1973 British League season explained

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		Reading	11.55
2	Ivan Mauger		Exeter	11.30
3	Ole Olsen		Wolverhampton	11.10
4	Eric Boocock		Halifax	10.52
5	Dag Lövaas		Reading	10.37
6	Malcolm Simmons		King's Lynn	10.33
7	John Boulger		Leicester	10.25
8	Chris Pusey		Belle Vue	10.24
9	Martin Ashby		Swindon	10.11
10	John Louis		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

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
28/04	Belle Vue	48-30	Oxford
28/04	Coventry	44-34	Reading
27/04	Hackney	43-35	Swindon
26/04	Oxford	41-37	Belle Vue

Second round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
25/06	Reading	56-22	Coatbridge
22/06	Coatbridge	41-37	Reading
15/06	Wolverhampton	43-35	Exeter
14/06	Sheffield	29-49	Belle Vue
12/06	Leicester	36-42	Kings Lynn
02/06	Belle Vue	43-35	Sheffield
02/06	Halifax	49-29	Wimbledon
30/05	Poole	40-38	Cradley Heath
26/05	Kings Lynn	42-36	Leicester
18/05	Newport	45-33	Ipswich
17/05	Ipswich	41-37	Newport
17/05	Wimbledon	37-41	Halifax
12/05	Cradley Heath	37-41	Poole
12/05	Swindon	43-35	Hackney
07/05	Exeter	37-41	Wolverhampton
28/07	Swindon	52-25	Hackney
15/06	Hackney	43-35	Swindon

Quarter-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
01/09	Swindon	39-39	Wolverhampton
17/08	Newport	45-33	Reading
17/08	Wolverhampton	43-35	Swindon
13/08	Halifax	41-37	Belle Vue
10/08	Poole	39-39	Kings Lynn
30/07	Reading	55-23	Newport
18/07	Belle Vue	57-21	Halifax
23/06	Kings Lynn	47-31	Poole

Semi-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
26/09	Belle Vue	48-30	Wolverhampton
14/09	Wolverhampton	42-36	Belle Vue
05/09	Kings Lynn	40-38	Reading
03/09	Reading	52-26	Kings Lynn

Final

First leg

Second leg

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.^[8]

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=70px	Heat Scores	width=50px	Total
1		3 3 3 3 2	14
2		1 3 1 3 3	11
3		3 2 EX 3 3	11
4		3 3 3 2 EX	11
5		2 1 2 3 3	11
6		3 3 3 EX 1	10
7		2 2 1 2 3	10
8		1 1 2 2 2	8
9		1 2 3 1 F	7
10		0 2 2 2 EF	6
11		2 0 0 1 2	5
12		2 1 0 0 2	5
13		1 0 2 1 1	4
14		0 1 1 0 1	3
15		0 0 1 1 1	3
16	Bill Andrew (res)	0 0 - - -	0
17		0 EF - 0 0	0

• 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		Reading	11.36
2	Ivan Mauger		Exeter	11.29
3	Ole Olsen		Wolverhampton	10.82
4	Chris Pusey		Belle Vue	10.55
5	Eric Boocock		Halifax	10.32
6	Malcolm Simmons		King's Lynn	10.26
7	John Boulger		Leicester	10.24
8	Martin Ashby		Swindon	10.18
9	John Louis		Ipswich	10.06
10	Dag Lövaas		Reading	10.06
11	Terry Betts		King's Lynn	9.95
12	Reidar Eide		Newport	977
13	Christer Löfqvist		Poole	9.58
14	Ray Wilson		Leicester	9.44
15	Bernt Persson		Cradley United	9.38
16	Bob Valentine		Sheffield	9.30
17	Dave Jessup		Leicester	9.24
18	Tommy Jansson		Wimbledon	9.19
19	Howard Cole (a.k.a. Kid Brodie)		Cradley United	9.12
20	Peter Collins		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.^[9]

Results

width=100	Team	width=70	Score	width=100	Team
Wimbledon	40–37	Hackney
Hackney	45–33	Wimbledon

Midland Cup

Wolverhampton won the Midland Cup. The competition consisted of six teams.^[10]

First round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Swindon	Oxford	51–27, 38–40
Coventry	Cradley	36–42, 32–46

Semi final round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Leicester	Cradley	45–33, 56–22
Wolverhampton	Swindon	43–35

Final

First leg

Second leg

Wolverhampton won on aggregate 81.5–74.5

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• 10.55
• 9.08
• 8.73
• 7.00
• 6.94
• 6.21
• 5.67
• 5.16
• 3.52
• 3.05

Coatbridge

• 9.01
• 8.00
• 6.38
• 5.03
• 4.82
• 4.55
• 4.13
• 1.79

Coventry

• 8.59
• 8.33
• 8.32
• 6.31
• 5.55
• 4.83
• 4.65
• 3.44
• 3.26
• 3.20
• 2.53

Cradley Heath

• 9.38
• (Kid Brodie) 9.12
• 6.62
• 5.77
• 4.85
• 4.49
• 4.46
• 4.40
• 3.44
• 2.50

Exeter

• 11.29
• 7.57
• 6.38
• 6.00
• 5.80
• 5.34
• 4.74
• 4.48

Hackney

• 8.86
• 7.83
• 6.41
• 5.55
• 5.44
• 5.40
• 5.29
• 4.31

Halifax

• 10.32
• 6.92
• 6.31
• 6.25
• 5.63
• 5.14
• 4.19
• 3.28
• 2.33
• 1.22

Ipswich

• 10.06
• 7.46
• 7.43
• 6.09
• 5.87
• 5.68
• 3.20

King's Lynn

• 10.26
• 9.95
• 6.28
• 6.07
• 5.44
• 5.35
• 4.82
• 4.71
• 4.22

Leicester

• 10.24
• 9.44
• 9.24
• 5.80
• 4.67
• 4.37
• 4.21
• 3.09

Newport

• 9.77
• 7.39
• 7.37
• 7.28
• 6.01
• 4.79
• 3.93
• 3.62

Oxford

• 7.77
• 7.32
• 6.42
• 6.19
• 6.09
• 5.81
• 5.72
• 5.38
• 4.80
• 3.24

Poole

• 9.58
• 8.30
• 7.18
• 6.49
• 5.93
• 5.36
• 4.34
• 3.70
• 2.40
• 2.10

Reading

• 11.36
• 10.06
• 8.23
• 6.05
• 5.83
• 5.28
• 4.46
• 3.20

Sheffield

• 9.30
• 7.78
• 7.72
• 7.36
• 7.06
• 6.92
• 6.85

Swindon

• 10.18
• 7.34
• 6.81
• 6.67
• 4.90
• 4.25
• 4.18
• 3.58
• 2.48
• 0.94
• 0.50

Wimbledon

• 9.19
• 7.74
• 6.95
• 6.75
• 5.09
• 5.09
• 4.72
• 3.06
• 2.09

Wolverhampton

• 10.82
• 7.93
• 6.73
• 5.99
• 5.47
• 4.67
• 4.63
• 4.55
• 4.33
• 3.82
• 2.95

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: 973 - Speedway Ruined My Toffee Apple. British Speedway Plus. 28 July 2021.
6. Web site: Speedway riders, history and results. wwosbackup. 28 July 2021.
7. Web site: 1973 British League Knockout Cup. Speedway archive.
8. News: Speedway . The People . 4 November 1973 . 2 June 2023 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
9. Web site: Hackney 1973 . Speedway Researcher . 30 September 2023.
10. News: Midland Speedway Cup . Leicester Daily Mercury . 10 October 1973 . British Newspaper Archive. 21 October 2023 . subscription .