1972 British League season

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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 due to extra football fixtures^[2] and West Ham Hammers withrew during the early part of the season, reducing the league to eighteen teams.^[3]^[4]

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.^[5]^[6]

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.^[7]^[8]

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

Fixtures and results

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Top ten riders (league averages)

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

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
09/05	Ipswich	46–32	Sheffield
08/05	Exeter	48–30	Swindon
06/05	Halifax	42–36	Leicester

Second round

Date	Team one	Score	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

Date	Team one	Score	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

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
27/09	Kings Lynn	38–40	Belle Vue
22/09	Hackney	40–38	Reading

Final

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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.^[10]

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Template:Flagicon Ole Olsen	3 3 3 3 3	15
2	Template:Flagicon Martin Ashby	2 3 3 3 3	14
3	Template:Flagicon Ronnie Moore	3 3 2 3 2	13
4	Template:Flagicon John Louis	1 1 3 3 3	11
5	Template:Flagicon Anders Michanek	3 2 1 2 1	9
6	Template:Flagicon Terry Betts	2 2 2 1 2	9
7	Template:Flagicon Ivan Mauger	3 3 ef ef 2	8
8	Template:Flagicon Garry Middleton	2 2 2 2 0	8
9	Template:Flagicon Christer Löfqvist	2 0 1 1 3	7
10	Template:Flagicon Bernt Persson	ef 2 3 ex 1	6
11	Template:Flagicon Ray Wilson	0 1 2 2 0	5
12	Template:Flagicon Bengt Jansson	1 0 1 1 1	4
13	Template:Flagicon Bob Kilby	1 0 0 0 2	3
14	Template:Flagicon Eric Boocock	0 1 1 0 1	3
15	Template:Flagicon Nigel Boocock	1 ef 0 1 0	2
16	Template:Flagicon Jim McMillan (res)	2	2
17	Template:Flagicon Arnie Haley	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	Template:Flagicon	Wolverhampton	11.39
2	Ivan Mauger	Template:Flagicon	Belle Vue	11.36
3	Terry Betts	Template:Flagicon	King's Lynn	10.51
4	Anders Michanek	Template:Flagicon	Reading	10.51
5	Barry Briggs	Template:Flagicon	Swindon	10.38
6	Eric Boocock	Template:Flagicon	Halifax	10.36
7	Ronnie Moore	Template:Flagicon	Wimbledon	10.34
8	Bernt Persson	Template:Flagicon	Cradley	10.27
9	Ray Wilson	Template:Flagicon	Leicester	10.14
10	Martin Ashby	Template:Flagicon	Swindon	10.08
11	Bob Kilby	Template:Flagicon	Exeter	9.89
12	John Boulger	Template:Flagicon	Leicester	9.46
13	John Louis	Template:Flagicon	Ipswich	9.39
14	Bengt Jansson	Template:Flagicon	Hackney	9.38
15	Garry Middleton	Template:Flagicon	Oxford	9.24
16	Nigel Boocock	Template:Flagicon	Coventry	9.23
17	Howard Cole (a.k.a. Kid Brodie)	Template:Flagicon	King's Lynn	8.94
18	Sören Sjösten	Template:Flagicon	Belle Vue	8.92
19	Christer Löfqvist	Template:Flagicon	Poole	8.90
20	Jim McMillan	Template:Flagicon	Glasgow	8.86

Midland Cup

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

First round

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

Semi final round

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

Final

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Leicester won on aggregate 82–74