1972 British League season explained

Competition:	British League
Competitors:	18
Domesticcup1:	Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:	Belle Vue Aces
Domesticcup2:	Knockout Cup
Domesticcup2 Winners:	Belle Vue Aces
Domesticcup3:	Individual
Domesticcup3 Winners:	Ole Olsen
Domesticcup4:	Midland Cup
Domesticcup4 Winners:	Leicester Lions
Highest Average:	Ole Olsen
Leagues Below:	British League (Div 2)
Prevseason:	1971
Nextseason:	1973

The 1972 British League season was the 38th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the eighth season of the British League.^[1]

Summary

Ipswich Witches moved up from Division Two but London lost two clubs, when the Wembley Lions closed and West Ham Hammers withrew during the early part of the season, reducing the league to eighteen teams.^[2]

Belle Vue Aces won their third consecutive title. Their team was littered with great riders including Ivan Mauger, Sören Sjösten and the young Peter Collins; they were backed up by the consistency of Chris Pusey, Eric Broadbelt, Alan Wilkinson and Ken Eyre, which led to a comfortable title win by a clear 12 points.^{[3] [4]}

Oxford Cheetahs had a bizarre season when they were rebranded as Oxford Rebels following a takeover by a new consortium, which included former riders Bob Dugard and Danny Dunton, Dave Lanning and the famous musician Acker Bilk. The team under performed badly finishing 17th from 18 teams despite the new image. To make matters worse they signed a new Norwegian rider Svein Kaasa, who was quickly transferred to Glasgow following poor results. He died riding for Glasgow towards the end of the season (on 29 September) at Hampden Park. Kasa clipped Martin Ashby's bike in a race and hit the wooden fence receiving fatal injuries.^{[5] [6]}

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Belle Vue Aces	34	31	1	2	63
2	Reading Racers	34	25	1	8	51
3	King's Lynn Stars	34	24	3	7	51
4	Sheffield Tigers	34	23	3	8	49
5	Leicester Lions	34	17	5	12	39
6	Ipswich Witches	34	17	1	16	35
7	Poole Pirates	34	15	2	17	32
8	Hackney Hawks	34	16	0	18	32
9	Wolverhampton Wolves	34	16	0	18	30
10	Coventry Bees	34	14	2	18	28
11	Exeter Falcons	34	13	2	19	28
12	Halifax Dukes	34	13	2	19	28
13	Wimbledon Dons	34	14	0	20	26
14	Glasgow Tigers	34	12	2	20	25
15	Swindon Robins	34	12	1	21	25
16	Cradley Heath Heathens	34	11	3	20	25
17	Oxford Rebels	34	10	0	24	20
18	Newport Wasps	34	9	0	25	18

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

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ivan Mauger		Belle Vue	11.42
2	Ole Olsen		Wolverhampton	11.36
3	Eric Boocock		Halifax	10.53
4	Anders Michanek		Reading	10.51
5	Bernt Persson		Cradley Heath	10.50
6	Terry Betts		King's Lynn	10.46
7	Barry Briggs		Swindon	10.38
8	Ronnie Moore		Wimbledon	10.31
9	Ray Wilson		Leicester	10.16
10	Martin Ashby		Swindon	10.07

British League Knockout Cup

The 1972 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 34th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Belle Vue were the winners.^[7]

First round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
09/05	Ipswich	46-32	Sheffield
08/05	Exeter	48-30	Swindon
06/05	Halifax	42-36	Leicester

Second round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
03/07	Exeter	50-28	Wimbledon
26/06	Hackney	52-26	Cradley Heath
21/06	Poole	52-26	Halifax
16/06	Newport	42-36	Coventry
16/06	Wolverhampton	38-40	Reading
15/06	Oxford	35-42	Kings Lynn
10/06	Cradley Heath	39-39	Hackney
03/06	Belle Vue	41-37	Glasgow

Quarter-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
31/08	Ipswich	38-40	Reading
05/08	Belle Vue	58-20	Newport
05/08	Kings Lynn	56-22	Exeter
04/08	Hackney	45-33	Poole

Semi-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
27/09	Kings Lynn	38-40	Belle Vue
22/09	Hackney	40-38	Reading

Final

First leg

Second leg

Belle Vue Aces were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 82-73.

Riders' Championship

Ole Olsen won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 21 October.^[8]

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=70px	Heat Scores	width=50px	Total
1		3 3 3 3 3	15
2		2 3 3 3 3	14
3		3 3 2 3 2	13
4		1 1 3 3 3	11
5		3 2 1 2 1	9
6		2 2 2 1 2	9
7		3 3 ef ef 2	8
8		2 2 2 2 0	8
9		2 0 1 1 3	7
10		ef 2 3 ex 1	6
11		0 1 2 2 0	5
12		1 0 1 1 1	4
13		1 0 0 0 2	3
14		0 1 1 0 1	3
15		1 ef 0 1 0	2
16	Jim McMillan (res)	2	2
17		0 1 0 0 0	1

• ef=engine failure, f=fell, ex=excluded

Final leading averages

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ole Olsen		Wolverhampton	11.39
2	Ivan Mauger		Belle Vue	11.36
3	Terry Betts		King's Lynn	10.51
4	Anders Michanek		Reading	10.51
5	Barry Briggs		Swindon	10.38
6	Eric Boocock		Halifax	10.36
7	Ronnie Moore		Wimbledon	10.34
8	Bernt Persson		Cradley	10.27
9	Ray Wilson		Leicester	10.14
10	Martin Ashby		Swindon	10.08
11	Bob Kilby		Exeter	9.89
12	John Boulger		Leicester	9.46
13	John Louis		Ipswich	9.39
14	Bengt Jansson		Hackney	9.38
15	Garry Middleton		Oxford	9.24
16	Nigel Boocock		Coventry	9.23
17	Howard Cole (a.k.a. Kid Brodie)		King's Lynn	8.94
18	Sören Sjösten		Belle Vue	8.92
19	Christer Löfqvist		Poole	8.90
20	Jim McMillan		Glasgow	8.86

Midland Cup

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

First round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Oxford	Swindon	44–34, 34–44
Wolverhampton	Cradley	40–38, 39–39
Swindon	Oxford	39–39, 36–41

Semi final round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Swindon	Leicester	42–36, 30–48
Coventry	Wolverhampton	41–37, 37–41
Coventry	Wolverhampton	42–36, 33–45

Final

First leg

Second leg

Leicester won on aggregate 82–74

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• 11.36
• 8.92
• 8.44
• 8.20
• 6.72
• 6.68
• 5.56
• 5.11

Coventry

• 9.23
• 8.10
• 7.07
• 6.85
• 5.61
• 5.33
• 5.19
• 4.52
• 4.14

Cradley Heath

• 10.27
• 7.30
• 6.95
• 4.90
• 4.61
• 4.57
• 3.73
• 2.00
• 0.91

Exeter

• 9.89
• 8.23
• 6.29
• 6.06
• 5.85
• 5.75
• 5.28
• 4.89
• 4.00
• 1.18

Glasgow

• 8.86
• 8.58
• 8.41
• 6.91
• 4.94
• 4.00
• 3.72
• 3.47
• 2.09
• 1.82

Hackney

• 9.38
• 7.79
• 6.38
• 6.32
• 6.27
• 6.24
• 5.78
• 4.00
• 3.20

Halifax

• 10.36
• 8.16
• 7.39
• 5.87
• 5.70
• 5.36
• 4.03
• 3.57
• 3.53

Ipswich

• 9.39
• 7.78
• 7.67
• 6.96
• 5.07
• 4.61
• 4.46
• 4.35

King's Lynn

• 10.51
• (Kid Bodie) 8.94
• 8.36
• 7.30
• 6.21
• 5.72
• 5.47
• 4.75
• 4.33

Leicester

• 10.14
• 9.46
• 8.68
• 4.98
• 4.81
• 4.47
• 3.93
• 3.25

Newport

• 7.45
• 7.15
• 6.41
• 5.28
• 4.49
• 4.36
• 3.75
• 3.49

Oxford

• 9.24
• 7.97
• 6.49
• 6.25
• 5.14
• 4.81
• 4.37
• 3.64
• 3.00

Poole

• 8.90
• 8.00
• 6.71
• 6.47
• 5.75
• 5.42
• 4.66

Reading

• 10.51
• 8.78
• 7.73
• 7.07
• 6.38
• 6.24
• 5.02
• 3.77

Sheffield

• 8.85
• 8.81
• 7.46
• 7.34
• 7.15
• 7.15
• 6.33

Swindon

• 10.38
• 10.08
• 6.08
• 4.88
• 4.62
• 4.21
• 3.88
• 3.56
• 2.00

Wimbledon

• 10.34
• 8.13
• 7.45
• 5.02
• 4.45
• 3.96
• 3.53
• 3.26
• 1.71

Wolverhampton

• 11.39
• 7.76
• 6.67
• 5.88
• 4.59
• 4.04
• 3.75
• 1.65

See also

• List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
• Knockout Cup (speedway)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Historic league tables. Speedway Archive.
2. Book: Rogers, Martin. The Illustrated History of Speedway. 1978. 129–133. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-904584-45-3.
3. Book: Oakes, Peter. 1981 Speedway Yearbook. 1981. 100. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-86215-017-5.
4. Web site: HISTORY ARCHIVE. British Speedway. 1 July 2021.
5. Web site: Svein Kasa. Speedway Plus. 28 July 2021.
6. Bamford,R & Shailes,G (2007). “The Story of Oxford Speedway”.
7. Web site: 1972 British League Knockout Cup. Speedway archive.
8. News: Michanek fifth . Reading Evening Post . 23 October 1972 . 2 June 2023 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
9. News: Speedway . Daily Mirror . 25 October 1972 . British Newspaper Archive. 21 October 2023 . subscription .