Very much a season of great upheaval at the County Ground with riders coming and going. Gone was Tim Bungay who had been tempted out of retirement in 1964 only to retire at the end of the season. However, he was called upon again in 1965 and turned out for a handful of matches for Exeter and Cradley before eventually calling it a day.

Cliff Cox's season was virtually non existent after returning to the camp after a long spell on the injured list. But he was to only race twice before going back on the sicklist, this time with a busted ankle. Did come back for two more meetings, but was then forced out again to take another enforced rest.

Still in the team from 1964 was Des Luckhurst who remained at the County Ground throughout the season, but decided on a switch at the end of 1965 wanting to reduce travelling time by moving nearer his South East home. Chris Blewett continued his cavalier style of riding to the horror of the fans who could scarcely bear to watch, and one can but wonder how far he would have gone if he could actually spend more time aboard his machine. Maury McDermott never got going this season and moved on to Hackney Wick before ending the season at Oxford.

Team Picture from left to Right:Alan Cowland, Maury McDermott, Tim Bungay, Chris Blewett, Jimmy Squibb, Colin Goody, Des Lukehurst and Manager Pete Lansdale.

Jimmy Squibb's presence pretty much continued the way he left off in 1964 and Alan Cowland remained in the side until the end of 1965 when he switched to Wolverhampton. Of the others, Pat Flanagan only managed a couple of meetings whilst Ray Wickett made just the one and was eventually to be found at West Ham.

Into the line up came Colin Goody from Oxford where he had been very much a middle order rider and perhaps was not rated that highly averaging around six points for the "Cheetahs". However, Colin appeared to take a liking for the big County Ground track and became the top scorer and highest averge earner for the Falcon's by the end of the season. Along with Jimmy Sqibb, Colin was ever present in the Falcon's line up, and such was his form to climb, that he reached the British Final where he scored four points. He also went on to take the Jack Unstead Memorial trophy scoring a maximum 15pts to beat Chris Julian (12) with Jimmy Squibb, Bill Andrew and Alan Cowland all scoring 11pts.

Other hopefuls included Ivor Hughes, a Cradley Junior who could not make it into their full team. Was given a handful of matches at Exeter during the season and had looked a hot prospect, but also helped out Cradley and it was by no means certain who he was actually riding for.

Another newcomer at the County Ground was Doug Dearden who came into the side in June, won his first BL race, but four heats later he crashed and suffered a broken collarbone which ended his season.

Exeter eventually finished the season in a mid table position, and with a settled side may well have done so much better. They also reached the KO Cup Final, but were well beaten losing both legs to West Ham and went down 114-78 on aggregate. During a South West v Russia tour match, Igor Plechanov set a new track record of 71.4 seconds around the County Ground circuit.

Elsewhere in 1965

With the old Nation League in decline following the revolt of 1964, the 1965 season saw the first ever British League set up and consisted of 18 teams. These were a combination of the old Leagues and listed Oxford, Coventry, Belle Vue, Swindon, Wimbledon, West Ham (all from the old National League), along with Newport, Wolves, Hackney, Exeter, Poole Sheffield, Newcastle, Glasgow, Cradley, Edinburgh and Long Eaton (from the old Provincial League) together with newcomers Halifax. The winners of the new League were West Ham, runners up were Wimbledon and third spot going to Coventry

Barry Briggs is crowned the first ever British League Riders Champion, dropping just one point to score 14 with runner up Jimmy Gooch on 13pts and Cyril Maidment third scoring 12pts. Barry also went on to win the British Final ahead of Nigel Boocock and Ken McKinlay, his third such win in succesion. To make it a hat trick, Barry also defeated Nigel Boocock to take the Match race Golden helmet event at Hackney where he eqaulled the track record of 67.2, then lowered it to 66.8 and then down to 66.6 - three records in one meeting.

Bjorn Knutsson was crowned World Champion in the Final at Wembley watched by a reported 70,000 crowd. He dropped a single point to score 14 ponts ahead of the runner up Igor Plechanov (13) and Ove Fundin third (13). Bjorn had been under threat of suspension earlier in the season following incidents during a Swedish Championship Qaulifying round.

Poland scored 38 points to win the World Cup staged in Kempten, W.Germany. Sweden took second place having totalled 33 points with Gt. Britain in third (18) and Russia fourth (7).

Brian Betts won the "Champion of Champions" meeting staged at Wolverhampton, his 15 points beating I.Mauger 14 and M.Broadbanks 12. Sverre Harrfeldt won the London Riders Championship, and West Ham win the Speedway Star KO Cup beating Exeter 114-78 on aggregate, and then go on to make it a treble by beating Wimbledon 54-42 to clinch the London Cup.

Nigel Boocock (Coventry) topped the averages on 11.09 ahead of Barry Briggs (Swindon) 10.92 and Ken McKinlay (West Ham 10.72)