The 1972 British League Division Two season was the second tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.

Summary

The league still consisted of 17 teams with two teams leaving the league and two teams entering. The

Rochdale Hornets The Rochdale Hornets are a professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, competing in the League 1, the third tier of European rugby league. The Rochdale Hornets are one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs tha ...

had disbanded for good at the end of the previous season, whilst

Ipswich Witches The Ipswich Witches are a British motorcycle speedway club based at Foxhall Stadium near Ipswich, Suffolk. They compete in the British SGB Premiership. Meetings are staged on most Thursdays from March until October, normally commencing at 7.30 ...

moved up to the

British League The British League was the main motorcycle speedway league in Britain from its formation in 1965 until 1995 when British speedway was restructured. It initially had a single division, with a British League Division Two, second division starting i ...

. Two newly created teams Ellesmere Port Gunners and

Scunthorpe Saints The Scunthorpe Scorpions are a motorcycle speedway team in the British SGB Championship. They have raced at various times since 1971, at three different venues. History Origins and 1970s Speedway in Scunthorpe began on 3 May 1971 at the ...

joined the league. The Romford Bombers promotion and team moved to the

West Ham Stadium West Ham Stadium existed between 1928 and 1972 in Custom House, Newham, Custom House, east London, England, on Prince Regent Lane, near the present-day Prince Regent DLR station. The venue was used for Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom, ...

replacing the defunct

West Ham Hammers The West Ham Hammers were a speedway team that raced at West Ham Stadium in London, England, from 1929 to 1971. The team were twice champions of the United Kingdom. History Origins and 1920s Speedway arrived at West Ham in 1928, the ina ...

at the stadium but halfway through the season, they moved again to become Barrow Happy Faces as their sponsor at the time was Duckhams Oil - its happy face logo was prominently displayed on the team's race jackets.

Crewe Kings The Crewe Kings was a British Motorcycle speedway, Speedway team which operated in Crewe, Cheshire from 1969 until its closure in 1975. History Origins A speedway track operated for a short time in the late 1920s / early 1930s, at the Londo ...

won their first title and completed the league and cup double. Crewe were led by their Australian

Phil Crump Philip John Crump (born 9 February 1952 in Mildura, Victoria) is an Australian former motorcycle speedway rider. who attained third place in the 1976 World Championship. He also won the 1976 Speedway World Team Cup with Australia in the same ...

who finished top of the league averages and won the Riders' Championship. John Jackson also finished with an impressive average, as did their new signing Australian international Garry Flood. Flood would only ride the one season in speedway and would go on to win eight Australian Motocross Championships.

Final table

Fixtures and results

Top five riders (league averages)

British League Division Two Knockout Cup

The 1972 British League Division Two Knockout Cup (sponsored by the Speedway Express) was the fifth edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams.

were the winners of the competition. First round Second round Quarter-finals Semi-finals

Final

First leg Second leg Crewe were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 89–67.

Leading final averages

Riders' Championship

won the Rider's Championship, held at

Wimbledon Stadium Wimbledon Stadium, also known as Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium, was a greyhound racing track located in Wimbledon in southwest London, England. It also hosted stock car and other small circuit motor racing events, and until 2005 hosted motorc ...

on 14 October. * f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Riders' final averages

Barrow * Bob Coles 8.61 *Mike Sampson 8.35 * Mike Watkin 6.75 * Tom Owen 5.36 *Ian Hindle 4.95 *Chris Roynon 4.57 *Bobby Campbell 4.36 *Keith Evans 4.33 *Alan Mackie 3.69 Berwick *Jimmy Gallacher 8.35 *Andy Meldrum 8.35 * Doug Templeton 8.31 * Willie Templeton 7.27 *Jim Beaton 6.34 * Graham Jones 4.26 *George Beaton 4.00 *Geoff Davies 3.87 *Dennis Jackson 3.07 *Alistair Brady 2.53 Birmingham *Pete Bailey 9.57 * Arthur Browning 9.42 * George Major 7.87 *Terry Shearer 7.55 * Mick Hines 7.34 *Malcolm Corradine 6.00 * Mike Lanham 5.94 *Cliff Emms 5.83 *Archie Wilkinson 5.00 *Mike Gardner 4.32 *Steve Wilson 3.84 Boston * Arthur Price 9.10 *Jim Ryman 8.58 *Russ Osborne 7.72 * Carl Glover 7.38 *Tony Featherstone 6.38 * Ray Bales 6.27 *Vic Cross 5.87 *Jack Bywater 5.23 Bradford *Dave Baugh 8.69 *Alan Knapkin 8.11 *Robin Adlington 7.89 * Colin Meredith 5.92 *Alf Wells 5.92 *Alan Bridget 5.82 *Barry Meeks 4.81 *Sid Sheldrick 4.73 *Mick Fielding 3.88 *Mick Fairbairn 3.54 Canterbury * Ross Gilbertson 9.46 * Graham Banks 7.62 * Ted Hubbard 7.26 *Dave Piddock 7.03 *Bob Hughes 6.46 * Barney Kennett 6.25 * Les Rumsey 4.87 *Trevor Jones 4.31 *Charlie Benham 3.49 *Mike Vernam 3.33 *Gary Cottham Sr. 3.20 Crewe *

11.13 * John Jackson 10.03 * Garry Flood 8.40 *Dai Evans 7.12 * Dave Morton 6.60 *Dave Parry 5.76 *Peter Nicholas 5.00 *Garry Moore 4.56 Eastbourne * Malcolm Ballard 9.94 *

Gordon Kennett Gordon William Kennett (2 September 1953 – 11 September 2023) was an English motorcycle speedway rider. In 1978, he won the World Pairs Championship and finished runner-up to Ole Olsen in the 1978 Individual Speedway World Championship, at ...

8.68 *Bobby McNeil 7.84 * Roger Johns 7.24 * Reg Trott 5.60 * Trevor Geer 5.51 *Derek Cook 5.42 * Paul Gachet 5.14 *Simon Bruce 3.91 Ellesmere Port * Paul Tyrer 8.47 * Graham Drury 6.56 *Colin Goad 6.42 *Robbie Gardner 6.40 *Cyril Francis 5.65 *Ian Gills 5.41 *Chris Blythe 4.50 *Paul Callaghan 4.45 *Geoff Pusey 1.90 Hull *Tony Childs 9.03 *Dave Mills 8.59 *Robin Amundson 7.73 *Stan Stevens 6.76 *Dennis Gavros 5.71 *Bryan Loakes 5.40 *Pete Boston 4.95 *Clark Facey 4.54 *Dennis Wasden 4.31 *Colin Tucker 4.15 *Bernie Hornby 1.82 Long Eaton * Geoff Bouchard 8.06 * Roger Mills 7.95 *Joe Hughes 6.29 *Steve Bass 5.77 *Chris Harrison 4.42 *Peter Jarvis 4.05 *Cliff Emms 3.40 *Phil Whittaker 3.39 *Gil Farmer 3.06 *Ian Champion 2.67 *Brian Woodhouse 1.56 Peterborough * Richard Greer 10.03 * John Harrhy 9.93 (7 matches only) * John Davis 8.13 *Roy Carter 8.12 *Clive Noy 6.63 *Ted Howgego 6.57 *Alan Witt 5.09 * Brian Clark 5.05 *Pete Saunders 5.04 *Frank Smith 4.67 *John Amies 4.12 *David Ashby 3.89 Rayleigh * Geoff Maloney 10.34 *Bob Young 8.74 * Brian Foote 8.67 * Allan Emmett 8.21 *Trevor Barnwell 6.22 *Dingle Brown 6.12 *Dave "Tiger" Beech 5.90 *Nigel Rackett 5.12 * Ivan Miller 5.04 *Peter Claridge 4.38 *Terry Stone 3.79 Scunthorpe *Brian Maxted 6.36 *Terry Kelly 6.00 *Ray Watkins 5.80 * Phil Bass 5.78 * Doug Underwood 5.08 *Ian Wilson 5.00 *Rod Haynes 4.79 *Brian Osborn 4.07 *Alan Bellham 3.70 *John Bowerman 3.67 *Peter Taylor 2.82 Sunderland *Jack Millen 8.69 *

Graeme Smith Graeme Craig Smith (born 1 February 1981) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer who played for South Africa national cricket team, South Africa in all formats. In 2003, he was appointed Captain (cricket), captain of the So ...

8.29 * Russ Dent 7.25 * George Barclay 6.88 *Dave Gatenby 5.27 *Peter Wrathall 4.16 * Jim Wells 3.81 Teesside * Roger Wright 8.56 *Dave Durham 7.90 * Bruce Forrester 7.35 * Frank Auffret 6.93 *Pete Reading 6.54 * Tim Swales 5.97 *Mick Moore 5.79 *Tony Swales 4.32 *Maxwell Clift .3.00 Workington * Taffy Owen 8.8 * Lou Sansom 8.53 *Malcolm MacKay 8.47 *Mitch Graham 6.43 *Kym Amundson 5.89 *Steve Watson 5.13 *Dave Kumeta 4.04 *Darryl Stobbart 4.00 *Lindsay Davies 3.71

References

{{Speedway British League Division Two seasons Speedway British League Division Two / National League