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The 1975 Gulf Oil British League season was the 41st season of the top tier of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom and the 11th season known as the British League.

Summary

The league was sponsored for the first time by Gulf Oil. Reading Racers returned after a one-season absence to increase the size of the league back to eighteen teams and the ban on overseas riders that rode in other leagues abroad was lifted.

The Ipswich Witches won their first title, defeating Belle Vue Aces by a solitary point. John Louis and Billy Sanders scored heavily throughout the season for Ipswich. Belle Vue found consolation by winning the Knockout Cup.

In their last season at the Cowley track, Oxford Rebels won the Midland Cup, beating Wolverhampton Wolves but the competition was overshadowed by the death of rider Gary Peterson.

Final table

M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points

Top Ten Riders (League Averages)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ivan Mauger		Exeter	11.45
2	Peter Collins		Belle Vue	11.27
3	Phil Crump		Newport	11.17
4	Anders Michanek		Reading	11.03
5	Ole Olsen		Wolverhampton	10.79
6	John Louis		Ipswich	10.67
7	Dave Jessup		Leicester	10.45
8	Malcolm Simmons		Poole	10.37
9	Dag Lövaas		Oxford	10.22
10	Reg Wilson		Sheffield	10.18

British League Knockout Cup

The 1975 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 37th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Belle Vue Aces were the winners.

First round

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

First leg

Second leg

Belle Vue Aces were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 86-70.

Riders' Championship

Peter Collins won the British League Riders' Championship for the second time, it was held at Hyde Road on 18 October.

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Peter Collins	3 3 3 3 3	15
2	Phil Crump	2 3 3 1 3	12
3	Martin Ashby	3 1 2 3 2	11
4	John Louis	3 2 0 3 3	11
5	Doug Wyer	3 2 1 2 2	10
6	Malcolm Simmons	2 3 1 2 1	9
7	Chris Pusey	1 0 3 3 2	9
8	Dave Jessup	2 0 2 2 2	8
9	Anders Michanek	2 1 2 R 3	8
10	Ivan Mauger	1 0 3 1 1	6
11	Tommy Jansson	0 3 1 1 1	6
12	Terry Betts	1 1 2 0 1	5
13	Jim McMillan	2 0 2 0 0	4
14	Bob Valentine	0 1 1 1 EF	3
15	Dag Lövaas	1 2 0 0 0	3
16	John Boulger	0 0 0 0 0	0

• ef=engine failure, f=fell, x=excluded

Leading final averages

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ivan Mauger		Exeter	11.52
2	Phil Crump		Newport	11.15
3	Peter Collins		Belle Vue	11.13
4	Anders Michanek		Reading	10.90
5	Ole Olsen		Wolverhampton	10.79
6	John Louis		Ipswich	10.58
7	Dave Jessup		Leicester	10.41
8	Malcolm Simmons		Poole	10.41
9	Martin Ashby		Swindon	10.13
10	Tommy Jansson		Wimbledon	10.12
11	Dag Lövaas		Oxford	10.04
12	Ray Wilson		Wolverhampton	9.90
13	Reg Wilson		Sheffield	9.79
14	Jim McMillan		Hull	9.69
15	Billy Sanders		Ipswich	9.58
16	Doug Wyer		Sheffield	9.37
17	Chris Morton		Belle Vue	9.27
18	Barry Briggs		Wimbledon	9.23
19	Scott Autrey		Exeter	9.19
20	Reidar Eide		Newport	8.98

Midland Cup

Oxford won the Midland Cup. The competition consisted of six teams.

First round

Semi final round

Final

First leg

Second leg

Oxford won on aggregate 79–76

London Cup

Wimbledon retained the London Cup but there were now only two teams remaining in London.

Results

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• Peter Collins 11.13
• Chris Morton 9.27
• Sören Sjösten 8.76
• Alan Wilkinson 7.14
• Paul Tyrer 6.21
• Russ Hodgson 5.03
• Ian Hindle 4.00
• Geoff Pusey 3.55

Coventry

• Bob Valentine 8.66
• Nigel Boocock 8.02
• Tommy Nilsson 5.37
• John Harrhy 5.14
• Ian Hindle 4.82
• Alan Molyneux 4.43
• Alan Jay 4.36
• Frank Smith 3.84
• Mitch Shirra 2.23
• Roger Hill 1.71

Cradley Heath

• John Boulger 8.73
• Bernt Persson 8.58
• Arthur Price 7.68
• Bruce Cribb 7.53
• Sándor Lévai 4.87
• Steve Bastable 4.84
• Dave Perks 4.56
• Russell Osborne 3.08

Exeter

• Ivan Mauger 11.52
• Scott Autrey 9.19
• Kevin Holden 7.50
• Steve Reinke 6.07
• John Titman 5.89
• Les Rumsey 5.71
• Geoff Mudge 4.96
• Mike Farrell 4.72
• Chris Julian 3.44

Hackney

• Dave Morton 8.54
• Barry Thomas 7.81
• Christer Löfqvist 7.61
• Laurie Etheridge 5.84
• Dave Kennett 4.68
• Steve Lomas 4.60
• Mike Broadbank 4.46
• Ted Hubbard 3.86

Halifax

• Chris Pusey 8.77
• Rick France 8.03
• Graham Plant 7.58
• Charlie Monk 7.11
• Ian Cartwright 5.92
• Henny Kroeze 5.74
• Dave Gatenby 4.89
• Mike Hiftle 4.32
• Andy Cusworth 3.83

Hull

• Jimmy McMillan 9.69
• Joe Owen 7.29
• Bobby Beaton 7.20
• Tommy Johansson 6.64
• Mitch Graham 6.53
• Lou Sansom 5.22
• Brian Havelock 5.14
• Kym Amundson 5.10
• Alan Cowland 3.49
• Robin Amundson 3.45

Ipswich

• John Louis 10.58
• Billy Sanders 9.58
• Tony Davey 7.75
• Mike Lanham 6.44
• Mick Hines 5.13
• Trevor Jones 4.99
• Ted Howgego 4.78
• Dave Gooderham 4.00

King's Lynn

• Terry Betts 8.87
• Ian Turner 7.48
• Michael Lee 7.43
• Trevor Hedge 6.20
• Ray Bales 5.77
• Garry Middleton 5.76
• Olle Nygren 4.75
• David Gagen 4.56
• Jan Henningsen 4.07
• Billy Burton 4.00
• Eddie Reeves 4.00

Leicester

• Dave Jessup 10.41
• Ray Wilson 9.90
• Ila Teromaa 5.91
• Frank Auffret 5.84
• Tony Lomas 5.70
• Keith White 4.93
• Doug Underwood 4.17
• Norman Storer 3.75

Newport

• Phil Crump 11.15
• Reidar Eide 8.98
• Phil Herne 8.70
• Neil Street 7.32
• Bob Coles 7.13
• Steve Gresham 6.34
• Tom Owen 6.11
• Jim Tebby 3.26

Oxford

• Dag Lövaas 10.04
• Gordon Kennett 8.41
• Richard Greer 7.48
• John Dews 6.57
• Trevor Geer 5.73
• Richard Hellsen 4.75
• Paul Gachet 4.15
• Helge Langli 2.46

Poole

• Malcolm Simmons 10.41
• Eric Broadbelt 7.50
• Christer Sjösten 6.23
• Colin Gooddy 5.39
• Pete Smith 5.29
• Neil Middleditch 4.48
• Neil Cameron 3.77
• Martin Yeates 2.53

Reading

• Anders Michanek 10.90
• John Davis 7.37
• Bengt Jansson 7.06
• Bernie Leigh 5.59
• Bob Humphreys 5.56
• Mick Bell 5.21
• Richard May 4.99

Sheffield

• Reg Wilson 9.79
• Doug Wyer 9.37
• Arnold Haley 7.91
• Carl Glover 6.41
• Soren Karlsson 6.09
• Craig Pendlebury 5.88
• Nicky Allott 3.17

Swindon

• Martin Ashby 10.13
• Bob Kilby 8.26
• Norman Hunter 5.43
• Alan Grahame 4.95
• Jan Andersson 4.56
• Geoff Bouchard 4.42
• Bobby McNeil 4.27
• Mike Keen 3.18
• David Ashby 2.79

Wimbledon

• Tommy Jansson 10.12
• Barry Briggs 9.23
• Edgar Stangeland 7.24
• Bert Harkins 6.11
• Barry Crowson 4.97
• Larry Ross 4.85
• Reg Luckhurst 4.76
• Roger Johns 4.40
• Graham Banks 2.19

Wolverhampton

• Ole Olsen 10.79
• George Hunter 6.99
• Finn Thomsen 6.29
• Gary Peterson 5.85
• Malcolm Shakespeare 4.55
• Colin Meredith 3.19
• Tony Clarke 3.16
• Nigel Wasley 2.96

See also

• List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
• Knockout Cup (speedway)

References

1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
2. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 100. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
3. "HISTORY ARCHIVE". British Speedway. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
4. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 129–133. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
5. Lawson, K (2018) “Rebels 1975 – The Last Season”. ISBN 978-0-244-99725-0
6. Bamford, R & Shailes, G (2007). "The Story of Oxford Speedway". ISBN 978-0-7524-4161-0
7. ^ "Speedway rider Gary Peterson killed". Reading Evening Post. 18 October 1975. Retrieved 21 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
8. "1975 British League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
9. ^ "Season 1975" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
10. "Collins keeps his title". Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 19 October 1975. Retrieved 2 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
11. "1975 fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 1 October 2023.

v t e United Kingdom Speedway Seasons
Tier One League Top division	1929 1929 1930 1930 1931 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Tier Two League Second division	1934 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Tier Three League Third division	1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1994 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Champions	League champions Cup winners

v t e British League seasons
1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994
Domestic cups: British League Knockout Cup

• British League
• 1975 in British motorsport
• 1975 in speedway