1975 British League season

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1975 British League season
LeagueBritish League
No. of competitors18
ChampionsIpswich Witches
Knockout CupBelle Vue Aces
IndividualPeter Collins
Midland CupOxford Rebels
London CupWimbledon Dons
Highest averageIvan Mauger
Division/s below1975 National League

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[edit]

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[edit]

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)[edit]

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Ivan Mauger New Zealand Exeter 11.45
2 Peter Collins England Belle Vue 11.27
3 Phil Crump Australia Newport 11.17
4 Anders Michanek Sweden Reading 11.03
5 Ole Olsen Denmark Wolverhampton 10.79
6 John Louis England Ipswich 10.67
7 Dave Jessup England Leicester 10.45
8 Malcolm Simmons England Poole 10.37
9 Dag Lövaas Norway Oxford 10.22
10 Reg Wilson England Sheffield 10.18

British League Knockout Cup[edit]

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

Date Team one Score 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

Date Team one Score 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

Date Team one Score 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

Date Team one Score 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[edit]

First leg

Leicester Lions
Dave Jessup 11
Ila Teromaa 10
Ray Wilson 9
Frank Auffret 6
Doug Underwood 2
Tony Lomas 0
Keith White 0		38 - 40Belle Vue Aces
Peter Collins 12
Chris Morton 9
Sören Sjösten 7
Geoff Pusey 4
Alan Wilkinson 4
Russ Hodgson 3
Paul Tyrer 1
[9]

Second leg

Belle Vue Aces
Peter Collins 12
Sören Sjösten 8
Paul Tyrer 8
Alan Wilkinson 8
Chris Morton 7
Russ Hodgson 2
Geoff Pusey 1		46 - 32Leicester Lions
Dave Jessup 8
Ray Wilson 7
Frank Auffret 6
Doug Underwood 6
Tony Lomas 3
Ila Teromaa 1
Keith White 1
[9]

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

Riders' Championship[edit]

Peter Collins won the British League Riders' Championship for the second time, it was held at Hyde Road on 18 October.[10]

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total
1 England Peter Collins 3 3 3 3 3 15
2 Australia Phil Crump 2 3 3 1 3 12
3 England Martin Ashby 3 1 2 3 2 11
4 England John Louis 3 2 0 3 3 11
5 England Doug Wyer 3 2 1 2 2 10
6 England Malcolm Simmons 2 3 1 2 1 9
7 England Chris Pusey 1 0 3 3 2 9
8 England Dave Jessup 2 0 2 2 2 8
9 Sweden Anders Michanek 2 1 2 R 3 8
10 New Zealand Ivan Mauger 1 0 3 1 1 6
11 Sweden Tommy Jansson 0 3 1 1 1 6
12 England Terry Betts 1 1 2 0 1 5
13 Scotland Jim McMillan 2 0 2 0 0 4
14 Australia Bob Valentine 0 1 1 1 EF 3
15 Norway Dag Lövaas 1 2 0 0 0 3
16 Australia John Boulger 0 0 0 0 0 0
  • ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded

Leading final averages[edit]

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

Midland Cup[edit]

Oxford won the Midland Cup. The competition consisted of six teams.[7]

First round

Team one Team two Score
Oxford Swindon 39–39, 39–39
Oxford Swindon 53–25, 33–44
Coventry Cradley 40–37, 35–43

Semi final round

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

Final[edit]

First leg

Oxford
Dag Lovaas 10
Gordon Kennett 9
John Dews 6
Richard Greer 6
Trevor Geer 5
Paul Gachet 2
Richard Hellsen 2		40–38Wolverhampton
Martin Ashby (guest) 13
Finn Thomsen 10
George Hunter 10
Malcolm Shakespeare 4
Colin Meredith 1
Gary Peterson 0
Leif Berlin r/r

Second leg

Wolverhampton
Ole Olsen 11
Malcolm Shakespeare 7
Finn Thomsen 6
Leif Berlin 6
Gary Peterson 4
Keith Anderson 3
Colin Meredith 1		38–39Oxford
Alan Grahame 12
Dag Lovaas 9
Gordon Kennett 7
Richard Greer 7
John Dews 3
Richard Hellsen 1
Brian Clark 0

Oxford won on aggregate 79–76

London Cup[edit]

Wimbledon retained the London Cup but there were now only two teams remaining in London.[11]

Results

Team Score Team
Wimbledon 48–30 Hackney
Hackney 46–32 Wimbledon

Riders & final averages[edit]

Belle Vue

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Exeter

Hackney

Halifax

Hull

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Leicester

Newport

Oxford

Poole

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

Wimbledon

Wolverhampton

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  3. ^ "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  4. ^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  5. ^ Lawson,K (2018) “Rebels 1975 – The Last Season”. ISBN 978-0-244-99725-0
  6. ^ Bamford,R & Shailes,G (2007). "The Story of Oxford Speedway". ISBN 978-0-7524-4161-0
  7. ^ a b "Speedway rider Gary Peterson killed". Reading Evening Post. 18 October 1975. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ^ "1975 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  9. ^ a b "Season 1975" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  10. ^ "Collins keeps his title". Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 19 October 1975. Retrieved 2 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. ^ "1975 fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
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