1974 British League Division Two season

The 1974 British League Division Two season was the second tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain. It was the final season of British League Division Two before it was renamed as the New National League.[1]

1974 British League Division Two season
LeagueBritish League Division Two
ChampionsBirmingham Brummies
No. of competitors19
Knockout CupBirmingham Brummies
IndividualCarl Glover
Highest averagePhil Herne
Division/s aboveBritish League (Div 1)

Summary

The league was again expanded by one team from 18 to 19 teams. Weymouth Wizards were the new addition to the league, returning to action after five years out. Additionally there were two in and two out; Hull Vikings had moved up to the British League swapping places with Coatbridge Tigers and also swapping their top riders. Rayleigh Rockets closed down but the promotion, riders and nickname moved to Rye House. It was the first season of speedway at Rye House since the 1959 Southern Area League.[2]

There were a few changes of nicknames; the Chesterton Potters changed their team name to the Stoke Potters, Bradford became the Barons, Sunderland became the Stars and Long Eaton raced as the Archers.[3]

Birmingham Brummies won their first title, completing a league and cup double.[4][5] Australian Phil Herne improved his average by over 3 points from the 1973 season and Arthur Browning also exceeded a 10 average, the two factors proved to be the catalyst for Birmingham's success. John Hart and George Major both scored heavily throughout the season too.[2]

Final table
Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Birmingham Brummies 35 26 3 6 55
2 Eastbourne Eagles 36 24 3 9 51
3 Boston Barracudas 36 23 2 11 48
4 Workington Comets 36 22 3 11 47
5 Crewe Kings 36 22 0 14 44
6 Teesside Tigers 36 19 1 16 39
7 Bradford Barons 36 19 1 16 39
8 Peterborough Panthers 34 18 1 15 37
9 Coatbridge Tigers 36 18 0 18 36
10 Canterbury Crusaders 36 18 0 18 36
11 Berwick Bandits 36 16 1 19 33
12 Barrow Bombers 36 15 2 19 32
13 Stoke Potters 36 16 0 20 32
14 Ellesmere Port Gunners 35 14 3 18 31
15 Long Eaton Archers 36 14 2 20 30
16 Rye House Rockets 36 13 0 23 26
17 Scunthorpe Saints 36 10 2 24 22
18 Sunderland Gladiators 36 11 0 25 22
19 Weymouth Wizards 36 10 0 26 20

Top Five Riders (League Averages)
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Phil Herne Australia Birmingham Brummies 10.78
2 Carl Glover England Boston Barracudas 10.44
3 Mitch Graham England Workington Comets 10.29
4 Arthur Browning England Birmingham Brummies 10.17
5 John Jackson England Crewe Kings 10.07

British League Division Two Knockout Cup

The 1974 British League Division Two Knockout Cup was the seventh edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Birmingham Brummies were the winners of the competition.[6]

First round
Date Team one Score Team two
02/04Barrow36-42Stoke
29/04Crewe43-35Workington
04/04Stoke46-31Barrow
12/04Sunderland37-41Teesside
18/04Teesside55-22Sunderland
03/05Workington46-32Crewe

Second round
Date Team one Score Team two
25/05Berwick29-49Workington
20/05Birmingham47-31Long Eaton
19/05Boston49-28Weymouth
22/05Bradford43-34Ellesmere Port
04/05Canterbury44-34Eastbourne
03/05Coatbridge55-23Scunthorpe
05/05Eastbourne47-31Canterbury
21/05Ellesmere Port52-26Bradford
13/06Long Eaton37-40Birmingham
24/05Peterborough52-26Rye House
05/05Rye House36-42Peterborough
27/05Scunthorpe44-34Coatbridge
17/05Stoke51-27Teesside
23/05Teesside32-45Stoke
14/05Weymouth44-34Boston
24/05Workington50-28Berwick

Quarter-finals
Date Team one Score Team two
01/07Birmingham48-30Boston
14/07Boston39-39Birmingham
02/08Coatbridge48-30Stoke
14/07Eastbourne50-28Workington
18/06Ellesmere Port40-38Peterborough
21/06Peterborough46-31Ellesmere Port
18/07Stoke40-38Coatbridge
26/07Workington43-35Eastbourne

Semi-finals
Date Team one Score Team two
09/09Birmingham58-20Peterborough
23/08Coatbridge48-29Eastbourne
01/09Eastbourne56-21Coatbridge
06/09Peterborough41-37Birmingham

Final

First leg

Eastbourne Eagles
Paul Gachet 12
Martin Yeates 9
Neil Middleditch 8
Pete Jarman 7
Bobby McNeil 7
Mike Sampson 2
Trevor Geer 2		47 – 31Birmingham Brummies
Arthur Browning 11
Phil Herne 10
John Hart 4
George Major 4
Keith Anderson 1
Carl Askew 1
Ricky Day R/R
[7]

Second leg

Birmingham Brummies
Phil Herne 12
Arthur Browning 11
George Major 10
John Hart 7
Keith Anderson 7
Ricky Day 2
Carl Askew 1		50 – 27Eastbourne Eagles
Pete Jarman 9
Neil Middleditch 8
Paul Gachet 7
Trevor Geer 2
Martin Yeates 1
Bobby McNeil 0
Mike Sampson 0
[7]

Birmingham were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 81–74.

Leading final averages
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Phil Herne Australia Birmingham Brummies 10.48
2 Carl Glover England Boston Barracudas 10.29
3 Arthur Browning England Birmingham Brummies 10.14
4 Mitch Graham England Workington Comets 10.00
5 John Jackson England Crewe Kings 9.95

Riders' Championship

Carl Glover won the Rider's Championship, held at Wimbledon Stadium on 28 September.[8]

Pos.RiderPtsTotal
1England Carl Glover2 3 3 3 213+3
2England Ted Hubbard3 3 3 2 213+2
3Australia Phil Herne3 1 2 3 312
4England Mike Lanham3 2 2 2 110
5England Geoff Bouchard1 2 2 3 210
6England John Jackson1 0 3 3 310
7England Colin Meredith2 2 2 2 19
8England Mike Broadbanks2 2 3 fx7
9England Graham Drury0 0 1 2 36
10England Brian Havelock (res)1 34
11England Bobby McNeil1 3 fx4
12Scotland Ken McKinlay1 3 fx4
13England Dave Gifford2 1 0 0 03
14England Brian Foote0 1 1 1 03
15England Tom Owen1 1 f 1 r3
16England Bruce Forrester3 0 f fx ex2
17England Bob Hughes (res)1 11
18Scotland Willie Templeton (res)0 1 f ex 10
19England Mitch Graham0 ex0
  • f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Riders & final averages

Barrow

  • Tom Owen 8.54
  • Dave Baugh 8.46
  • Terry Kelly 8.00
  • Sid Sheldrick 7.77
  • Paul O'Neal 7.37
  • Joe Owen 7.36
  • Chris Roynon 6.12
  • Mick Sheldrick 3.40
  • Graham Tattersall 2.74

Berwick

Birmingham

Boston

Bradford

  • Alan Knapkin 9.33
  • Tony Featherstone 8.66
  • Colin Meredith 8.33
  • Mick Fairbairn 5.98
  • Mick Fishwick 5.63
  • Eddie Argall 5.16
  • Steve Wilcock 5.15
  • Roger Austin 4.76
  • Mick Fielding 4.74
  • Dave Parkin 2.70

Canterbury

  • Trevor Jones 8.84
  • Ted Hubbard 8.13
  • Dave Gooderham 7.28
  • Roger Johns 6.93
  • Barney Kennett 6.85
  • Derek Cook 6.43
  • Les Rumsey 6.38
  • Graham Clifton 4.74
  • Peter Murray 3.09
  • Jimmy Squibb 3.08

Coatbridge

  • Dave Gifford 8.82
  • Brian Collins 8.66
  • Robin Adlington 7.60
  • Jimmy Gallacher 7.38
  • Grahame Dawson 5.83
  • John Wilson 5.15
  • Eddie Argall 4.13
  • Chris Quigley 4.00
  • Mike Ferreira 3.33
  • Jim Beresford 2.74

Crewe

  • John Jackson 9.95
  • Jack Millen 9.10
  • Dave Morton 8.87
  • Keith White 7.43
  • Ian Cartwright 6.43
  • Les Ott 6.06
  • Cliff Anderson 5.72
  • Wayne Forrest 4.59
  • Mike Gardner 4.57
  • Stuart Cope 2.91
  • Paul Wells 2.12

Eastbourne

Ellesmere Port

  • Graham Drury 9.31
  • Colin Goad 8.32
  • Steve Taylor 7.36
  • Nigel Wasley 6.16
  • Wayne Hughes 6.05
  • Duncan Meredith 5.89
  • Gerald Smitherman 5.20
  • Nicky Allott 4.37
  • Ken Stafford 3.60
  • Steve Casey 2.71
  • Ray Hassall 2.16

Long Eaton

Peterborough

  • Mike Lanham 9.11
  • Brian Clark 8.73
  • Jack Walker 6.75
  • Ken Matthews 6.31
  • Roy Carter 6.29
  • Steve Osborn 6.12
  • Roy Sizmore 5.74
  • Peter Thompson 4.85
  • Eric Dugard 4.44
  • Chris Drewett 4.14

Rye House

  • Brian Foote 7.93
  • Steve Clarke 7.45
  • Clive Hitch 6.88
  • Trevor Barnwell 6.71
  • George Barclay 5.58
  • Peter Moore 5.39
  • Bob Young 5.31
  • John Gibbons 5.29
  • Bob Cooper 4.78
  • Pete Wigley 4.36

Scunthorpe

  • Tony Childs 8.82
  • Ken McKinlay 8.13
  • Doug Underwood 6.56
  • Andy Sims 6.54
  • Keith Evans 6.07
  • Dingle Brown 6.04
  • Chris Emery 6.03
  • Jack Bywater 5.60
  • Tim Swales 4.50
  • Chris Doyle 4.14
  • Roger Pascall 2.86

Sunderland

  • Jim Wells 7.92
  • Brian Havelock 7.23
  • Tim Swales 6.77
  • George Barclay 6.43
  • Russ Dent 6.15
  • Andy Meldrum 6.07
  • Dennis Gavros 5.00
  • Brian Johnson 4.00
  • Vic Harding 3.71
  • John Robson 2.82
  • Derek Fell 2.50

Stoke

Teesside

Weymouth

  • Kelvin Mullarkey 7.19
  • Bob Hughes 6.77
  • Steve Lomas 6.36
  • Nigel Couzens 5.64
  • Geoff Swindells 5.51
  • Clark Facey 4.88
  • Russell Foot 4.88
  • Glyn Facey 4.80
  • Brian Paddington 4.28
  • Mark Sawyers 3.47

Workington

  • Mitch Graham 10.00
  • Malcolm MacKay 8.77
  • Taffy Owen 8.42
  • Alan Cowland 7.28
  • Steve Watson 5.54
  • Darryl Stobbart 4.98
  • Bernie Hornby 4.14
  • Steve Lawson 1.68

See also

References
  1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. "teams". wwosbackup. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  3. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  4. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  5. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 101. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  6. "1974 British League Division Two Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  7. "1974 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  8. "Crash ends Graham's title hopes". Hull Daily Mail. 30 September 1974. Retrieved 17 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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