1973 British League season

1973 British League season
League	British League
No. of competitors	18
Champions	Reading Racers
Knockout Cup	Belle Vue Aces
Individual	Ivan Mauger
London Cup	Hackney Hawks
Midland Cup	Wolverhampton Wolves
Highest average	Anders Michanek
Division/s below	British League (Div 2)
	← 1972; 1974 →;

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	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

Date	Team one	Score	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

Date	Team one	Score	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

Date	Team one	Score	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

Date	Team one	Score	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

1 October 1973

Reading Racers Anders Michanek 11 Dag Lövaas 11 Geoff Curtis 9 Mick Bell 7 Richard May 4 Bobby McNeil 4 Bernie Leigh 2	47 - 31	Belle Vue Aces Peter Collins 12 Paul Tyrer 7 Eric Broadbelt 6 John Louis (guest) 3 Alan Wilkinson 2 Sören Sjösten 1 Chris Morton 0
	^[8]

Reading Stadium

Second leg

24 October 1973

Belle Vue Aces Peter Collins 10 Jim McMillan (guest) 8 Alan Wilkinson 8 Sören Sjösten 8 Eric Broadbelt 7 Paul Tyrer 6 Chris Morton 0	47 - 31	Reading Racers Anders Michanek 12 Dag Lövaas 8 Mick Bell 6 Mitch Graham 5 Trevor Geer 0 Bernie Leigh 0 Geoff Curtis R/R
	^[8]

Hyde Road Stadium

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.^[9]

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Ivan Mauger	3 3 3 3 2	14
2	Ray Wilson	1 3 1 3 3	11
3	Anders Michanek	3 2 EX 3 3	11
4	Ole Olsen	3 3 3 2 EX	11
5	Arnie Haley	2 1 2 3 3	11
6	Martin Ashby	3 3 3 EX 1	10
7	Jim McMillan	2 2 1 2 3	10
8	John Louis	1 1 2 2 2	8
9	Sören Sjösten	1 2 3 1 F	7
10	Trevor Hedge	0 2 2 2 EF	6
11	Garry Middleton	2 0 0 1 2	5
12	Barry Thomas	2 1 0 0 2	5
13	Malcolm Simmons	1 0 2 1 1	4
14	Reidar Eide	0 1 1 0 1	3
15	Kid Brodie	0 0 1 1 1	3
16	Bill Andrew (res)	0 0 - - -	0
17	Pete Smith	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	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.^[10]

Results

Team	Score	Team
Wimbledon	40–37	Hackney
Hackney	45–33	Wimbledon

Midland Cup

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

First round

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

Semi final round

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

Final

First leg

5 October 1973

Wolverhampton Ole Olsen 14 George Hunter 9 Tony Clarke 8 Gary Peterson 5 Tom Leadbitter 3.5 Ken Eyre 3 Jon Erskine r/r	42.5–35.5	Leicester Ray Wilson 11 John Boulger 9 Dave Jessup 7 Malcolm Shakespeare 6 Norman Storer 1.5 Bruce Forrester 1 Malcolm Brown 0

Monmore Green Stadium

Second leg

9 October 1973

Leicester John Boulger 11 Ray Wilson 10 Norman Storer 7 Malcolm Brown 5 Malcolm Shakespeare 4 Dave Jessup 2 Bruce Forrester 0	39–39	Wolverhampton Ole Olsen 14 Tony Clarke 8 George Hunter 6 Gary Peterson 6 Ken Eyre 3 Tom Leadbitter 2 Jon Erskine r/r

Leicester Stadium

Wolverhampton won on aggregate 81.5–74.5

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Coatbridge

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Exeter

Hackney

Halifax

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Leicester

Newport

Oxford

Poole

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

Wimbledon

Wolverhampton

References

^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
^ "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
^ "973 - Speedway Ruined My Toffee Apple". British Speedway Plus. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
^ "1973 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
^ ^a ^b "Season 1973" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
^ "Speedway". The People. 4 November 1973. Retrieved 2 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ "Hackney 1973" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
^ "Midland Speedway Cup". Leicester Daily Mercury. 10 October 1973. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.