wilson1 3 1 3 311
3Sweden Anders Michanek3 2 EX 3 311
4Denmark Ole Olsen3 3 3 2 EX11
5England Arnie Haley2 1 2 3 311
6England Martin Ashby3 3 3 EX 110
7Scotland Jim McMillan2 2 1 2 310
8England John Louis1 1 2 2 28
9Sweden Sören Sjösten1 2 3 1 F7
10England Trevor Hedge0 2 2 2 EF6
11Australia Garry Middleton2 0 0 1 25
12England Barry Thomas2 1 0 0 25
13England Malcolm Simmons1 0 2 1 14
14Norway Reidar Eide0 1 1 0 13
15Wales Kid Brodie0 0 1 1 13
16New Zealand Bill Andrew (res)0 0 - - -0
17England Pete Smith0 EF - 0 00
  • 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
Wimbledon40–37Hackney
Hackney45–33Wimbledon

Midland Cup

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

First round

Team one Team two Score
SwindonOxford51–27, 38–40
CoventryCradley36–42, 32–46

Semi final round

Team one Team two Score
LeicesterCradley45–33, 56–22
WolverhamptonSwindon43–35

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. 1 2 "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.
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