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1973 British League Division Two season

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1973 British League Division Two season
LeagueBritish League Division Two
ChampionsBoston Barracudas
No. of competitors18
Knockout CupBoston Barracudas
IndividualArthur Price
Highest averageLou Sansom
Division/s aboveBritish League (Div 1)

The 1973 British League Division Two season was the second tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.[1]

Summary

The 1973 season saw the league expanded to 18 teams with the addition of Chesterton Potters.[2] The team had last raced during the 1963 Provincial Speedway League season under the name of the Stoke Potters.[3]

Boston Barracudas won their first title and went on to win the league and cup double.[4][5] Boston had finished runner-up to Crewe Kings the previous season, with decent season averages recorded by five riders Arthur Price, Jim Ryman, Carl Glover, Russ Osborne and Ray Bales. With a largely unchanged team, they went one place better by sealing the league title. Boston won easily, 14 points clear of their nearest rival, and four of the five riders improved their averages from 1972. Arthur Price also won the Riders' Championship.[6]

Final table

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Boston Barracudas 33 29 0 4 58
2 Workington Comets 34 21 2 11 44
3 Eastbourne Eagles 34 19 2 13 40
4 Peterborough Panthers 34 19 1 14 39
5 Birmingham Brummies 34 19 0 15 38
6 Teesside Tigers 34 19 0 15 38
7 Bradford Northern 34 18 0 16 36
8 Crewe Kings 34 17 1 16 35
9 Long Eaton Rangers 33 16 1 16 33
10 Barrow Bombers 34 15 2 17 32
11 Sunderland Stars 34 15 2 17 32
12 Hull Vikings 34 13 5 17 31
13 Chesterton Potters 34 14 1 19 29
14 Ellesmere Port Gunners 34 14 0 20 28
15 Canterbury Crusaders 34 13 2 19 28
16 Scunthorpe Saints 32 12 1 21 25
17 Berwick Bandits 32 11 1 22 23
18 Rayleigh Rockets 34 9 3 22 21

Top Five Riders

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Lou Sansom Australia Workington Comets 10.56
2 Alan Knapkin England Bradford Northern 10.04
3 Jack Millen New Zealand Sunderland Stars 9.80
4 Carl Glover England Boston Barracudas 9.56
5 Ken McKinlay Scotland Scunthorpe Saints 9.50

British League Division Two Knockout Cup

The 1973 British League Division Two Knockout Cup was the sixth edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Boston Barracudas were the winners of the competition.[7]

First Round

Date Team One Score Team Two
19/05 Canterbury 44-34 Eastbourne
13/05 Eastbourne 37-41 Canterbury

Second Round

Date Team One Score Team Two
03/06 Boston 58-20 Crewe
04/06 Crewe 44-34 Boston
08/06 Peterborough 56-22 Barrow
05/06 Barrow 45-32 Peterborough
13/06 Bradford 48-29 Ellesmere Port
05/06 Ellesmere Port 42-35 Bradford
04/06 Birmingham 46-32 Scunthorpe
03/06 Scunthorpe 38-40 Birmingham
08/06 Workington 45-33 Berwick
09/06 Berwick 42-36 Workington
31/05 Teesside 48-30 Sunderland
08/06 Sunderland 38-40 Teesside
09/06 Rayleigh 46-32 Hull
30/05 Hull 43-34 Rayleigh
07/06 Long Eaton 48-30 Canterbury
09/06 Canterbury 42-36 Long Eaton

Quarter Finals

Date Team One Score Team Two
24/06 Boston 50-28 Peterborough
29/06 Peterborough 37-41 Boston
04/07 Bradford 48-30 Birmingham
02/07 Birmingham 47-31 Bradford
27/07 Workington 53-25 Teesside
26/07 Teesside 44-33 Workington
21/07 Rayleigh 49-29 Long Eaton
26/07 Long Eaton 36-42 Rayleigh

Semi Finals

Date Team One Score Team Two
19/08 Boston 46-32 Bradford
22/08 Bradford 43-35 Boston
30/08 Workington 60-18 Rayleigh
18/08 Rayleigh 43-35 Workington

Final

First leg

Boston Barracudas
Carl Glover 15
Ray Bales 13
Arthur Price 10
Russ Osborne 10
Dave Piddock 5
David Gagen 5
Jim Ryman R/R		58 – 19Workington Comets
Lou Sansom 7
Malcolm Mackay 5
Kym Amundson 4
Steve Watson 3
Taffy Owen 0
Mitch Graham 0
Bernie Hornby 0
[8]

Second leg

Workington Comets
Lou Sansom 12
Malcolm Mackay 10
Mitch Graham 7
Taffy Owen 6
Kym Amundson 5
Steve Watson 6
Bernie Hornby 1		47 – 31Boston Barracudas
Carl Glover 16
Arthur Price 6
Ray Bales 4
Dave Piddock 2
Russ Osborne 1
David Gagen 1
Les Glover 1
Jim Ryman R/R
[8]

Boston were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 89–66.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  3. ^ "Stoke Speedway (Loomer Road)". Defunct Speedway. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  4. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  5. ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 101. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  6. ^ "teams". wwosbackup. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  7. ^ "1973 British League Division Two Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  8. ^ a b "1973 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
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