The Dukes in the World Championship 1965

With the advent of the new British League from the start of the 1965 season, the British and Commonwealth qualifying rounds of the Individual World Championship also had an overhaul.  40 riders competed in 5 Preliminary rounds, each rider having 2 meetings to earn points to move on as the top 11 scorers.  From there, each British League track would hold a round, with the top 32 of the remaining 80 riders going onto 2 semi finals at Glasgow and Poole.  The top 8 from each meeting would qualify for the British Final at West Ham, with the top 6 from that meeting going straight to the Wembley World Final in September.  A total of 10 Halifax riders took part, with varying degrees of success:

Bob Jameson:  Competed in the Preliminary Rounds at Middlesbrough, scoring 5 points, and Cowdenbeath, scoring only 2 points.

Ray Day:  Competed in the Preliminary Rounds at Middlesbrough, scoring 2 points, and Cowdenbeath, scoring 4 points.

Bert Kingston:  As Day and Jameson, competed at Middlesbrough and Cowdenbeath, scoring 8 points and 6 points respectively.  As only 11 of the 40 riders involved in that stage progressed, none of the Dukes involved qualified for the next stage.

Eric Boothroyd, Eric Boocock, Dave Younghusband, Bryan Elliott and Dennis Gavros were all seeded to the qualifying rounds, where the top 32 would progress:

Bryan Elliott:  Scored 3 points at Newcastle, 5 at Glasgow and only 2 in his home round at Halifax - his total of 10 points not being enough to go further.

Dennis Gavros:  Scored 5 points at West Ham, 2 at Wolverhampton and then only 1 at Halifax, where he fell in his 3rd ride and took no further part.

Eric Boocock:  Scored 5 points at Long Eaton, 12 points at Sheffield and then 13 points (2nd) at The Shay - a total of 30 from a possible 45 securing him a place in the semi finals.

Dave Younghusband:  Scored 8 points at Long Eaton, 12 points at Sheffield and 10 points at Halifax - like Boocock, a total of 30 points securing him a semi final place.

Eric Boothroyd:  Scored 8 points at Sheffield, failed to score at Newport after blowing his engine in the first race, and then 8 at Halifax - 16 points however was not enough to qualify.

Tommy Roper:  Was not included in the original draw as was without a BL team at the time.  Roper did however replace Newport's Jon Erskine in the Halifax round, scoring 9 points.

Vic Lonsdale:  The Halifax second-halfer was reserve in the home round, scoring 0 points from one outing.

British and Commonwealth Semi Finals:

Both Dave Younghusband and Eric Boocock were drawn in the semi final at Glasgow - however it was to prove the final stage for each, with Younghusband finishing 10th on 7 points and Boocock 12th on 4 points, with only the top 8 moving on.