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1973 British League season

British speedway season

Field	Value
competition	British League
competitors	18
domesticcup1	Champions
domesticcup1 winners	Reading Racers
domesticcup2	Knockout Cup
domesticcup2 winners	Belle Vue Aces
domesticcup3	Individual
domesticcup3 winners	Ivan Mauger
domesticcup4	London Cup
domesticcup4 winners	Hackney Hawks
domesticcup5	Midland Cup
domesticcup5 winners	Wolverhampton Wolves
domesticcup6	Spring Gold Cup
domesticcup6 winners	King's Lynn Stars
highest average	Anders Michanek
leagues below	British League (Div 2)
prevseason	1972
nextseason	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.

Summary

Glasgow Tigers relocated to become Coatbridge Tigers.

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. 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.

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.

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

Fixtures and results

Top ten riders (league averages)

Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Anders Michanek	SWE	Reading
2	Ivan Mauger	NZL	Exeter
3	Ole Olsen	DEN	Wolverhampton
4	Eric Boocock	ENG	Halifax
5	Dag Lövaas	NOR	Reading
6	Malcolm Simmons	ENG	King's Lynn
7	John Boulger	AUS	Leicester
8	Chris Pusey	ENG	Belle Vue
9	Martin Ashby	ENG	Swindon
10	John Louis	ENG	Ipswich

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.

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 Anders Michanek 11 Dag Lövaas 11 Geoff Curtis 9 Mick Bell 7 Richard May 4 Bobby McNeil 4 Bernie Leigh 2 Peter Collins 12 Paul Tyrer 7 Eric Broadbelt 6 John Louis (guest) 3 Alan Wilkinson 2 Sören Sjösten 1 Chris Morton 0

Second leg Peter Collins 10 Jim McMillan (guest) 8 Alan Wilkinson 8 Sören Sjösten 8 Eric Broadbelt 7 Paul Tyrer 6 Chris Morton 0 Anders Michanek 12 Dag Lövaas 8 Mick Bell 6 Mitch Graham 5 Trevor Geer 0 Bernie Leigh 0 Geoff Curtis R/R

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.

Pos.		width=200px	Rider		width=70px	Heat Scores		width=50px	Total
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

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	SWE	Reading
2	Ivan Mauger	NZL	Exeter
3	Ole Olsen	DEN	Wolverhampton
4	Chris Pusey	ENG	Belle Vue
5	Eric Boocock	ENG	Halifax
6	Malcolm Simmons	ENG	King's Lynn
7	John Boulger	AUS	Leicester
8	Martin Ashby	ENG	Swindon
9	John Louis	ENG	Ipswich
10	Dag Lövaas	NOR	Reading
11	Terry Betts	ENG	King's Lynn
12	Reidar Eide	NOR	Newport
13	Christer Löfqvist	SWE	Poole
14	Ray Wilson	ENG	Leicester
15	Bernt Persson	SWE	Cradley United
16	Bob Valentine	AUS	Sheffield
17	Dave Jessup	ENG	Leicester
18	Tommy Jansson	SWE	Wimbledon
19	Howard Cole (a.k.a. Kid Brodie)	WAL	Cradley United
20	Peter Collins	ENG	Belle Vue

London Cup

Hackney won the London Cup for just the third time but there were now only two teams remaining in London.

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.

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

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

Wolverhampton won on aggregate 81.5–74.5

Spring Gold Cup

M	W	D	L	Pts
1	King's Lynn	10	7	1
2	Ipswich	10	6	1
3	Wimbledon	10	6	0
4	Hackney	10	4	1
5	Poole	10	2	2
6	Reading	10	2	1

Riders and 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

References

"Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
Rogers, Martin. (1978). "The Illustrated History of Speedway". Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd.
Oakes, Peter. (1981). "1981 Speedway Yearbook". Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd.
"HISTORY ARCHIVE".
"973 – Speedway Ruined My Toffee Apple".
"Speedway riders, history and results".
"1973 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher.
"1973 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
"Season 1973".
(4 November 1973). "Speedway". The People.
"Hackney 1973".
(10 October 1973). "Midland Speedway Cup". Leicester Daily Mercury.
"1973 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher.

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