Whatever else happened at the County Ground in 1977, you could be sure that Exeter were never far away from the headlines. The year started with them bandying words with King's Lynn over the merits and otherwise of a team built solely around overseas performers. King's Lynn claimed it was easy enough to find a team of Englishmen and Exeter went to Saddlebow Road with their team of foreigners - and won!

Later the Falcons were again to hit the headlines over their handling of the Ivan Mauger "holiday" affair.

Despite being told by his club that he could not take a fortnight's break in July to prepare himself mentally for the World Championship, he flew to France anyway, and when he returned somewhat earlier than expected he found he was disciplined and left out of the Exeter side to entertain Leicester at the County Ground.

Pictured Left, the Team at the outset of 1977. L to R, Peter Prinsloo, Scott Autrey, Walter Grubmuller, Ivan Mauger, Steve Koppe, Mike Farrell, John Titman and Co-Promoter John Richards.

Then came Mauger's fifth success in the World Final and no sooner had the fuss over that died down, than the West Country outfit were again in the limelight - this time because they accepted a £12,000 offer from Hull and allowed Mauger, their skipper since he moved from Belle Vue in 1973, to join his fourth British League club.

Ivan's departure heralded the end of an era at the County Ground, one that was never to be repeated. Without question, he had transformed Exeter from one of the country's unfashionables clubs into one of the top five league sides in the world. It was Mauger who tipped off Exeter about Scott Autrey's potential, he brought Peter Prinsloo to the County Ground, and undoubtedly hastened the progress of both Mike Farrell (who had one spell working for him in Manchester) and Vaclav Verner, who arguably rated as the finest capture of the 1977 season.

Mauger wasn't the only steady scorer ready to embark on a career elsewhere by the end of 1977. The hugely under-rated John Titman, overshadowed by Exeter's top three, but a heat leader of some esteem at most other tracks, also sought a move at the end of the year and was quickly snapped up by Leicester with Cradley Heath, Belle Vue and Poole also interested enough to put in offers for his services.

Titman couldn't have left behind a better final meeting in the Falcons' colours than his paid maximum at Belle Vue, a performance that helped Exeter to their biggest-ever away league win and also made sure they finished the year as runners-up to White City in the Gulf Oil British League. Oddly enough they achieved that remarkable 53-25 win at Hyde Road without either Mauger or Autrey, who took over the mantle as Exeter's number one - a move that possibly was the only thing guaranteed to keep him at Exeter for at least another season. After his now customary slow start to the new season, Autrey had burst into top form in the middle of the term and it is, perhaps,inguing to note that he was a double figure scorer in all those matches when Mauger was missing! Exeter's title challenge took a long time coming and the real turning point was a heavy home defeat at the hands of Belle Vue towards the end of June.

Immediately after the defeat, there was a stormy dressing room scene in which several riders voiced their feelings on the reason for the team's poor form and the following night at Leicester all seven Exeter riders, plus non-riding reserve Bob Spelta, had arrived and warmed up nearly an hour before the first race was due to start. It signalled the beginning of a new era and from then until the end of the season the Falcons recaptured their old form and but for dropping two unexpected points at Hackney Wick, they could have clinched their second league title in four seasons.

While Mauger, Autrey and Titman would have provided a solid first three at any track, they were split up by the sensational arrival of Czechoslovakian Vaclav Verner who, by the end of the season, was by far the most popular member of the team among the terrace fans. That he scored seven maximums at Exeter helped illustrate his immense contribution, but what figures alone cannot tell is the way he scored those maximums, most of them with from-the-back rides on a track that is usually ranked as one of the more difficult on which to overtake.

Naturally Verner's returns away from the West Country paled by comparison, but fourteen points at Halifax, nine at Bristol and eleven, paid twelve, at Belle Vue conjured up thoughts that in 1978 he could well force his way into the near eleven points a meeting bracket. The Prague policeman's emergence overshadowed most else at the County Ground and tended to devalue the steady progress being made by Rhodesian Peter Prinsloo and young Australian Mike Farrell.

Prinsloo more than doubled his points tally while Farrell, in what was virtually only his second full season having ridden in only two league matches in 1976, started off superbly, hit a lean patch in the middle of the season but then recovered after a heart-to-heart talk with the promotion. Just to show that you can't win them all when it comes to plucking foreigners out of the hat, Exeter's other 1976 signing was Austrian Walter Grubmuller who had a decidedly unhappy British baptism.

After winning his first two races in this country, against the touring Polish League club side Stal Gorzow, he was sidelined with a wrist injury at a World Championship round in Poland, recovered only to break his arm in a second half crash at Exeter in September and then broke his thigh trying to make a comeback in Austria a month or so later.

And so 1977 saw Exeter finish as runners up, rejoice as Ivan brought the World Championship trophy to the County Ground then dissapointment with his departure, and the delightful riding skills of Vaclav Verner who would have been worth the admission money to watch him ride four laps - alone!. On a final note, the track record at Exeter in 1977 was shared between Ivan mauger and Phil Crump who had both recoded times of 67.8 seconds.

Elsewhere in 1977

The year began with the tragic death of former Falcon Kevin Holden who was killed in an innocuous looking crash at Poole.

Michael Lee (Pictured left) was crowned British Champion beating Dave Jessup, Doug Wyer and John Davis, whilst Peter Collins took the Inter Continental final at White city beating Ole Olsen and Billy Sanders.

Jan verner had beaten Egon Muller and Jiri Stancl to win the Continental Final staged in the Soviet Union, but it was Ivan Mauger who lifted his fifth World Title in Gothenburg. He scored 14pts to beat runner up Peter Collins who scored 13pts, and third place went to Ole olsen on 12pts.

England are on top of the world as they win the World Cup in Wroclaw, Poland. England's 37 points (P.Collins 10, D.Jessup 9, M.Lee 9, J.Davis 6, M.Simmons 3) won comfortaby from Poland 25pts, Czechoslovakia 23pts and Sweden 11pts.

To further stamp Englands dominance on the sport, they also win the World pairs Chamionship scoring 28pts to beat Sweden 18pts, W.Germany 18pts and Czechoslovakia 17pts.

Ole Olsen wins the Daily Mirror G.Prix, runner up was John Louis and third Malcolm Simmons and also won the British League Riders Championship where he scored a maximum 15pts to beat Peter Collins (14) and Michael Lee (13).

White City (55) won the BL Title from runners up Exeter(53) with Reading(53) in third placing. Eastborne (58) win the National League from Rye House (51) and Ellesmere Port (46) and also pick up the KO Cup beating Berwick 98-57 after a convincing 61-16 drubbing at Eastbourne.

Pictured Right, B.L winners White City. From L to R. Marek Cieslak, Paul Gatchet, Steve Weatherley, Trevor Geer, Dave Kennett, Mike Sampson, Karl Niemi, Lee Durson (Manager) and Gordon Kennett on machine.

Boston take the NL Pairs title staged at B.Vue as they beat Newport, Canterbury and Oxford in the Final, the Boston duo being Colin Cook and Robert Hollingworth. In the NL Fours Final, Peterborough scored 17pts to beat Canterbury (14), Eastbourne (13) and Stoke (4).

Colin Richardson (15) won the NL Riders Championship beating Martin Yeates (13)and Tom Owen (13), but had to settle for third in the D.Mirror Junior Championship of Grt. Britain where he scored 11pts to be beaten by the Champion Les Collins (15) and runner up Phil Collins (12). Colin also won the Laurels staged at Wimbledon scoring 13 to beat Gordon Kennett 12, and Chris Morton 12.

Larry Ross took the London Championship at Hackney with a maximum 15pts to beat Gordon Kennett 14 and B.Ramussen 10. Ipswich win the Inter Divisional KO Cup beating Cradley 81-75 on aggregate and also take the BL Pairs Title with 26pts to beat runners up K.Lynn (23) and White City (20). Kings Lynn win the S.Star Cup beating Reading 79-77 on agg in the Final.

Other Individual titles show that Ole Olsen was the man to beat. He won the Pride of the East trophy, the Warner's Holiday Chase, the Volkswagen Grand Prix Series, the Brandonapolis, the ITEX 100 Trophy, the Yorkshire TV Trophy and the Golden Hammer trophy.

Other winners included John Davis the Bass Yorkshire Open, Peter Collins the Champions of Champions and the Malboro Race Of Champions, Malcolm Simmons the Britania Superstars, Michael Lee the Westernapolis and Edward Jancarz the Embassy Internationale.

Top ofthe BL averages in 1977 were Michael Lee on 10.64, followed by Ivan mauger on 10.62 and Peter Collins on 10.49. Tom Owen topped the NL averages with 11.01 ahead of Colin Richardson on 10.70 and Martin Yeates on 10.59.