1972 British League Division Two season explained

Competition:British League Division Two
Competitors:17
Domesticcup1:Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:Crewe Kings
Domesticcup2:Knockout Cup
Domesticcup2 Winners:Crewe Kings
Domesticcup3:Individual
Domesticcup3 Winners:Phil Crump
Highest Average:Phil Crump
League Above:British League (Div 1)
Prevseason:1971
Nextseason:1973

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

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

PosTeamPLWDLPts
1Crewe Kings32221945
2Boston Barracudas322111043
3Peterborough Panthers322101142
4Rayleigh Rockets321741138
5Eastbourne Eagles321821238
6Birmingham Brummies321811337
7Workington Comets321801436
8Hull Vikings321601632
9Barrow Happy Faces321511631
10Teesside Teessiders321431531
11Bradford Northern321501730
12Sunderland Stars321321728
13Canterbury Crusaders321311827
14Berwick Bandits321231727
15Ellesmere Port Gunners321202024
16Long Eaton Rangers321121924
17Scunthorpe Saints32512611

Top Five Riders (League Averages)

RiderNatTeamC.M.A.
1Phil CrumpCrewe11.10
2Geoff MaloneyRayleigh10.53
3Richard GreerPeterborough9.98
4John HarrhyPeterborough9.93
5John JacksonCrewe9.91

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

width=80Datewidth=250Team onewidth=80Scorewidth=250Team two
01/05Crewe 49-29 Ellesmere Port
02/05Ellesmere Port 33-45 Crewe
Second round
width=80Datewidth=250Team onewidth=80Scorewidth=250Team two
05/06Crewe59-19 Scunthorpe
04/06Scunthorpe19-59 Crewe
04/06Sunderland55-23 Workington
09/06Workington46-31 Sunderland
25/06Eastbourne50-28 Long Eaton
08/06Long Eaton38-40 Eastbourne
04/06Boston 46-32 Rayleigh
17/06Rayleigh43-35 Boston
09/06Peterborough52-26 Barrow
13/06Barrow36-42 Peterborough
07/06Bradford52-26 Berwick
10/06Berwick 39-38Bradford
05/06Birmingham43-35 Canterbury
10/06Canterbury41-37 Birmingham
08/06Teesside48-30 Hull
07/06Hull 40-38 Teesside
Quarter-finals
width=80Datewidth=250Team onewidth=80Scorewidth=250Team two
03/07Crewe 53-25 Sunderland
03/07Sunderland42-36Crewe
09/07Eastbourne 45-33Boston
02/07Boston 40-38 Eastbourne
07/07Peterborough 36-14Bradford
05/07Bradford45-33 Peterborough
03/07Birmingham48-30Teesside
06/07Teesside41-37Birmingham
Semi-finals
width=80Datewidth=250Team onewidth=80Scorewidth=250Team two
31/07Crewe 47-31Eastbourne
30/07Eastbourne44-34 Crewe
04/08Peterborough43-35 Birmingham
14/08Birmingham 42-36 Peterborough

Final

First leg

Second leg

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

Leading final averages

RiderNatTeamC.M.A.
1Phil CrumpCrewe11.13
2Geoff MaloneyRayleigh10.34
=3Richard GreerPeterborough10.03
=3John JacksonCrewe10.03
5Malcolm BallardEastbourne9.94

Riders' Championship

Phil Crump won the Rider's Championship, held at Wimbledon Stadium on 14 October.[8]

width=25pxPos. width=180pxRider width=100pxPts width=50pxTotal
1 r 3 3 3 3 12+3
2 3 2 3 2 2 12+2
3 3 3 1 1 3 11+3
4 3 3 2 3 fex 11+disq
5 1 2 2 3 2 10
6 f 0 3 3 3 9
7 1 1 2 2 9
8 2 1 2 2 1 8
91 0 3 2 2 8
10 2 1 ex 1 3 7
11 2 3 ex ex 0 5
12 1 0 2 0 1 4
13 1 1 0 1 1 4
14 0 2 1 0 1 4
15 2 0 0 1 0 3
16 0 2 0 0 0 2
17 John Jackson (res) 1 0
18 Ray Watkins (res) 0 0 0

Riders' final averages

Barrow

Berwick

Birmingham

Boston

Bradford

Canterbury

Crewe

Eastbourne

Ellesmere Port

Hull

Long Eaton

Peterborough

Rayleigh

Scunthorpe

Sunderland

Teesside

Workington

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Historic league tables. Speedway Archive.
  2. Book: Rogers, Martin. The Illustrated History of Speedway. 1978. 129. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-904584-45-3.
  3. Web site: teams. wwosbackup. 18 September 2021.
  4. Web site: BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990). Official British Speedway website. 11 September 2021.
  5. Book: Oakes, Peter. 1981 Speedway Yearbook. 1981. 101. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-86215-017-5.
  6. Web site: Gary Flood - One of Australia's all-time motocross legends. Australian Motocross History. 18 September 2021.
  7. Web site: 1972 British League Division Two Knockout Cup. Speedway archive.
  8. News: Phil Crump wins title after run-off . Hull Daily Mail . 16 October 1972 . 16 June 2023 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .

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