Heat by Heat Results - April 1965

The Dukes finally started life in the 1965 British League with a spirited defeat against the world-famous Belle Vue Aces.  Youngster Eric Boocock won the opening race, and when Bryan Elliott repeated the feat in heat 2, the Dukes lead their illustrious rivals by 2 points.  But with experience on their side, the powerful Aces side pulled clear in the second half of the match, with only Boocock and Elliott showing much resistance.  Boocock would have had more to show than his 11 points but for a fall when handily placed in heat 12, which gave the Aces their 3rd 5-1 of the night to clinch the victory.

A second away fixture in a week, and the Dukes again went down to defeat, this time to the Newport Wasps.  Early signs were promising as the Dukes eased into a 4 point lead after 2 heats, and although the home side fought back to lead, Halifax were still in contention after 9 races.  Slipping 6 points behind, Elliott was introduced as a tactical substitute to partner Boothroyd in heat 10 - but crashed awkwardly, was excluded, and took no further part with a shoulder injury. Although Boothroyd won the re-run, the Dukes were unable to close the gap, and two 5-1s to the Wasps finished off the Halifax challenge.

The Shay opened it's doors to speedway again after an absence of over 13 years to a crowd of almost 11,000, with former riders and a celebrity appearance from Pat Phoenix to kick things off.  Sadly, the crowd were left disappointed by the result, as Long Eaton spoiled the party.  The Dukes were hampered by the injury suffered by Elliott the previous night, and called up local rider Ray Day as cover.  But the efforts of the Halifax top three were in vain, as young visitors Ray Wilson and Kid Bodie were almost unbeatable.  Bodie finished the night as the inaugural track record holder with his win in heat 3.  The bottom four Dukes could only muster 6 points between them, and that proved to be the difference.

The Dukes' next away encounter at Wolverhampton went the same way as the previous two - a comfortable defeat.  However unlike the Belle Vue and Newport defeats, Halifax were never really in this match, as some riders struggled to cope with the tight Wolves track.  Home stars Pete Jarman and Gordon Guasco teamed up for three 5-1s, and both were unbeaten.  Elliott returned after injury with a brave 7 points, and both Boocock and Boothroyd won 2 races each, but there was little support elsewhere, with Boothroyd and Kingston's heat win in heat 7 being the only positive of the night.

A week on from the grand opening, and at the second time of asking, the Dukes got their first home win of the season.  It was truly a night of firsts, as skipper Eric Boothroyd registered the first maximum by a Duke, and Eric Boocock became the first home rider to hold the track record, lowering Bodie's time from the previous week by a second.  The meeting was close until the final 2 races, when Kingston and Day took advantage of Hughes' stoppage to grab a 4-2, and then Eric and Eric took a match clinching 5-1 in heat 13.  The sour note of the night was further falls by Bryan Elliott who aggravated his shoulder injury, and withdrew from his final outing.

The Dukes slipped to another defeat at local rivals Sheffield in their first trip to Owlerton.  Dave Younghusband was absent with toncillitis, and Halifax were heavily reliant on Boocock and Elliott to keep them in contention.  A Boocock engine failure in heat 4 saw the Dukes drop 3 vital points, but after slipping 12 points behind, clever use of tactical substitutions saw them claw the deficit back to just 4 points.  That was as close as they could get however, as the Tigers hit home three heat advantages as the Dukes ran out of steam.  Once again, the lack of points from the bottom end of the team was a cause for concern.