1972 British League season

The 1972 British League season was the 38th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom and the eighth season of the British League.^[1]

Ipswich Witches moved up from Division Two but London lost two clubs, when the Wembley Lions closed due to extra football fixtures^[2] and West Ham Hammers withrew during the early part of the season, reducing the league to eighteen teams.^[3]

Belle Vue Aces won their third consecutive title. Their team was littered with great riders including Ivan Mauger, Sören Sjösten and the young Peter Collins; they were backed up by the consistency of Chris Pusey, Eric Broadbelt, Alan Wilkinson and Ken Eyre, which led to a comfortable title win by a clear 12 points.^[4][5]

Oxford Cheetahs had a bizarre season when they were rebranded as Oxford Rebels following a takeover by a new consortium, which included former riders Bob Dugard and Danny Dunton, Dave Lanning and the famous musician Acker Bilk. The team under performed badly finishing 17th from 18 teams despite the new image. To make matters worse they signed a new Norwegian rider Svein Kaasa, who was quickly transferred to Glasgow following poor results. He died riding for Glasgow towards the end of the season (on 29 September) at Hampden Park. Kasa clipped Martin Ashby's bike in a race and hit the wooden fence receiving fatal injuries.^[6][7]

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

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ivan Mauger		Belle Vue	11.42
2	Ole Olsen		Wolverhampton	11.36
3	Eric Boocock		Halifax	10.53
4	Anders Michanek		Reading	10.51
5	Bernt Persson		Cradley Heath	10.50
6	Terry Betts		King's Lynn	10.46
7	Barry Briggs		Swindon	10.38
8	Ronnie Moore		Wimbledon	10.31
9	Ray Wilson		Leicester	10.16
10	Martin Ashby		Swindon	10.07

The 1972 Speedway Star British League Knockout Cup was the 34th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier one teams. Belle Vue were the winners.^[8]

First round

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

First leg

Second leg

Belle Vue Aces were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 82-73.

Ole Olsen won the British League Riders' Championship, held at Hyde Road on 21 October.^[10]

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Ole Olsen	3 3 3 3 3	15
2	Martin Ashby	2 3 3 3 3	14
3	Ronnie Moore	3 3 2 3 2	13
4	John Louis	1 1 3 3 3	11
5	Anders Michanek	3 2 1 2 1	9
6	Terry Betts	2 2 2 1 2	9
7	Ivan Mauger	3 3 ef ef 2	8
8	Garry Middleton	2 2 2 2 0	8
9	Christer Löfqvist	2 0 1 1 3	7
10	Bernt Persson	ef 2 3 ex 1	6
11	Ray Wilson	0 1 2 2 0	5
12	Bengt Jansson	1 0 1 1 1	4
13	Bob Kilby	1 0 0 0 2	3
14	Eric Boocock	0 1 1 0 1	3
15	Nigel Boocock	1 ef 0 1 0	2
16	Jim McMillan (res)	2	2
17	Arnie Haley	0 1 0 0 0	1

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

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ole Olsen		Wolverhampton	11.39
2	Ivan Mauger		Belle Vue	11.36
3	Terry Betts		King's Lynn	10.51
4	Anders Michanek		Reading	10.51
5	Barry Briggs		Swindon	10.38
6	Eric Boocock		Halifax	10.36
7	Ronnie Moore		Wimbledon	10.34
8	Bernt Persson		Cradley	10.27
9	Ray Wilson		Leicester	10.14
10	Martin Ashby		Swindon	10.08
11	Bob Kilby		Exeter	9.89
12	John Boulger		Leicester	9.46
13	John Louis		Ipswich	9.39
14	Bengt Jansson		Hackney	9.38
15	Garry Middleton		Oxford	9.24
16	Nigel Boocock		Coventry	9.23
17	Howard Cole (a.k.a. Kid Brodie)		King's Lynn	8.94
18	Sören Sjösten		Belle Vue	8.92
19	Christer Löfqvist		Poole	8.90
20	Jim McMillan		Glasgow	8.86

Leicester won the Midland Cup. The competition consisted of six teams.^[11]

First round

Semi final round

First leg

Second leg

Leicester won on aggregate 82–74

Belle Vue

Coventry

Cradley Heath

Exeter

Glasgow

Hackney

Halifax

Ipswich

King's Lynn

Leicester

Newport

Oxford

Poole

Reading

Sheffield

Swindon

Wimbledon

Wolverhampton

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