Once again local competition suffered with the loss of the St.Austell track, but it allowed Ray Wickett to make the switch to the County Ground. This was also the year of the "Big Politics" between the Provincial League and the Speedway Control board who governed the National League, with the SCB threatening to impose a ban on any rider taking part under the Provincial League banner. Without wishing to delve into the political aspects, it would be fair to say that Exeter were at the forefront of leading the P.L's revolt against the SCB.

There was much optimism in the Exeter camp with Jimmy Squibb, Len Silver, Cliff Cox and Alan Cowland as four heat leaders, and big things expected from Des Lukehurst who had joined toward the end of the 1963 season. Then Howdy Byford was on hand to blaze a big come-back trail after a winter of itching to get into the saddle. Pete Lansdale had retired again, but there was hardly a Falcon who reckoned he couldn't be tempted back for one more year if he was needed. And Ray Wickett had signed from St. Austell, who could be a useful second string, things certainly looked good.

Team Picture of 1964, (L to R) Ray Wickett, Pat Flanagan, Pete Landsdale, Jimmy Squibb, Cliff Cox,des Lukehurst, Len Silver and Alan cowland.

Cliff Cox was back late and missed the opening match at Poole which Exeter lost by just two points going down 40-38. He was back in time for the return fixture, but Exeter seemed very subdued even at home and scraped home by just four points, although Howdy Byford as yet hadn't managed to get back into the saddle. But then things took an up turn as they soundly beat the reigning champions Wolverhampton by 35 points and things looked a little better at Exeter. Sunderland had closed down, and Maurice McDermott joined the Falcons for added strength in depth. No one suspected for a minute that the old injury Jinx, which had become a permanant fixture at Exeter in 1963 would still be lurking.

And then the break-up started, with Len Silver becoming copromoter at Hackney Wick. It was obvious Len would eventually move to join his own team. He left, as Maury linked with the Falcons. And troubles came to the West Country from then on in. Howdy Byford came back from the long lay-off, over a year since he had broken his arm. The spirit was there but it took many weeks before the old Howdy started showing through. And as it did - bang. Ray Wickett was the first, struck down with a broken wrist that kept him out for the rest of the term, and Exeter started looking hard fpr replacements.

They talked Tim Bungay out of retiring after Poole had said ... "He's yours if you can convince him to ride." And they breathed a little easier. Then Des Lukehurst was the next out, with a shoulder injury. Hard on that Cliff Cox broke a leg and David Crane was mysteriously whipped back to the National League, to rejoin Norwich, the night after he'd scored a magnificent paid nine for the Falcons which won them the match against Newport. David had ridden several second half races at Exeter and the injury to Luckhurst had led to the falcons including him into the line up.Not long later Maury McDermott cracked his head so badly he became the third man to vanish for the rest of the season through injury. More stop-gap tactics when Terry Stone was talked out of retirement after a spell at Glasgow and very late in the year they also gave rides to Chris Blewett, the third ex-Glasgow man. They even shocked the speedway world by introducing Reg Neal - a promising "discovery" who turned out to be Oxford's Ronnie Genz. At which point he was promptly boycotted by many P.L. riders and returned to National League.

With all this going on, Exeter were more concerned with getting out a full team than they were about League winning chances. As it was, they did eventually finish sixth and due in no small manner to the consistent riding of Jimmy Squibb and Alan Cowland, and to the fiery way in which Tim Bungay performed once he had signed for the green and white.

Pictured Right, Alan Cowland who totalled 286 points from 34 matches during the season to help the Falcon's to a sixth place in the League Table.

And while there were no medals, Exeter can't be too displeased with many of the individual showings. Lukehurst did everything that was expected of him and more. Howdy shirked no battles and looked good for better returns than came his way. Among the novices several likely looking lads popped up to fill the gaps left through injuries and no suprise that Exeter ended the season with no less than 25 riders on their retained list and announced this would be swept away by 1965 season.

For the Record, that list comprised of Chas Benham, Peter Benham, Chris Blewett (on loan from Glasgow), Tim Bungay, Howdy Byford, Mike Comber, Alan Cowland, Cliff Cox, David Crane Bryan Deveraux-Cowland, Pat Flanagan, Mike Gimlett, John Hammond, Eric Howe, Des Lukehurst, Maurie McDermott, John McGill, Eddie Reeves, Peter Selley, Jimmy Squibb, Stan Stevens, Terry Stone, George Summers, Sid Whatley and Ray Wickett. The track record in July 1964 was 73.00 held by Ross Gilbertson.

Elsewhere in 1964

The 1964 season started in controversy, and like the previous year ended in disaster. The controversy was brought about by the refusal of Wolverhampton to move up to the National League after winning the Provincial League title in 1963. This caused a split between the leagues, and the Provincial League was outlawed by the Speedway Control Board and all National League riders were forbidden to ride on Provincial tracks. Provincial League riders were warned by the Speedway Control board that they were in breach of ACU regulations and could be suspended from all competitive racing. They were also barred from the World Speedway Championship, however the season was eventually concluded and the breach was healed during the close season.

The season started with the Easter Cup in the National League and the North & South Cups in the Provincial League. Norwich were the Easter Cup winners, whilst Sheffield took the Northern League and Poole were Southern League winners.

The serious business of league racing followed the "warm up" competitions and the National League remained at seven clubs. Southampton had closed down but West Ham were returning to speedway for the first time in nearly a decade. The Provincial League started with 13 teams but they too lost one when Sunderland pulled out after just three matches. Oxford went on to win the National League by one point from Coventry, while Newcastle were three points clear of Hackney in the Provincial League.

Stoke, St Austell and Rayleigh were non-starters from the previous season, but Glasgow (White City) and Newport were newcomers together with the already mentioned Sunderland. Unusual feature about the Glasgow team was that Maury Mattingley travelled from Southampton to Glasgow each week to captain his team. He flew by special charter, while team-mates Chris Julian and Trevor Redmond travelled from Cornwall each week to perform at Glasgow. Both leagues had their own KO Cup competitions. Oxford won the National Trophy and newcomers Newport beat Cradley Heath in the KO Cup Final.

The National League also staged the Britannia Shield which was again won by Oxford and followed the same pattern as the league programme. Oxford could be called the team of the year and their success was due to consistent scoring throughout, indeed, they had five riders in the top twenty list of averages in 1964.

Pictured Right - The Team of the Year - National League Champions Oxford, from the Left, Eddie Reeves, Arne Pander, Promoter Cy Melville, Jimmy Gooch, Jack Geran, John Bishop, Ron How, Colin Goody and Ronnie Genz.

On the international scene there was the first ever Test series between Great Britain and the USSR. The three match series provided a clean sweep for Great Britain but the daring and tenacious riding of the Russians endeared them to the British fans. The series was marred by a nasty crash involving the young Soviet rider Vitaly Shilo who was seriously injured at Wembley in the first test. Igor Plechanov scored 45 out of a possible 54 in the three tests. Boris Samorodov was next with 34 and was a thrill maker indeed. Young Gab Kadirov and the good looking Gennady Kurilenko were popular with the ladies and provided more than a few thrills on the track.

On the individual front, the World Championship went to Barry Briggs in Gothenberg. On a dreadful rainy night Briggo emerged triumphant. Briggo had earlier won the British Final from Ken McKinlay and Ron How, Bjorn Knutsson had won the Nordic Final, Igor Plechanov the Continental Final and Zbigniew Podlecki the European Final. In the Final itself, Barry Briggs scored a flawless 15 points to beat Igor Plechanov 13 and Ove Fundin 13.

Other individual events during the 1964 season included the Internationale which was won by Barry Briggs. Briggs also took the Midland Riders' Championship, Wimbledon Gold Cup, Pride of the South Trophy, Double Diamond Trophy and the British Match Race Championship.Bjorn Knutsson won the Laurels. Bob Andrews the Gerry Hussey Memorial Trophy, and the Ronnie Moore Trophy. Mike Broadbanks was London Riders' Champion and Ove Fundin took the Kings of Oxford Trophy at Norwich.

In the Provincial League individual calendar, the main events included the Easter Trophy won by Wayne Briggs and the Essex Championship won by Maury Mattingley. Maury also won the Jack Unstead Memorial Trophy, Ross Gilbertson collected the Westward TV Trophy, Sussex Championship and the Johnnie Thompson Memorial Trophy before being injured. Ivan Mauger won the Northern Riders Championship, Cock o'the North Trophy, Alan Hunt Memorial Trophy, and the Battle of Britain Trophy, Clive Featherby won the Eastern Championship and the Appolo Cup, George Hunter the Scottish Riders' Championship, the Coronation St Trophy, Dick Bradley the. Whitsun Cup, Len Silver the Newport Open and George Major took the IOOgns Trophy together with the Ace of Hearts Trophy.

There were many others but the major Provincial event was of course the Provincial Riders' Championship. This was won for the second successive year by Ivan Mauger. Because of injury his runners-up in 1963, namely Jack Kitchen and Ross Gilbertson did not contest the 1964 title. Mauger dropped only five points in the six meetings of the competition, runner-up was Charlie Monk and the third man was Roy Trigg.

The season ended in tragedy with the untimely death of Tadeuz Teodorowicz. He crashed at West Ham on September 1st whilst riding for Swindon and died as a result of his injuries. He was a young Polish rider who married an English girl and became a naturalised British subject and was on the brink of the big time. For the second successive season a very popular rider had given his life for the sport he loved, a sad end to a traumatic season.