Heat by Heat Results - July 1965

Back in April, Long Eaton spoiled the Dukes' opening night party by taking the league points from the Shay.  Three months on, and with Halifax now a slightly different proposition, the table were turned, as Halifax claimed their first ever win away from home.  Number one Dave Younghusband was the hero, unbeaten by a home rider, as Halifax clawed their way back from a 9 point deficit in the last 5 races.  Bryan Elliott had a vital race win in heat 10 to draw the Dukes back to within a point, and he combined with Eric Boothroyd in the decisive final race to take the points.  The only down-side to the result was Gavros again being in the wars with a couple of crashes.

An admittedly weak Cradley Heath side were destroyed 62-16 by a rampant Dukes side, in a result which would stand as the Dukes' record home victory for many seasons.  The result was inevitable after the first 5 races, with Halifax riders winning at a canter, but although McAuliffe managed a race win in heat 6, inflicting the only defeats for Gavros and Boothroyd, it was all downhill again for the visitors.  Younghusband, Roper, Boocock and Elliott were all untroubled by a visitor, the Heathens lacking key riders Brown and Major, both on the injured list.  The Dukes' victory was also the largest British League victory to date by any side.  Halifax were now up to 8th in the league.

In a break from league racing, the Dukes took on the Polish touring side from Gornik in an international challenge match.  The Poles included the current Polish champion and multiple World-finalist Andrzei Wyglenda and Polish internationals Antoni Woryna and Andrzei Pogorzelski, so a tough test for Halifax was predicted.  And so it proved.  Whilst Boocock and Roper kept the Dukes ahead, many of the other Dukes struggled, and Gornik were able to claw their way back into the tie in the second half.  Although Halifax held a 2 point lead going into the final race, Boocock and Younghusband were unable to see the Dukes over the line, and a draw was the fair result to a good night's racing.  Once again, Gavros was in the wars, a tumble in heat 8 aggravating his knee injury... Bryan Elliott was absent through illness.

A second challenge match in 2 weeks saw Halifax take on a "London Stars" side, and come away with a comfortable win.  Dave Younghusband bounced back from a poor return against the Poles the week before with an un-troubled maximum, and was ably supported by Roper and Boocock.  With Gavros having had hospital treatment on his damaged knee, Ray Day returned to the side, as did Bryan Elliott, but both struggled to make an impression.  Jack Biggs was the pick of the visitors, whose cause was not helped by the non-arrival of Ronnie Genz, John Dews being a late replacement.

Halifax returned to league action on the final day of July with a comfortable win over Wolverhampton.  Eric Boocock lead the way with a faultless 12 point maximum, joining Bryan Elliott in three 5-1 heat advantages.  Elliott won heat 4 himself, as he too was unbeaten by a visitor.  With all the Dukes apart from Bert Kingston in the points, the result was never in much doubt.  Kingston was affected by clutch problems which caused him to pull out of heat 2, and be off the pace in his other races.  Following the main meeting, Eric Boocock defeated Bob Andrews in the Silver Sash match race, to become the first Dukes' holder of the title.