The 1976 Season

1976 - the year of the long-hot summer and drought, James Hunt became Formula One champion, and the launch of the Inter City 125 high speed train.  The Gulf British League was boosted to 19 teams, as National League Champions Birmingham made the step up to the first division.  Oxford would hand their BL licence over to Bob Dugard, who would open the doors at West London venue White City, the Oxford Rebels becoming the White City Rebels.  And once again, the Halifax Dukes needed to recruit, as Rick France announced his retirement from the sport aged 37, after two seasons spent battling against injury.  In addition, Mike Hiftle moved on after 5 seasons, joining National Leage Berwick, and there was to be no return for injury victim Dave Gatenby, who was still to recover from his broken ankle.

There was also an overhaul of the World Championship qualification system, and a new competition - the Daily Mirror-sponsored Grand Prix, with the top riders from each track involved in multiple rounds to qualify for the White City final.

The British League negotiated a contract with the Polish authorities to allow a certain number of riders to travel over to the UK and participate, and the Dukes took the option to sign 21 year old Torun heat leader Adam Olkiewicz.  Halifax hoped for rider control intervention to deal with the loss of their skipper - but having benefitted from the signings of France, Plant and Pusey over the last 2 seasons, the Dukes were given no assistance, surprising after their 10th place finish the previous season.

The remaining riders from 1975 would all be returning - new skipper Chris Pusey, back after a stellar winter in Australia, would be backed up by Graham Plant, Charlie Monk, Henny Kroeze and Ian Cartwright in what appeared to be a powerful top 5.  With Olkiewicz pencilled in for a reserve place, the remaining spot in the side would go to one of the up-and-coming youngsters - with Andy Cusworth, Steve Finch and Mick Newton all vying for the last place. And former Duke Dennis Gavros was appointed as team manager, after deputising on a number of occasions the previous summer.

The Dukes were up against it from the first race of the first meeting.  Ian Cartwright was injured, the victim of a crash with Dave Morton, and Charlie Monk broke a collar bone in a second half spill.  To plug the gap created by the injuries, Halifax snapped up young Dane Mike Lohmann, who had been discarded by Hull, and he was straight into the team as the Northern Trophy campaign progressed - draws at Hull and Belle Vue were offset by a home loss to the Aces, and the two matches the Dukes won were by only two points.

Once Monk and Cartwright returned, someone had to make way, and Olkiewicz was dropped after a wretched run of poor scores, although to his credit, he remained in Halifax to fight for his place.

The league campaign began promisingly, with some solid home wins, but, worryingly, the Dukes away form was dire - 20 points at Poole, 19 at Newport and 22 at Reading - as the top order failed to produce the points consistently.  The Dukes would fail to win an away league match all season, with just the draws in the Northern Trophy and one at Leicester in the Cup all they had to show on their travels.  At the Shay, the results were a little better, but the team contrived to draw against Exeter, and lost to champions Ipswich, Belle Vue, and, inexplicably, new-boys White City, as they failed to climb the table.

A cup run lifted the gloom - Leicester, Hull and Hackney were all disposed of, setting up a semi final against King's Lynn - but a 14 point defeat in Norfolk left them too much to do in the second leg, as the Stars set up a final against Anglian rivals Ipswich.

As in 1975, the season petered out with rider absences through injury.  Kroeze missed the last handful of matches with a broken thumb, whilst Graham Plant's season was cut short through a broken right leg sustained in a Grand Prix round at Leicester in July, leaving the Dukes to soldier on using the new rider replacement rule.  And Henny Kroeze took full advantage of the rule to become the first ever rider in League history to score a 21 point maximum, when he dominated proceedings against Birmingham in mid-August.

As the season drew to a close, the Dukes were rocked by a dispute with Charlie Monk, who refused to ride for much of the last 6 weeks, and were also handed a blow when Ian Cartwright quit, citing pressures from the family business.  Monk's absence resulted in the Dukes attempting to use the rider replacement rule twice in the same meeting in the Cup at Hackney, as chaos reigned.

The weather of 1976 also caused it's own problems.  Drought restrictions from mid-summer left the Shay track baking and a lack of water at times made it difficult to keep the dust down - and left a lack of grip for the likes of Pusey to make his normal surges from the back.  Once the drought ended, the rain then never stopped, and multiple postponements towards the end of the season saw Halifax involved in no fewer than ten fixtures in the last 3 weeks of the season, most of those with a patched up team.

Rider of the season was undoubtedly skipper Chris Pusey - finally getting the maximums he deserved the previous season, Pusey was an ever-present, and represented the Dukes in the British Final of the re-vamped World Championship, and the end of season BLRC.  The star of the summer was Kroeze however - once back from his continental trips, the spectacular Dutchman simply could not be beaten, at one stage scoring 180 points from 13 consecutive matches, including his record score against the Brummies.

Plant was in the high scoring bracket, and seemed to have rid himself of the mechanical issues from 1975 before his season-ending crash.  Charlie Monk scored double figures against Hull on opening night, before his collar bone injury, and failed to score as many all season, as his scoring and enthusiasm waned.  And Ian Cartwright proved inconsistent, when many had expected him to push on from 1975 - several double figure scores, but probably not enough, before his decision to quit in September.  Both Monk and Cartwright were now doubts for the following season.

At the bottom end of the team, Mike Lohmann improved as the season wore on, with some high scores late in the season suggesting the Dukes had a potential star on their hands.  But neither Andy Cusworth or Steve Finch set the world alight, proving there was a big gap between British League and National League.  Mick Newton and local lad Graham Dawson would have limited opportunities, whilst Olkiewicz stuck around, riding in second-half races, before quitting and returning to Poland in September.

Ten seasons had now elapsed since the Dukes' league and cup double of 1966, and there was little sign that success was on the way again.  The Dukes would have to try and produce something different in 1977...

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