1983 Miscellany

League Cup:

As in the previous 2 years, the Dukes' season started with the League Cup. They got off to a sensational start, with an away victory at Coventry - but it proved a false dawn, and transpired to be the Dukes' only win on the road in any competition all season! The victory at Brandon was offset by home defeats to Belle Vue and Coventry, who got their revenge with a 6 point win. Halifax finished a mid-table 4th place, but well short of any chance of making the final - Coventry making up for their poor start by winning the section. Unlike the previous seasons, the top 2 from each section progressed to semi-finals - Coventry defeated Ipswich over two legs, with Belle Vue beating Wimbledon. The Aces won the 2-legged final after drawing the first leg at Coventry, and then winning 47-31 at Hyde Road.

Other Fixtures:

Unlike recent previous seasons, the number of Challenge matches and other events at The Shay were kept to a minimum - partly because of a desire by the promotion to avoid meaningless fixtures, which the public would not support, and partly due to the dreadful weather, which meant that postponements and abandoned fixtures being re-arranged filled most of the gaps in the fixture list.

Challenge Matches:

The Dukes rode in 4 unofficial fixtures during 1983, home and away to Sheffield, losing on aggregate in the Cock of the North Trophy, and then losing at Owlerton in an unusual 20 heat 10-a-side experiment. The other fixture was an end-of-season fixture against an unofficial Newcastle team headed by Joe Owen - which Halifax almost lost. A scheduled challenge match at home to Ipswich in October was lost to the rain, and was not re-staged.

Four-Team Tournaments:

Halifax only took part in two 4TTs during 1983 - both in the final weeks of the season. The fixture away at Newcastle was easily won by the hosts, with only Kenny Carter making any contribution for the Dukes, and in the final match of the season at The Shay, two Halifax teams battled with Newcastle and Sheffield in the Northern Fours - both Doug Wyer and Steve Finch (on opposing teams) scoring maximums. The Dukes scores in 4TTs during 1983 were as follows:

Other Matches:

In 1983, the Dukes moved away from holding the previous standard fixture of the Dews Trophy, instead running the Dusty Haigh Memorial Trophy. The meeting was won by Sheffield's Shawn Moran, who won the final after Kenny Carter suffered engine failure.

The Shay hosted an England v Denmark Test Match for the second season running, the England Lions running out easy winners.

A blank weekend at the end of August was filled by the staging of the Calderdale Pairs Championship - the event being won by the Dukes pairing of Martin Dixon and Steve Finch, who defeated Steve Baker and Craig Pendlebury in the final race.

Full scorers and heat by heat details of all the above meetings can be found in the archive pages for the 1983 season.

The British Match-Race Championship - The "Golden Helmet."

The 1982 Winter holder of the Helmet was Sheffield's Shawn Moran - but he was injured at the start of the 1983 season, and was unable to defend the title. Kenny Carter and Dennis Sigalos were lined up to be the first challengers to Moran - so instead they raced off to become the new holder. After Sigalos easily won 2-0 at Ipswich, Carter won the second leg at The Shay - but only after Sigalos had won the 2nd race of the night, and was within a decent start of taking the crown. The encounter was decided at Cradley Heath the following week, ahead of the Dukes match with the Heathens - where Carter beat Sigalos 2-0.

A returning Moran was nominated to challenge Carter in May, but still not fully fit, the American was easily beaten 2-0 in both legs. Dane Hans Nielsen was Carter's opponent for June, and with Carter in the middle of engine issues, saw his title go to a decider at Coventry, ahead of the England v Denmark test match. Carter won 2-1 to retain the title - but the end was ahead...

Michael Lee was nominated to challenge in July, although illness on the part of Lee caused the matches to be moved back until the start of August. Lee won 2-0 at Poole, and came to The Shay on the 20th August to stop Carter forcing a decider. Those who were at Halifax that night could not believe what they saw as Lee pulled away from Carter to win by almost half a lap each time, shattering the track record in both races - a record that would never be beaten. Carter had lost the title, and with the injury problems he would encounter in 1984, would not get the chance to fight for it again until 1985...

Full details of the heats and times can be found below.

The Juniors/Second-Half Riders: During 1983, the following riders took part in various junior matches for the Dukes and second half outings - those who rode for the main team are not included in this list, but will have their own biography in the riders archive - many thanks to:

Rob Manchester, Richard Beever, Kevin Bellfield, Lee Gallagher, David Clay, Howard Lister, Ricky Beck, Steve Hemingway, Ian Sutcliffe, Chris Pailor, Wayne Ross, Jan Hertel, Mark Hepworth and Mike O'Hara.