One can only wonder what might have been had the Falcon's of 1968 remained intact, but it was not to be as the team broke up and not entirely due to rider control.

Neil Street made it perfectly clear that he was going back to Australia to retire and right away upset the balance of a team. Other riders who left the County Ground included Wayne Briggs,Tommy Sweetman and Aussie Chris Bass, the No.8 who rode more like a star than a second string.

To fill the spaces, Exeter brought back Alan Cowland and Tim Bungay and took a gamble by signing an unknown qauntity in a Czech rider called Jan Holub. Without any doubt, this was a much weaker side than had ridden the previous season and it was highlighted when Exeter dropped from third place in the League to twelth by the end of the 1969 season.

Holub was an out and out success, let there be no doubt about that. He spent most of the season here, overcame the handicap of riding new tracks almost every time out, sailed through the pain and inconvenience of busting a thumb, and finished second top scorer in the averages.

Top was Martin Ashby as was expected, but such was the dip in Exeter's fortunes that even he finished the season a point down on his average. Mike Cake was expected to have a year the like of which we hadn't seen from British junior for years. The form he had shown throughout the previous season, both with Plymouth in Division II and Exeter in Division 1, suggested that here was major discovery. To average 6.5 points a match as he had in 1968, during which tim he had scored his first paid maximum-had been tremendous stuff. But Mike, tipped fo star heat leader status, never hit those starry heights. Instead he had a tough year holding his own and in fact scored only 15 points more while taking nine extra matche to do it.

Pictured Left the 1969 Falcons. From the left, Mike Cake, Martin Ashby, Wally Mawdsley (Promoter), Alan Cowland, Tim Bungay, Jan Holub, Chris Blewett with Jimmy Squibb on machine.

Down on scoring, too, was Chris Blewett - both in total and average. Poor Chris had another argument which the safety fence won and ended his season abruptly halfway through, with a broken wrist. Plenty of criticism came Jimmy Squibbs way when the veteran hit a poor patch that had too many people forgetting the great tower of strength he had been. And also overlooking the fact that, at the end of the season, Jimmy, who still has never missed a British League match home or away finished with figures practically on a par with the 1968 season.

Alan Cowland, returning to the scene of his past glories, found life tough. Before he began to show touches of his old golden touch he went through one spell of stringing together three zeroes in four days. He soldiered on, eventually proving himself the best second string in the outfit.

Phil Woodcock, recalled from loan to Romford, finished the season with a lower average than in 1968, but as he only rode six times that year you can mark down his form as definitely improved. Tim Bungay, like Alan Cowland, found the points hard to win, but saved his best for the last and scored a paid eleven points at home to Hackney to round off the season.

Overall, a dissapointing season after the excitement generated by the side of 1968, but as with Ashby, Exeter seemed to have found a star in the making in the form of Jan Holub.

Elsewhere in 1969

Two main stories hit the headlines well before the first tapes even went up at the start of 1969. Firstly came the ban on commuting Swedish riders from the British League, the exceptions to which were Soren Sjosten and Ole Nygren, both of whom were married to British girls.

Next came the news of the transfer of World Champion Ivan Mauger from Newcastle to Belle Vue after it was reported that there were differencef of opinion between Ivan and the Newcastle camp. Either way, Ivan was glad to make the switch.

The British League consisted of two divisions. Division One comprised of 19 teams which was exactly the same as 1968 and was to be the fifth season of British League racing. Division Two was about the embark on its second season. With just 10 teams in the initial season of 1968, this was enlarged to 16 for 1969. The only non-starter was Weymouth (Eagles) and the newcomers were Crewe, Doncaster, Eastbourne, Ipswich, King's Lynn II, Long Eaton and Rochester. Unfortunately Rochester did not get off the ground at home, after winning their first two away matches the Bombers transferred to Romford and continued throughoutt the season as Romford Bombers.

On the international scene there were test series between Great Britain and Sweden. England v. Australia and England v. New Zealand. There was also one England v. Scotland match and two Scotland v. Norway meetings. Great Britain beat Sweden in all five test matches which were held at Wimbledon, Newport, Leicester, Halifax and Cradley Heath. Anders Michanek with 43 points and Toby Harrysson with 40 were the only Swedes to offer real opposition. England beat Australia 3-0 at Poole, Sheffield and Wolverhampton and New Zealand beat their England rivals by 2-1, winning at Swindon and Newcastle while losing the final test at Hackney. Ivan Mauger (46 points) and Barry Briggs (45) were the Kiwi stars while Nigel Boocock topped the England scoters with 43. England defeated Scotland at Glasgow by 58-50 but the Scots were winners over Norway at Glasgow (62-46) and Coatbridge (56-52).

At Division Two level there were tests matches against Australasia which Young England won 4-1. The matches were raced at Berwick, Crayford, Eastbourne. Ipswich and Nelson. The real excitement was in the other series which was against the hard riding Young Czechoslovakians. The seven matches finished 4-2 with one drawn in favour of the Czechs. England used no less than 26 riders during the seven matches while the Czechs used only eight riders. Miroslav Verner put together 104 points from seven matches.Vaclav Verner and Jiri Stancl were in the Czech side and scored 29 and 39 points respectively.

On the league front, Leicester set up a unique record in using the same seven riders in each of their 36 league matches. This had never been achieved before, although it is not commonly known that King's Lynn almost achieved the same feat in 1969. They used the same seven riders in 35'of their matches in the British League. Geoff Penniket rode in place of the late Pete Bradshaw in the home match against Swindon, but for that, a very unique double would have been achieved.

Wimbledon were the K.O. Cup winners, but Poole were the 1969 League Champions. This was a team performance because none of the Poole riders finished in the top 20 scorers. Geoff Mudge was 21st, his 293 league points and 21 cup points were not quite enough to get him in. Division Two saw the Belle Vue Colts as champions again, but sadly it was also their final season; two seasons, twice champions and no future. It must be tough at the top. The Colts also managed to take the K.O. Cup to prove they were the greatest.

On the individual front, it was Ivan Mauger who took the world crown for the second time in two years. Valeri Klementiev won the European title, Briggs won the British Final with a 15-point maximum, his sixth success in this event and was a record. Cohn Pratt won the Southern Riders Championship, Norman Hunter took the Midland Riders event while Mauger became the Northern Riders Champion. Other important open meeting winners were: Westernapolis - Nigel Boocock, Superama - Barry Briggs, Peter Craven Memorial - Ole Olsen, Scotianapolis - Ivan Mauger, London Riders' Champion - Trevor Hedge, East Midlands Open - Barry Briggs, Brandonapolis - Ray Wilson, Laurels - Trevor Hedge, Pride of the Midlands - Barry Briggs, Scottish Open - Reidar Eide, Jack Unstead Memorial - Martin Ashby and of course, the British League Riders Championship was taken by Barry Briggs for the fifth time in its five-year existence.

Geoff Ambrose was a popular winner of the Division Two Riders Championship and Dave Jessup took the Gerald Hussy Memorial Trophy at Rye House. Rye House raced four home matches on an open licence using no less than 18 different riders. Regional cups and trophies were as much in evidence in 1969 as in any other season. The London Cup was won by Wimbledon who were the winners of all four matches. Coventry won the Midland Cup after an exciting two-leg final against Leicester. The Lions were without the late DeWayne Keeter and Dene Davis filled in. Coatbridge defeated Glasgow 78-77 in the two-leg Scottish Cup and West Ham took the Metropolitan Gold Cup.

The leading scorers in the British League Division 1 were Nigel Boocock (Coventry) 702.5, Barry Briggs (Swindon) 663, Ivan Mauger (Belle Vue) 643 and Ray Wilson (Leicester)6 39. In League Division 2 it was Geoff Ambrose (Crayford) 390, Martyn Paddock (Canterbury) 379, Geoff Curtis (Crewe) 364.5 and Eric Broadbelt (Belle Vue II) 342