1975 British League season explained

The 1975 Gulf Oil British League season was the 41st season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom and the 11th season known as the British League.^[1]

Summary

The league was sponsored for the first time by Gulf Oil. Reading Racers returned after a one-season absence to increase the size of the league back to eighteen teams and the ban on overseas riders that rode in other leagues abroad was lifted.^[2]

The Ipswich Witches won their first title, defeating Belle Vue Aces by a solitary point. John Louis and Billy Sanders scored heavily throughout the season for Ipswich. Belle Vue found consolation by winning the Knockout Cup.^{[3] [4]}

In their last season at the Cowley track, Oxford Rebels won the Midland Cup, beating Wolverhampton Wolves^{[5] [6]} but the competition was overshadowed by the death of rider Gary Peterson.^[7]

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Ipswich Witches	34	26	1	7	53
2	Belle Vue Aces	34	25	2	7	52
3	Newport	34	24	1	9	49
4	Exeter Falcons	34	20	3	11	45
5	Sheffield Tigers	34	21	0	13	42
6	Reading Racers	34	21	0	13	42
7	Oxford Rebels	34	18	0	16	36
8	Leicester Lions	34	16	4	14	36
9	Wimbledon Dons	34	16	2	16	34
10	Halifax Dukes	34	15	3	16	33
11	Cradley United	34	15	2	17	32
12	King's Lynn Stars	34	14	3	17	31
13	Wolverhampton Wolves	34	13	1	20	27
14	Hull Vikings	34	10	4	20	24
15	Poole Pirates	34	10	3	21	23
16	Coventry Bees	34	9	2	23	20
17	Hackney Hawks	34	9	1	24	19
18	Swindon Robins	34	8	0	26	16

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		Exeter	11.45
2	Peter Collins		Belle Vue	11.27
3	Phil Crump		Newport	11.17
4	Anders Michanek		Reading	11.03
5	Ole Olsen		Wolverhampton	10.79
6	John Louis		Ipswich	10.67
7	Dave Jessup		Leicester	10.45
8	Malcolm Simmons		Poole	10.37
9	Dag Lövaas		Oxford	10.22
10	Reg Wilson		Sheffield	10.18

British League Knockout Cup

The 1975 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 37th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Belle Vue Aces were the winners.^[8]

First round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
22/05	Sheffield	44-34	Exeter
19/04	Belle Vue	49-29	Wolverhampton
18/04	Wolverhampton	37-41	Belle Vue
14/04	Exeter	47-31	Sheffield

Second round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
01/07	Leicester	47-31	Hackney
27/06	Hackney	40-38	Leicester
23/06	Cradley Heath	46-32	Kings Lynn
21/06	Kings Lynn	42-36	Cradley Heath
19/06	Oxford	60-18	Coventry
19/06	Ipswich	42-36	Belle Vue
16/06	Exeter	43-35	Poole
16/06	Reading	38-40	Newport
14/06	Swindon	47-31	Hull
14/06	Coventry	33-45	Oxford
11/06	Poole	41-37	Exeter
11/06	Hull	46-32	Swindon
07/06	Halifax	58-20	Wimbledon
06/06	Newport	46-32	Reading
05/06	Wimbledon	49-29	Halifax
04/06	Belle Vue	49-28	Ipswich

Quarter-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
09/08	Cradley Heath	51-27	Newport
09/08	Belle Vue	45-33	Oxford
08/08	Newport	49-29	Cradley Heath
07/08	Oxford	36-42	Belle Vue
02/08	Swindon	32-46	Leicester
29/07	Leicester	42-36	Swindon
17/07	Exeter	43-35	Halifax
05/07	Halifax	47-31	Exeter

Semi-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
05/10	Belle Vue	44-34	Cradley Heath
27/09	Halifax	37-40	Leicester
26/09	Leicester	47-31	Halifax
22/09	Cradley Heath	32-45	Belle Vue

Final

First leg

Second leg

Belle Vue Aces were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 86-70.

Riders' Championship

Peter Collins won the British League Riders' Championship for the second time, it was held at Hyde Road on 18 October.^[9]

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

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

Leading final averages

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ivan Mauger		Exeter	11.52
2	Phil Crump		Newport	11.15
3	Peter Collins		Belle Vue	11.13
4	Anders Michanek		Reading	10.90
5	Ole Olsen		Wolverhampton	10.79
6	John Louis		Ipswich	10.58
7	Dave Jessup		Leicester	10.41
8	Malcolm Simmons		Poole	10.41
9	Martin Ashby		Swindon	10.13
10	Tommy Jansson		Wimbledon	10.12
11	Dag Lövaas		Oxford	10.04
12	Ray Wilson		Wolverhampton	9.90
13	Reg Wilson		Sheffield	9.79
14	Jim McMillan		Hull	9.69
15	Billy Sanders		Ipswich	9.58
16	Doug Wyer		Sheffield	9.37
17	Chris Morton		Belle Vue	9.27
18	Barry Briggs		Wimbledon	9.23
19	Scott Autrey		Exeter	9.19
20	Reidar Eide		Newport	8.98

Midland Cup

Oxford 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	39–39, 39–39
Oxford	Swindon	53–25, 33–44
Coventry	Cradley	40–37, 35–43

Semi final round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Wolverhampton	Cradley	42–35, 44–34
Oxford	Leicester	46–32, 35–43

Final

First leg

Second leg

Oxford won on aggregate 79–76

London Cup

Wimbledon retained the London Cup but there were now only two teams remaining in London.^[10]

Results

width=100	Team	width=70	Score	width=100	Team
Wimbledon	48–30	Hackney
Hackney	46–32	Wimbledon

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• 11.13
• 9.27
• 8.76
• 7.14
• 6.21
• 5.03
• 4.00
• 3.55

Coventry

• 8.66
• 8.02
• 5.37
• 5.14
• 4.82
• 4.43
• 4.36
• 3.84
• 2.23
• 1.71

Cradley Heath

• 8.73
• 8.58
• 7.68
• 7.53
• 4.87
• 4.84
• 4.56
• 3.08

Exeter

• 11.52
• 9.19
• 7.50
• 6.07
• 5.89
• 5.71
• 4.96
• 4.72
• 3.44

Hackney

• 8.54
• 7.81
• 7.61
• 5.84
• 4.68
• 4.60
• 4.46
• 3.86

Halifax

• 8.77
• 8.03
• 7.58
• 7.11
• 5.92
• 5.74
• 4.89
• 4.32
• 3.83

Hull

• 9.69
• 7.29
• 7.20
• 6.64
• 6.53
• 5.22
• 5.14
• 5.10
• 3.49
• 3.45

Ipswich

• 10.58
• 9.58
• 7.75
• 6.44
• 5.13
• 4.99
• 4.78
• 4.00

King's Lynn

• 8.87
• 7.48
• 7.43
• 6.20
• 5.77
• 5.76
• 4.75
• 4.56
• 4.07
• 4.00
• 4.00

Leicester

• 10.41
• 9.90
• 5.91
• 5.84
• 5.70
• 4.93
• 4.17
• 3.75

Newport

• 11.15
• 8.98
• 8.70
• 7.32
• 7.13
• 6.34
• 6.11
• 3.26

Oxford

• 10.04
• 8.41
• 7.48
• 6.57
• 5.73
• 4.75
• 4.15
• 2.46

Poole

• 10.41
• 7.50
• 6.23
• 5.39
• 5.29
• 4.48
• 3.77
• 2.53

Reading

• 10.90
• 7.37
• 7.06
• 5.59
• 5.56
• 5.21
• 4.99

Sheffield

• 9.79
• 9.37
• 7.91
• 6.41
• 6.09
• 5.88
• 3.17

Swindon

• 10.13
• 8.26
• 5.43
• 4.95
• 4.56
• 4.42
• 4.27
• 3.18
• 2.79

Wimbledon

• 10.12
• 9.23
• 7.24
• 6.11
• 4.97
• 4.85
• 4.76
• 4.40
• 2.19

Wolverhampton

• 10.79
• 6.99
• 6.29
• 5.85
• 4.55
• 3.19
• 3.16
• 2.96

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: Oakes, Peter. 1981 Speedway Yearbook. 1981. 100. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-86215-017-5.
3. Web site: HISTORY ARCHIVE. British Speedway. 2 July 2021.
4. Book: Rogers, Martin. The Illustrated History of Speedway. 1978. 129–133. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-904584-45-3.
5. Lawson, K (2018) “Rebels 1975 – The Last Season”.
6. Bamford, R & Shailes, G (2007). "The Story of Oxford Speedway".
7. News: Speedway rider Gary Peterson killed . Reading Evening Post . 18 October 1975 . British Newspaper Archive. 21 October 2023 . subscription .
8. Web site: 1975 British League Knockout Cup. Speedway archive.
9. News: Collins keeps his title . Sunday Sun (Newcastle) . 19 October 1975 . 2 June 2023 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
10. Web site: 1975 fixtures and results . Speedway Researcher . 1 October 2023.