The Dukes in the World Championship 1974

As in 1973, opportunites for UK-based riders to qualify for the World Final, to be held in Gothenburg, Sweden, were to be at a premium.  Only 11 qualifiers would make it through from the European Final at Wembley at the end of August, to join the 5 home riders from their own qualification system.

As usual, the UK stages commenced with preliminary rounds during April, before the main British qualifying rounds at each British League track during May.  The top 32 riders would head to Semi-Finals at Leicester and Sheffield, before the British Final, now back to Coventry.  From there, 10 riders would progress to the British/Nordic final, to be held in Fredericia, Denmark for the first time.  Only 8 places from there would be up for grabs for the European Final, the final step before Gothenburg.  Various Dukes set off on their quest for glory, their exploits are detailed as follows:

Steve Finch:  The Dukes' junior had 2 rides in the Halifax qualifier, scoring 2 points.

Mick Newton:  Like Finch, Newton was included as reserve in the Shay round, and scored 5 points.

Mike Hiftle:  Despite making his Test debut during 1973, Hiftle was overlooked for a place in the main draw, haing to take his place in the preliminary round at Scunthorpe.  Hiftle showed his British League class by scoring 11 points, to take the third and final place in the main draw.  But Hiftle was injured at Swindon whilst riding for the Dukes the following week, and his foot and knee injuries would keep him out of the saddle until mid-May - by which point his chance in the qualifying rounds was gone.

Graham Plant:  The Dukes' new signing had an impressive opening qualifying round, scoring 11 points (4th place) in the Halifax round. But Plant crashed at Poole only 4 days later, breaking his collar bone - the injury would keep him out of action for the next couple of weeks, but crucially, for his remaining two qualifying rounds.

Dave Gatenby:  Included in the preliminary rounds like Hiftle, Gatenby finished 3rd in the round at Workington on 13 points to make the main draw.  But without the luxury of a guaranteed home draw, Gatenby struggled on his subsequent travels - scoring 7 points at Leicester, 6 points at Wolverhampton, and 5 points at Swindon - his 18 point total not being enough to progress to the Semi-Finals.

Charlie Monk:  Monk's delayed return to the UK, and subsequent slow start to his season impaired his chances of progressing for in the World Championship.  He had only managed scores of 4 points at Leicester and a further 6 at Sheffield, effectively giving him no chance of progressing, before a plucky 11 points at Halifax boosted his total.

Rick France:  The second of the Dukes' major signings appeared to have blown his chances of progression with a meagre 5 points at Poole.  But France bounced back - 11 points at the Shay, followed by 13 points at Wolverhampton, saw him finish with 29 points, enough to proceed to the Semi-Finals.  But that proved to be as far as he could go - drawn at former home track Sheffield, France could only score 6 points to finish 11th, and was eliminated.

Henny Kroeze:  The Dukes had never had a rider who would be involved in the Continental qualifying rounds before, and Kroeze would miss several Dukes fixtures as he travelled across Europe in his quest.  He finished 3rd (7 to qualify) in the round at Bremen, West Germany at the start of May, followed by an even more impressive 3rd place in a quality field in Yugoslavia, three weeks later.  That got him through to the Continental Semi-Finals - the last 32 "Eastern-Bloc" riders - but the competition was now too tough, and he dipped out of the round at Wroclaw, Poland at the start of June, scoring 3 points and coming 15th.

Eric Boocock:  As in previous seasons, the Dukes' likely hopes of World Championship interest rested with their skipper, albeit not 100% fit as the early season progressed.  Boocock, however, made light work of the qualifying rounds - 13 points at Oxford, 14 points (first place) at the Shay, before 9 points at Wolverhampton saw him safely through.  Drawn at Sheffield, he safely negotiated the semi final with 8 points to finish 7th.  

On the 12th June, Boocock reached the pinnacle of his career, as he shocked a quality field and the crowd to lift the British Championship at Coventry on 13 points.  Boocock opened with 2 victories, but second places in his 3rd and 4th outings left him on 10 points, tied with Terry Betts and John Boulger - and all three would meet in the deciding heat 20.  In the final race, Boocock made no mistake, easing away from Betts to take the glory!  But it was short-lived.  Boocock was struggling with his arm injury from the previous season, and was back out of action, before he took his place at Fredericia in the British/Nordic Final.  In his first outing, Boocock crashed into the fence, and was taken to hospital with suspected paralysis.  But after feeling in his hands recovered, he was discharged, and returned back to the UK the next day - courtesy of an air-fare raised by the other riders.  Boocock announced his retirement after the end of the season, so this was a sad way for his World Championship career to come to a close.