The Dukes in the World Championship 1973

With the 1973 World Final allocated to Poland, British and Commonwealth riders were faced with limited opportunities to progress.  The usual UK rounds would be followed by the top 8 from the British Final joining the top 8 from the Nordic Final in the British/Nordic Final at Coventry, with only the top 8 from there going forward to the European Final in Germany, the top 11 then progressing to Poland.  The Dukes' riders started their route to Katowice during May, their various exploits are detailed as follows:

Mike Hiftle:  Was drawn to ride in the preliminary rounds, where only a top 3 finish would guarantee progression to the UK qualifying rounds.  Hiftle was drawn at Boston, and struggled to score 5 points, finishing 11th and being eliminated.

John Jackson:  Like Hiftle, was included in the preliminary rounds - drawn at Eastbourne, he could only score 4 points, and failed to progress.

Les Sharpe:  Was included in the draw for the qualifying rounds, but was out injured due to his early-season crash at Cradley and was unable to take his place.

Dave Gatenby:  Took his place in the Halifax round as reserve, replacing Bob Paulson in his final outing, scoring a third place.

John Titman:  Went into the UK rounds in a rich vein of form, having won two of his Northern Riders Championship rounds earlier in the month.  But a wretched night at Reading ruined his chances of progression, stopping with mechanical issues in 3 of his 5 heats.  He added to his 2 points with a solid 10 points at his home round, but clearly out of the running, opted not to travel to Wimbledon for his final round.

Charlie Monk:  The new Dukes signing was a four-time British Finalist, but his World Championship run failed to take off in 1973.  A promising 8 points at Wolverhampton set Monk up to move on, but he could only add a further 7 points in the round at the Shay.  He travelled to Ipswich for the final round needing to score at double figures to stand any chance, but could only score 3 points, and his World Championship was over for another year.

Bill Andrew:  Was included in the UK rounds despite not having ridden in the UK the previous season.  Scored 8 points at Poole, 11 points (4th place) at Wolverhampton and a further 11 points at Halifax - his 30 point total enough to see him through to the Semi-Finals.  Was drawn at Wimbledon, the scene of his awkward fall 2 weeks earlier, and Andrew failed to compete on the night, scoring only a single point as he was eliminated.

Eric Boocock:  As usual, the Dukes' skipper safely negotiated the UK qualifying rounds, scoring 14 points at Halifax (2nd), winning at Exeter with a 15 point maximum, and scoring 12 points (3rd) at Oxford.  Like Andrew, had to make the long trip to Wimbledon for the British Semi-Final, but successfully made it through by finishing 3rd on 10 points.  Scored 9 points in the British Final at Sheffield to finish 6th and take one of the 8 places in the British/Nordic Final at Coventry.  But Boocock's challenge would end there in controversy.  Having finished last in heat one behind Valentine, Jansson and Mauger, Boocock was controversially excluded for a starting offence in heat 7 after the referee used a TV replay to reverse his original decision to exclude Persson, and subsequently walked out of the meeting, ending his 1973 title chase, and resulting in disciplinary procedures being commenced.  Boocock was injured at Newport the following week, ending his season, so he would not have been able to travel to Germany for the European Final in any event.