The 1971 Season

Changes were afoot for the start of the 1971 season, with the Newcastle promotion opting against running, to be replaced by Reading Racers.  The Dukes were hoping that Rider Control would aid their situation following the 1970 mid-season "retirement" of Les Sharpe, as they looked to find the elusive third heat leader to back up Eric Boocock and Dave Younghusband.  The latter was once again considering a move to Newcastle, but was denied that when the Diamonds opted out, so Younghusband was back for another season.

Hopes to bring Colin McKee back for a second season were also thwarted - Rider Control insisting the New Zealander move to Wimbledon.  In the end, McKee chose not to join the Dons, and stayed at home.  But no significant replacement for Sharpe was forthcoming...

The Dukes promotion tried to bolster the middle of the side - firstly bringing in the Crewe captain, Paul O'Neil after some promising outings in 1970, and then signing Chris Bailey from the Belle Vue junior ranks, and after a promising Winter where he'd become New Zealand champion there was hope he could make a difference.  Boocock and Younghusband were back to provide the spearhead, supported by Alan Jay and Greg Kentwell - the latter coming back from another top winter in Australia, but also on the back of a big crash at Sydney.

At the bottom of the team, Terry Lee was retained after a good 1970, and there would also be opportunities for Malcolm Mackay.

Perhaps the biggest change when the Shay re-opened in March was the track itself  - Eric Boothroyd had spent the winter taking it further away from the football field and reshaping it so that it was now an extra 22 yards in length, along with other refurbishments around the stadium.

Halifax started the season well, with the Dukes reveling in the new track shape in a thumping win over Poole, despite Kentwell still not having arrived in the country.  But as the season progressed, a typical pattern formed - often imperious at home, often hopeless away.  The Dukes were impressive around the Shay, dropping a single point to Sheffield, before a late-season reverse against Leicester.  But on their travels, they never threatened at all - after the previous season's near misses, the Dukes were simply blown away, save for a draw at Glasgow, in which they conspired to lose a last heat 5-1.

Kentwell arrived to take his place just as newcomer Bailey broke a wrist, and missed 2 months early on.  But neither Kentwell nor Alan Jay could make a case for becoming the sought-after heat-leader to support the top 2.  Paul O'Neil was often in the points at home, but rarely caused trouble for the opposition away from The Shay, and both Terry Lee and Malcolm Mackay failed to progress at the bottom of the team.

In the Cup, Halifax progressed to the semi finals, courtesy of 3 home ties, but were then predictably destroyed on the road at Hackney, despite an 18-point maximum from Boocock.

Boocock and Younghusband carried much of the load again, although their scoring was down on 1970 - Boocock only hitting six maximums, and Younghusband one in a season curtailed by a nasty wrist injury suffered in the defeat at Cradley in August.

Terry Lee retired after a poor run of scores in mid-summer, and the Dukes filled his role by bringing in Geordie, Mike Hiftle who was deemed surplus to requirements at Belle Vue.  Hiftle was a slight improvement on the scoring of Lee, although seemed to fall off too many times!  Chris Bailey returned from injury in mid-June, but failed to hit the heights, at one point going 4 meetings without scoring.  Alan Jay also dipped in mid-season, suffering from a mystery virus which affected his scoring.

On the individual front, it was again down to the top 2 to progress from the qualifying rounds.  Both Boocock and Younghusband would go deep into the Championship, with Younghusband eventually going out at the British/Nordic Final, although he would not have been fit to ride in the Gothenburg final had he kept progressing.  For Boocock, it was a different matter, he kept on qualifying and made the Dukes proud by reaching his second World Final, after his earlier appearance 4 years earlier.  4 points and 11th overall was not what Boocock was hoping for however, as Ole Olsen became the first Dane to win the title.

The loss of Younghusband at the end of August was pretty much the end of the Dukes' season. The side had already sunk to 14th place in the league, and with their away form, were hardly likely to improve on that much. There were rumours that German Josef Angermuller was being discussed as a replacement, but continental commitments snuffed out that possibility, and no other top replacements were available. In the end the Dukes  continued to use rider replacement, which worked okay for most of the remaining home matches and gave additional opportunities for Malcolm Mackay, but left the side weak on their travels, where Boocock continued to score well, but had only sporadic support from the other riders.

Halifax finished the season in a disappointing 14th place, the progress of previous seasons now gone, and it was the first time that they had failed to pick up at least one away win and, if anything, the support for Boocock and Younghusband had gone backwards, not forwards.

It was clear something had to change - Boocock and Younghusband could not be reasonably expected to carry the weight going forward, but could the Dukes promotion lure a genuine 3rd heat-leader to the Shay to back them up?  And at the bottom end of the team, Halifax had clearly gone backwards, with the Dukes bringing in riders rejected by Belle Vue over their own talent - where was the plan for the future?  The Dukes' supporters hoped for better in 1972...

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