Heat by Heat Results - July 1977

The Dukes were permiited a guest facility for their injured Dutch star, and were glad of the efforts of Trevor Geer, who saved Halifax from a complete embarrassment at King's Lynn.  In-form Michael Lee would win the British Final at Coventry the following week, and dominated here with a flawless 12 point maximum, with only Hellsen and Spiers giving the Dukes any chances.  Pusey and Cartwright were again off the pace, whilst Plant looked a pale shadow of the rider who was scoring maximums only weeks before.  Halifax would have a quick chance for revenge...

In another close match, Halifax looked to be going down to defeat again when Cartwright and McKeon gave up a 5-1 to Betts and Gagen in heat 11, to put the Stars two points in front.  But Chris Pusey and Mike Lohmann got the Dukes back in front with a 5-1 of their own to set up a nervy final race.  Hopes were not high, as neither Plant nor Cartwright had scored significantly all night, but the pair managed to keep Hellsen at the back to steal a much-needed win.  Guest John Titman had two important heat wins for Halifax mid-meeting as he teamed up with Pusey and McKeon for heat advantages.

On 7/7/77, the Dukes lost by... 8 points, as they went down at Sheffield, in a match they will feel they should have won.  Halifax were twice 6 points up, as Chris Pusey and guest Les Collins, followed by Ian Cartwright and Geoff Pusey, turned round an early deficit, and Collins and Steve Finch restored the lead in heat 8.  But 4 heat advantages for the Tigers in the next 4 races took the match away from the Dukes, leaving Pusey's last heat win academic.  Plant won his first race but then failed to beat another opponent as the Dukes collapsed.

The Dukes got back to winning ways with a 12 point victory over Hull in the Yorkshire Cup.  Chris Pusey was unbeaten, and both Cartwright and Lohmann were in the points, whilst Graham Plant was inconsistent.  The margin of victory would have been greater but for a stunning 15 points from Mitch Graham, who showed his liking for the Shay track with 4 wins.  But Graham received little support, as the Dukes earned a morale-boosting win.

Another away mauling, this time at Reading, who improved on their defeat of the Dukes in the cup back in May.  Ian Cartwright top scored with 7 points, including the Dukes' solitary heat win, but once Leigh and Jansson hit the front in heat 5, there was no way back.  Halifax's chances were not helped by a night of mechanical woes for guest Keith White, and with the rest of the Dukes not in the same league as Jessup, Davis and company, it was another sorry night on the road.

Following on from the Reading defeat, not much was expected from the trip to Brandon, but the Dukes put in probably their best away performance of the season, despite the eventual 10 point loss.  Mike Lohmann combined first with Ian Cartwright, and then with guest Steve Weatherley in successive races and the Dukes were only 2 behind.  But successive 5-1s against them in the next 2 races put the Bees back 10 points in front.  Chris Pusey was having biek problems, whilst Graham Plant clearly didn't want to mix it after a first race fall.  But there was a good win for Godal in the reserve race as he continued to show occasional flashes of what the Dukes were hoping for.

Halifax had clawed back 17 points of a 28 point deficit and looked likely to progress when the rain called a halt a month earlier.  So, in the way of things in 1977, it was inevitable that they would lose the re-staging, and that is exactly what they did, as Jessup and Wasserman stole the win.  The tie was over on aggregate as early as heat 9, when John Davis took the third of his 5 victories, but once again, the Dukes will wonder how they could simply fail to compete.  Ian Cartwright and Chris Pusey were aided by guest Mitch Graham, but even Graham could only register a single win in the reserve heat.  Lohmann and Godal struggled all night, whilst Plant faded badly after a bright start.

The end of July saw yet another home defeat, this time to the Ivan Mauger-inspired Falcons.  Ex-Duke Titman and Vaclav Verner dominated proceedings, and those two and Mauger scored more than the Dukes entire team.  Graham Plant looked more like his best, and Chris Pusey got double figures, but the bottom end of the team simply couldn't compete, with guest Craig Pendlebury failing to score, as Halifax trailed from the start and never looked like getting back on terms.