The Dukes in the World Championship 1976

From 1976, the World Championship qualifying system would receive a radical overhaul.  The British riders would no longer have 3 rounds across each British League track, as they were replaced by four quarter finals - with the top riders seeded, to be joined by those progressing from four preliminary rounds and subsequent qualifying rounds.  The usual British Semi-Finals and Final would be contested by purely British riders, with the Australian and New Zealanders now having their own rounds.

Controversially, the route for the Brits got even harder, with only five places available in the new Intercontinental Final round to be held at Wembley - where they would meet the top four from the Australasian Final, the top six from the Nordic Final, plus the winner of the American Final.  Only 8 places from there were available for the World Final in Poland, so the chances for the Dukes riders to make progress looked slimmer than ever.

Several Dukes started out on the long route to Poland - their various successes and failures are outlined as follows:

Mick Newton:  Made the long trip to Weymouth for his preliminary round, but came away with 11 points and 4th place to qualify for the next round.  But his luck ended there, as he failed to score in the Cradley Heath qualifying round.

Steve Finch:  The young Finch was drawn in the preliminary round at Berwick, where he took the final qualification place, finishing in 4th place on 12 points.  Finch then negotiated the qualifying round at Wolverhampton, finishing in 8th place on 8 points.  But his progress was ended at Poole in the quarter final, where Finch could only score 4 points to finish in 12th place.

Andy Cusworth:  Drawn at Mildenhall, Cusworth came second in his preliminary round on 11 points, but then could only score 2 points in the Sheffield qualifying round, and could not progress further.

Ian Cartwright:  Did not have to go through the National League preliminary rounds, and was drawn in the Sheffield qualifier, where he finished in 10th place with 7 points to move on.  But Cartwright, like Finch, had to travel to Poole for his quarter final, and could only score 2 points (15th) and was eliminated.

Graham Plant:  Seeded directly to the quarter finals, Plant was drawn in the Birmingham round, but had a nightmare, blowing his main engine in his first race, and withdrawing from the remainder of the meeting, his campaign over.

Mike Lohmann:  Finished an creditable 8th place with 8 points in the Danish Final at Vojens, but with only the winner guaranteed to progress to the tough Nordic Final, Lohmann's chances were over.

Chris Pusey:  So close to the World Final in 1975, Pusey fared slightly less well in 1976.  Scored 14 points to finish 2nd in the Birmingham quarter final and backed that up with 9 points and the final 8th place in the semi final at White City.  But the British Final at Coventry proved the end of his progress for a second year in a row, as with only 5 places up for grabs, he finished in last place as he scored only 2 points.

Henny Kroeze:  Got the nearest to the World Final as he negotiated his continental rounds.  Successfully qualified from his preliminary round in Italy, and scored an excellent 12 points in the Continental quarter final at Pocking.  But on his return to West Germany for the semi final 2 weeks later, Kroeze crashed in his opening race and took no further part - his World Championship chances over for another season.

In spite of the tortuous nature of the qualifying rounds, five Brits managed to qualify for the World Final at Chorzow - Peter Collins, Malcolm Simmons, Doug Wyer , Chris Morton and John Louis.  Peter Collins became the first British World Champion for 14 years, when he won the final with 14 points, from Simmons in second and Australia's Phil Crump in third place.