1968 Miscellany

Other Fixtures:  

With numerous rained-off meetings in the early summer, many open dates in the Dukes calendar were filled with re-arranged fixtures.  Halifax took part in only 3 "non-official" fixtures during 1968, winning all 3!  A rare on-the-road victory at Newcastle was followed up by home challenge match wins over the Diamonds and Belle Vue.  In addition, The Shay was also chosen to host one of the ties in the inaugural World League, with England taking on, and comfortably beating Sweden in June.  Details of each match can be found in the archive pages for 1968.

Individual Meetings:  

The Shay staged 4 individual meetings during 1968, full details of heats and scores available in the archives.  Jim Airey followed up his Dews Trophy win from 1967 to win the World Championship qualifying round in May (Meeting 9), whilst Dave Younghusband took the honours in the Dairy Festival Trophy in July (Meeting 15).  Soon to be World Champion Ivan Mauger won the Halifax round of the Northern Riders Championship qualifying in August (Meeting 19), whilst Dukes Number 1 Eric Boocock took the honours in the end of season Halifax Open Championship in October (Meeting 28).  Details of heat results and individual scores can be found in the archive pages for 1968.

The Juniors/Second-Half Riders:  

During 1968 only a limited number of riders took part in second half/junior dash or handicap races after the main meeting - those involved were Terry Lee, Dave Durham, Les Sharpe, Maury Robinson, Lex Fielding, Ian Bottomley, Dean Davis, Glyn Blackburn, Rob Jackson, D Ward, J Holland and H Moody.

Silver Sash Match-Race Championship:

Like 1967, Eric Boocock had the chance to claim the Silver Sash from winter holder Barry Briggs in the very first meeting back in March 1968, but the World Champion held onto his title with a win at Swindon.  Briggs also defeated Dave Younghusband in an early season return fixture at The Shay.  Briggs subsequently lost his title, and Eric Boocock took the title from Trevor Hedge, and subsequently defended it against Rick Timmo, before losing to arch-rival Ivan Mauger.  Barry Briggs would regain he title as we headed into 1969 however...