The 1985 Season

The winter of 1984 was disastrous for British Speedway. Already denied Wembley for major events, the sport now lost White City to the developers - and with the recession causing promotions to try to balance the books, the British League was reduced to 11 teams, with Poole, Exeter and Newcastle folding (although Poole resurrected themselves at Weymouth) and Eastbourne and Wimbledon dropping down to the National League. The redevelopment of Odsal Stadium in Bradford and the award of the 85 World Final was a shot in the arm however. The glut of riders now available meant that several teams - Halifax included - sought to snap up reinforcements.

As the 1985 season started, Dukes fans had every reason to be optimistic. Neil Evitts, after a superb 1984, was bought outright from Birmingham, now bound for the National League. Halifax moved into the transfer market, signing veteran Larry Ross, often a thorn in the Dukes' side, on loan from Belle Vue, and snapping up popular Rod Hunter from the defunct Newcastle. Added to the fit again Kenny Carter, the Dukes had a top 4 which was already the envy of the league. And on the eve of the season, Sean Willmott was drafted in, when Exeter withdrew. It meant no return for Steve Baker, and with Doug Wyer and Craig Pendlebury moving on, the Dukes retained their reserve pairing of Hansen and Monaghan to complete a strong 1-7. The trouble was, everyone in the league now had a reasonably strong 1-7...

Early optimism soon disappeared. The new recruits failed to provide the boost the Dukes were needing, largely due to mechanical issues. Whilst Kenny Carter returned as if he had never been away, and Neil Evitts carried on from where he left off in 1984, the form of Willmott, Hunter and Ross frustrated both promotion and fans alike - Hunter spending 3 months at reserve, with Ross and Willmott joining him at various stages. Home defeats by Sheffield, Cradley Heath and Coventry saw them limp out of the League Cup, and they surrendered an 18 point first leg lead to Wolverhampton to go out of the cup in the first round.

Off track, the Dukes were boosted by a new sponsorship deal with Coalite Building Supplies - the Dukes would now be referred to as the "Coalite Dukes" - new body colours included. And new management joined Eric Boothroyd, with local businessmen, Allan and Bobby Ham, and Chris Dunley joining the fold.

After the controversy of 1984, a fully-fit Carter romped to another British Final win, and after coming runner-up to Shawn Moran in the Overseas Final at Odsal, the second half of the season looked more promising. But a road-accident involving Carter's van, containing both his and Kelvin Tatum's machinery in East Germany following the World Pairs final set the Dukes skipper back - both financially and mechanically. The League campaign started promisingly, with Halifax strong at home - but still unable to win away. But then, Carter went to Vetlanda at the start of August for the Intercontinental Final - and crashed, re-breaking his right leg. His World Championship hopes were gone again, and the Dukes found themselves in all too familiar territory, needing to use guests to cover their absent talisman.

A record-breaking crowd after the World Final at Odsal saw the Dukes thrash local rivals Belle Vue, and Halifax remarkably stood proudly at the top of the table. Another demolition the following week, this time of Wolverhampton, masked the fact the Dukes simply were a different proposition away from home. And they had to go to Oxford the following week to try to stop the Cheetahs taking over at the top - which they were unable to do. A 17 point defeat finally took the wind out of the Dukes' sails, and they could only muster one more win in the remainder of the season. Oxford powered ahead to win the League, with both Sheffield and Coventry overtaking the Dukes in the final weeks, to leave them fourth.

Carter was back to his mercurial best prior to his misfortunes on the road in East Germany and on the track in Sweden. An average in excess of 10 points in a stronger league showed just how much a problem the Dukes would have covering his absence - and although the efforts of the various guest riders cannot be praised enough, they only managed double figure scores on 5 occasions - somewhat short of what a fit Carter would have managed. Neil Evitts once again took over the mantle as number one, looking a World class rider at times. By the end of the season, the new-boys Hunter, Ross and Willmott were finding some form, but by then it was too late. And reserves Monaghan and Hansen both proved reliable, if not always match winning. Remarkably, given the injury situation which again faced Halifax, they only used 9 different riders (including junior Gordon Whitaker) plus guests through the season.

Over the previous seasons, particularly through the 1980s, the Dukes promotion had been in constant talks with Halifax Town over the lease of The Shay - and despite several worrying times where rental increases might have seen an end to speedway in Halifax, it was understood that a compromise had been reached, and a new lease agreed until the end of 1986. During the 1985 season however, in light of concerns over stadium safety, following the Valley Parade fire in May, new concerns had arisen over the positioning of the floodlight pylons. It was clear this needed to be addressed - the problem was that nobody would accept responsibility - the Dukes' promotion (probably correctly) saying the cost of this was not their responsibility, but the landlords also refusing to bear the cost. During the close season of 1985/86, in the absence of a solution, the Dukes promotion opted to move the team in it's entirety to Odsal Stadium Bradford - site of the 1985 World Final. The Dukes would race on into 1986 as the Bradford Coalite Dukes - but speedway at The Shay Grounds in Halifax was finally lost - forever.

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