The Dukes in the World Championship 1968

With the return of the World Final to Gothenburg for 1968, only 10 places were available for non-Swedish riders to complete for through the various rounds.  The usual round of qualifiers took place at the British League tracks during the last week of May, with riders competing for the top 32 places to qualify for the Semi Finals at Sheffield and Poole.  Various Dukes started on the long road to Sweden, their exploits noted as follows:

Alan Jay:  The temporary Duke had his 3 qualifying rounds before departing for Newcastle.  But it was not a productive week for Jay, scoring 4 points at The Shay, followed by 4 at Wimbledon and 5 at Wolverhampton.  His 13 point total was not sufficient to make the cut for the final 32.

Bob Jameson:  Like Jay, Jameson had a tough round of qualifiers, scoring 5 points at home, 4 at Newcastle and 5 at Glasgow, ending the week on 14 points.

Les Sharpe:  Was not included in the draw for the top 80 British and Commonwealth riders, but scored 1 point as reserve in the Halifax round.

Maury Robinson:  Like Sharpe, took rides in the Halifax round as reserve, scoring 3 points.

Eric Boothroyd:  In what turned out to be Boothroyd's final World Championship campaign, the Dukes' skipper qualified for the British Semi finals after scoring 11 points at Halifax, 9 points at Poole and a superb 12 points at Newport.  Drawn to return to Poole in the Semi Final, Boothroyd could only score 1 point in a meeting won by Ivan Mauger, and was elminated from the Championship.

Greg Kentwell:  In his best season to date, Kentwell scored solidly in his 3 qualifiers, recording 12 points (3rd place) at The Shay, and a further 9 points at Newcastle and 10 points at Glasgow.  Like Boothroyd, Kentwell travelled to Poole for the Semi Final, but fared little better, scoring only 3 points.

Dave Younghusband:  Stormed through the qualifiers with 14 points at Halifax, 10 points at Leicester and 11 at Wimbledon.  Unlike his team-mates, Younghusband got the "home" draw for the Semi Finals, travelling to Sheffield, where he scored 9 points, to qualify with 2 points to spare.  He then took the final qualifying place from the British Final after scoring 6 points at Wimbledon, to go through to the British/Nordic Final.  But Younghusband had a night to forget at West Ham, scoring only 1 point, and being the only English rider to fail to make the cut.

Eric Boocock:  After his big Wembley night in 1967, Boocock had high hopes for repeating or bettering that performance in 1968.  And signs were promising.  Despite scoring only 10 points at Halifax, he coasted through to the Semi Finals with a further 12 at Exeter and 11 a Newport.  Had a tricky Semi Final at Poole, coming through with 9 points (6th place).  Ended up on the rostrum of the British Final, with 3rd place at Wimbledon (13 points) behind Ivan Mauger and Barry Briggs, but struggled in the British/Nordic final at West Ham, scoring 7 points to take the final qualifying place.  He travelled to Poland for the European final, with 10 places available to go to Gothenburg, but was taken ill en route and was unfit to take his place, in a meeting dominated by the Poles, and which saw brother Nigel and Martin Ashby become the only English riders to qualify for the World Final itself.