1974 British League season explained

Competition:	British League
Competitors:	17
Domesticcup1:	Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:	Exeter Falcons
Domesticcup2:	Knockout Cup
Domesticcup2 Winners:	Sheffield Tigers
Domesticcup3:	Individual
Domesticcup3 Winners:	Peter Collins
Domesticcup4:	Midland Cup
Domesticcup4 Winners:	Leicester Lions
Domesticcup5:	London Cup
Domesticcup5 Winners:	Wimbledon Dons
Highest Average:	Ole Olsen
Leagues Below:	British League (Div 2)
Prevseason:	1973
Nextseason:	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	Nat	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

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	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

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	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
Exeter	bye	Reading

Quarter-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	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

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	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

Second leg

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.^[6]

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=70px	Heat Scores	width=50px	Total
1		3 3 3 3 3	15
2		2 2 3 3 2	12
3		1 3 2 3 3	12
4		3 2 1 2 3	11
5		3 1 2 2 3	11
6		2 3 1 2 2	10
7		1 2 2 1 2	8
8		2 0 3 2 0	7
9		0 2 EF 3 2	7
10		1 3 0 1 1	6
11		2 1 2 EF 1	6
12		0 1 3 0 1	5
13		3 F R 1 0	4
14		0 0 1 1 1	3
15		1 0 1 0 0	2
16		0 1 0 0 EF	1

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

Final leading averages

	Rider	Nat	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.^[7]

First round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Oxford	Swindon	41–37, 34–44
Coventry	Cradley	39–39, 28–50

Semi final round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Leicester	Swindon	41–37, 41–37
Cradley	Wolverhampton	32–46, 38–40

Final

First leg

Second leg

Leicester won on aggregate 85–71

London Cup

Wimbledon won the London Cup but there were now only two teams remaining in London.^[8]

Results

width=100	Team	width=70	Score	width=100	Team
Wimbledon	46–32	Hackney
Hackney	39–39	Wimbledon

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• 10.98
• 9.72
• 8.68
• 7.47
• 7.24
• 6.49
• 4.15
• 3.24
• 2.73

Coventry

• 8.50
• 6.70
• 5.96
• 5.78
• 4.97
• 4.50
• 4.34
• 2.13
• 1.75

Cradley Heath

• 10.06
• (Kid Brodie) 7.70
• 6.19
• 5.79
• 5.56
• 4.70
• 4.14
• 4.00
• 3.33
• 2.09

Exeter

• 10.88
• 8.32
• 7.79
• 7.29
• 7.26
• 5.57
• 5.52
• 4.76
• 4.23

Hackney

• 10.17
• 7.78
• 6.34
• 5.76
• 5.37
• 5.33
• 5.29
• 4.48

Halifax

• 9.61
• 7.50
• 7.20
• 7.01
• 5.43
• 4.81
• 4.75
• 2.77
• 2.61

Hull

• 9.71
• 7.77
• 5.73
• 5.52
• 5.14
• 5.11
• 5.09
• 4.14

Ipswich

• 10.79
• 9.34
• 8.29
• 6.19
• 5.53
• 5.18
• 4.80
• 4.50
• 4.29

King's Lynn

• 10.32
• 9.78
• 6.36
• 5.81
• 5.25
• 4.87
• 4.77

Leicester

• 9.66
• 9.34
• 6.46
• 5.77
• 5.41
• 3.45
• 3.29
• 2.62

Newport

• 10.79
• 9.42
• 7.70
• 5.26
• 5.08
• 4.76
• 4.36
• 4.15

Oxford

• 8.32
• 7.32
• 6.89
• 6.86
• 6.76
• 5.18
• 4.15
• 4.00
• 3.72
• 1.60

Poole

• 8.58
• 7.28
• 6.31
• 6.29
• 5.27
• 2.54
• 2.29

Sheffield

• 9.92
• 9.23
• 9.13
• 7.24
• 6.98
• 6.40
• 5.91
• 4.70

Swindon

• 10.09
• 7.97
• 6.37
• 5.10
• 4.55
• 4.51
• 4.06
• 3.58
• 2.50

Wimbledon

• 9.30
• 7.09
• 6.64
• 5.84
• 5.45
• 5.17
• 5.02
• 3.03

Wolverhampton

• 11.39
• 8.04
• 6.53
• 5.38
• 4.28
• 4.04
• 3.20
• 2.59
• 2.33

See also

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: Historic league tables. Speedway Archive.
2. Web site: HISTORY ARCHIVE. British Speedway. 1 July 2021.
3. Book: Rogers, Martin. The Illustrated History of Speedway. 1978. 129–133. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-904584-45-3.
4. Book: Oakes, Peter. 1981 Speedway Yearbook. 1981. 100. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-86215-017-5.
5. Web site: 1974 British League Knockout Cup. Speedway archive.
6. News: Speedway . Coventry Evening Telegraph . 21 October 1974 . 2 June 2023 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
7. News: Wolves beaten in cup final . Birmingham Daily Post . 12 October 1974 . British Newspaper Archive. 21 October 2023 . subscription .
8. Web site: 1974 fixtures and results . Speedway Researcher . 30 September 2023.