The Dukes in the World Championship 1969

The 1969 World Championship format was changed once again, with the top Swedish riders competing with the other Europeans, for 10 places in the World Final at Wembley on the 13th September - that left only 6 places for the British and Continental riders to fight for to take their place on the big night.   The usual round of qualifiers took place at the British League tracks during May and early June, with riders competing for the top 32 places to qualify for the Semi Finals at Sheffield and Leicester.  Various Dukes hope to make it all the way to Wembley, their exploits noted as follows:

Les Sharpe:  Sharpe was not included in the overall draw for the World Championship, instead being allocated as a reserve.  He subsequently scored 3 points in both the Coatbridge and Newcastle rounds.

Bob Jameson:  Jameson scored a creditable 8 points in the Shay qualifier, but then struggled in his subsequent rounds at Newcastle (4 points) and Wolverhampton (3 points), and his total of 15 was not enough for him to proceed to the semi-finals.

Dennis Gavros:  Scored 7 points in his home round, followed by an excellent 9 at West Ham, but then only managed 3 points at Newport, and went out at this stage.

Alan Jay:  Ruined his chances of progressing with a poor return of 4 points at Halifax, although showed improvement with a further 6 points in the Oxford round, and then 12 points (4th place) in his final round at Wolverhampton.

Greg Kentwell:  Kentwell started as he meant to go on with an impressive 11 points in the Halifax round to set him up nicely.  Unfortunately, his subsequent rounds proved disastrous, as he could only muster 4 points at Newcastle and then only 3 points at Newport - his 18 point total being short of the required amount.

Arne Pander:  The Dane was drawn to ride at West Ham and Oxford, in addition to the Halifax round - but the injuries received following the league match at Oxford in April meant he was unable to take his place, and he retired shortly afterwards.

Dave Younghusband:  Fell agonisingly short of qualifying for the semi-finals, following solid displays at Halifax (10 points) and Hackney (8 points) but was left to rue a disappointing night at Sheffield where he could only score 6 points - a further 2 would have seen him qualify.

Eric Boocock:  After the illness that ended his efforts in 1968, Boocock was again fancied to go deep into the World Championship rounds.  Safely navigated the British qualifiers, scoring maximums at Halifax and Newcastle followed by a further 11 at Hampden Park.  Was then drawn favourably in the Sheffield Semi-Final, where he safely qualified for the British and Commonwealth final on 11 points (5th).  That round, at West Ham, proved to be his undoing.  In a brutal format change, only the top 6 riders would qualify for the World Final.  Boocock finished on 8 points - and 8th place - a single point behind Howard Cole who claimed the final place (along with Briggs, Moore, Nigel Boocock, Mauger and McKinlay).  Boocock had finished ahead of Cole when the met in heat 7, so one more point would have seen him qualify in 6th place, but Boocock was left to rue three 3rd place finishes which ultimately cost him his place.