1973

United We Fall ... to Rock Bottom

Season Review

  The season started with great expectations, things were looking better with a new name Cradley "UNITED", a new manager, none other than one of Cradley's finest home produced riders - Harry Bastable. No less than four new signings wore the new racejacket. Howard Cole from Kings Lynn, Bruce Cribb from Exeter and veteran Colin Gooddy from Oxford plus an exciting young Swedish rider recommended by Bernie Persson - Lars Hultberg.
They started well with a draw away at Swindon,a home win against Halifax and home and away wins against Coventry!
Then the injuries came, in May Colin Gooddy broke his collar-bone, then Howard Cole broke his ankle and dislocated his shoulder.  Bruce Cribb had a bad smash and broke a leg, then Bernie was out with an injured shoulder and then broke his arm on his return.
team photo

L to R. Howard Cole, Lars Inge Hultberg, Team Manager - Harry Bastable, Peter Jarman, Colin Gooddy,
front row: Dave Perks, Dave Harvey, Bernt Persson
(photo by kind permission of Speedway Star & News)
Malcolm Corradine was signed from Birmingham and Ulf Lovaas brother of Dag from Reading, though they tried hard they were not good enough to make up for all the injuries.
Once again the Heathens slipped down the table, winning only seven of the thirty four league matches and ending up with the wooden spoon.
One good thing came out of it though, a youngster by the name of Dave Perks continued to improve - never missed a match throughout the year and finished with a respectable 152 points, including paid 12 against Kings Lynn. Also another youngster emerged and went to Ivan Mauger's training school, the stylish Dave Harvey.

Two International matches were held at Dudley Wood - Noway/Denmark against Sweden and then five days later against U.S.S.R.
The Heathens were put out of the K.O.Cup in Round 1 by Poole but fared a little better in the Midland Cup beating Coventry home and away again but losing heavily to Leicester in the semi-final.
programme 1973

Riders Performance Chart

1973 Cradley 'United'

Rider
Matches
Rides
Points
Bonus
Total
Aver
B.Persson
21
98
219
5
224
9.14
H.Cole
19
75
162
9
171
9.12
U.Lovaas
6
29
45
3
48
6.62
B.Cribb
13
52
66
14
80
6.15
C.Gooddy
28
110
126
12
138
5.02
B.Clark
4
18
19
2
21
4.67
P.Jarman
33
120
117
20
137
4.57
D.Perks
34
136
127
25
152
4.47
M.Corradine
11
40
38
6
44
4.40
L.Hultberg
17
65
48
9
57
3.51
D.Harvey
9
22
11
4
15
2.73

statistics taken from the Cradley Speedway database for BL matches only.

Final League Table

1973 British League

Team
PL
W
D
L
 BP
For
Ag
Pts
Reading
34
25
1
8
--
1494
1156
51
Sheffield
34
22
3
9
--
1489
1157
47
Kings Lynn
34
20
3
11
--
1395
1253
43
Leicester
34
21
0
13
--
1394
1254
42
Ipswich
34
19
3
12
--
1393
1255
41
Belle Vue
34
19
1
14
--
1451
1188
39
Wolverhampton
34
18
1
15
--
1319
1331
37
Exeter
34
16
3
15
--
1344.5
1303.5
35
Halifax
34
16
2
16
--
1255
1394
34
Newport
34
16
0
18
--
1350.5
1295.5
32
Oxford
34
14
2
18
--
1267
1381
30
Wimbledon
34
14
1
19
--
1263
1383
29
Swindon
34
13
3
18
--
1244
1407
29
Poole
34
12
2
19
--
1300
1351
28
Coventry
34
13
0
21
--
1233
1415
26
Hackney
34
11
4
19
--
1227
1421
25
Coatbridge
34
12
1
21
--
1219
1421
25
CRADLEY
34
7
4
23
--
1187
1459
18

Cradley hosted two International fixtures part of the 
Daily Mirror International series, a combined Norway/Denmark team lost 33-45 to Sweden on July 2nd and Norway/Denmark beat USSR 47-31 on July 7th.

The Watney Mann Trophy was won by Soren Sjosten in September.
The L.P.Trophy was once again a best pairs event back in April and was won by Bernt Persson / Howard Cole.

  KO Cup

Round 2 - 1st leg - Cradley 37 Poole 41
Bernt Persson 18, Pete Jarman 7, Colin Gooddy 5,
Bruce Cribb 4, Dave Perks 3, Lars Hultberg 0,
Round 2 - 2nd leg - Poole 40 Cradley 38
Bernt Persson 14, (G)Terry Betts 14, Lars Hultberg 5, 
Bruce Cribb 4, Pete Jarman 1, Colin Gooddy 0, 
Dave Perks 0.

Poole win 81-75 on aggregate

Midland Cup
Round 1 - 1st leg  Coventry 36 Cradley 42
Bernt Persson 12, Colin Gooddy 8, (G)Jim McMillan 7,
Lars Hultberg 7, Pete Jarman 4, Bruce Cribb 4,
Dave Perks 0.
Round 1 - 2nd leg  Cradley 46 Coventry42
Bernt Persson 12, (G)Jim McMillan 12, Lars Hultberg 8,
Bruce Cribb 5, Colin Gooddy 4, Pete Jarman 3,
Dave Perks 2.

Cradley win 88-78 on aggregate

Round 2 - 1st leg Cradley 33 Leicester 45
Bernt Persson 18, Howard Cole 5, Colin Gooddy 5, 
Mal Corradine 3, Pete Jarman 1, Dave Perks 1, 
(G)T.Barnwell 0.
Round 2 2nd leg - Leicester 56 Cradley 32
Howard Cole 8, (G)Ulf Lovaas 7, Dave Perks 5,
Colin Gooddy 2, Mal Corradine 0, Steve Bastable 0,
Pete Jarman 0.

Leicester win 101-65 on aggregate

Dudley Wolves Trophy

1st leg - Wolves 42 Cradley 36
Bernt Persson 10, Colin Gooddy 10, Mal Corradine 8,
Howard Cole 7, (G)Norman Strachan 1, Pete Jarman 0,
Dave Perks 0.
2nd leg - Cradley 40 Wolves 38
Bernt Persson 12, Howard Cole 10, Colin Gooddy 8, 
(G)Jim Wells 4, Pete Jarman 3, Dave Perks 3,
Brian Clark 0.

Wolves win 80-76 on aggregate

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