The 1967 Season

The treble success of 1966 left supporters on a high for the close season - but the spectre of the dreaded Rider Control Committee meant that any success was likely to be short-lived.  The Dukes' rivals were insistent that Halifax were too strong and in the interests of keeping the league competitive should release one of their stars. Reg Fearman was clearly under pressure to make a concession and after some hard negotiations, Tommy Roper was released to bolster Belle Vue following the retirement of captain Dick Fisher.   It did however mean that the heat-leader trio of Boocock, Boothroyd and Younghusband were retained for the 1967 season.

Halifax replaced Roper with one of their own assets, handing Greg Kentwell a starting place after most of 1966 spent at Long Eaton, however, despite Kentwell's promise of further progress, he was never likely to replace Roper's scoring.  It was hoped that Bert Kingston and Dennis Gavros could progress into the sort of solid scoring second strings that could fill the gap left by Roper.  Bob Jameson would fill the final team place, with Maury Robinson looking to step in after a promising end to 1966.

The season started with an away defeat at Swindon without an ill Dave Younghusband.  A narrow defeat at Newport showed more promise and a win in the first home match against Belle Vue showed that the team would be strong at The Shay.  But Bob Jameson was involved in a nasty crash with the returning Roper and was effectively sidelined for 2 months.  And worse was to follow, with Kingston seriously injured in a crash at the end of April, which would rule him out for 3 months.

It was the beginning of May before the Dukes managed to win away (at Cradley Heath). The following week however, the home form deserted Halifax with a disappointing draw against Coventry with Maury Robinson and new Aussie Les Bentzen plugging the gaps in the team.  As if to underline the inconsistency, Halifax went to Newcastle two days later and beat the Diamonds, with Gavros suddenly finding some away form - unfortunately, this was to be the last away success of the year.

With Robinson and Bentzen struggling,  the scene was set for a period of generally strong results at home, but little to show from their travels where the inability of the second-strings to support the top three was leaving the Dukes short of firepower.

June saw an early departure from the KO Cup at Poole where track protests and an injury to captain Eric Boothroyd saw the Dukes lose 36-60. The month also saw the departure of Maury Robinson with a badly broken thumb following a smash at the Shay in the match against Sheffield.

By the end of August, the Dukes had established a consistent mid-table position following some solid home performances and despite the loss of Younghusband with yet another injury. His return against Cradley at the end of the month saw him, Boocock and Gavros walk out of the meeting in protest at the track conditions despite the referee ruling that the match should progress. Halifax were allowed to bring Robinson into the side as a replacement, and the match went ahead resulting in the Dukes' first and only home defeat of the season, despite the effort sof Bob Jameson.

In September, Boocock took third place in the British Final (12 pts) at West Ham behind Barry Briggs and Ivan Mauger to qualify for his first world final at Wembley. In the final, he finished in 6th place on 9 points after winning his first ride and scoring in each of his others.

Team-wise however, the season fizzled out with more home wins and yet more away defeats, culminating in a 32-point thrashing at Oxford.  The final home match of the season produced a big win for the Dukes with all the team scoring heavily as Newport were beaten 60-18. By this time, Kentwell was on his way back to Australia, but Bert Kingston scored his first league paid maximum for the club in what was to be his last match in the UK.

Ultimately, the loss of Roper and the never-ending series of injuries proved too much to overcome. A final league position of 7th was a decent result, but was a disappointment after so much success the previous season. Of the riders, Boocock scored similar to the previous season but had clearly improved further. Younghusband upped his average and became the team's most effective scorer at the Shay with an average in excess of 11. Boothroyd had dropped back a little, but was still a solid heat leader. The real difference from the previous season lay elsewhere as none of the young Aussies were able to raise their game to make up for the loss of Roper. Kingston had suffered a career-threatening injury which eventually led to his retirement from British Speedway. Gavros was inconsistent away but excellent at home. Kentwell had developed into a useful rider and Robinson had looked promising before also succumbing to injury. Jameson and Bentzen had found the year a struggle – particularly on their travels away from the Shay.

Could Halifax make any changes and improve during 1968?

The heat details, scorers and reports for each meeting through the season can be found by clicking on the pages for each month.