John Brooks, the former clerk of the course had been named as team manager to replace the departed Ron Byford. The side that Hill and new team manager John Brooks assembled bore more than a passing resemblance to their 1986 squad. Only Steve Bishop of the 1986 regulars was missing after his switch to Arena-Essex and Kevin Price was allowed to join Long Eaton.

In came David Smart - making the opposite move to Bishop - from Arena-Essex and David Gibbs, on loan from Poole. It gave Hill and Brooks a squad of eight riders for seven places, with Gibbs and local youngsters Andy Sell and Tony Mattingley fighting it out for the last vacant spot. Gibbs got the nod initially and was promoted from his intended number eight berth when Alan Rivett was late returning from Australia. He made an impressive bow with a top-scoring paid 15 haul against Swedish tourists Smederna, although injury was soon to blunt his progress.

The Falcons were the last National League side to start their league programme, but an injury jinx that was to curse them all season had already bitten deep. Veteran Bruce Cribb, in the twilight of his career but still going strong with the Falcons, piled-up at the County Ground in a Grand Slam round a week before the curtain-raiser against Long Eaton. The Kiwi suffered head, neck and knee injuries in a tangle with Steve Schofield of Poole and was unable to take his place against the Invaders. But his team-mates rallied round, with Michael Coles scoring a 12-point haul helping the Falcons to shrug off the handicap of rider replacement to open with a 43-35 win.

Exeter have traditionally been a strong home team and their form at the County Ground remained a source of encouragement until midsummer. They reeled off seven straight home league and cup victories, including wins over such lively opponents as Mildenhall and Stoke, before their luck finally ran out at the end of July.

With Cribb still sidelined, influential Colin Cook crashed against Arena-Essex and Falcons were on the rocky road to a 34-44 home reverse. Within a month, further defeats were sustained at the Devon track by Peterborough and title-chasing Mildenhall before Falcons regained their composure to remain unbeaten in their final five home fixtures.

Team Picture: (L to R).David Gibbs, Bruce Cribb, David Smart, John Brooks (team manager) Colin Cook (on bike) Andy sell, Tony Mattingly and Tony Garrard. Kneeling: Alan Rivett and Michael Coles

Exeter completed the season without an away point to their name, apart from the two gained at Workington, and their wretched away form was always going to be a serious handicap. Ultimately, it was responsible for dragging them down to the third from bottom slot although as Colin Hill pointed out, "With no injuries all year, I think we'd have been closer to third from top!" A valid point as the Falcons certainly suffered from the loss of key men.

Bruce Cribb's April pile up effectively ended his season. After an unsuccessful comeback against Middlesbrough at the beginning ofJune, he returned to the sidelines to regain full match fitness and didn't appear again.

David Smart crashed at Rye House just six days after what proved to be Cribb's final outing, and his leg injuries were to keep him out until August, when he attempted a comeback while still far from 100 per cent.

Incredibly, Alan Rivett tore tendons in his shoulder at Rye House, but fought on despite the injury and didn't miss a match. Rivett was to remain one of only two ever-presents, fighting a close battle with the dependable Cook for the honour of top spot in the averages. The New Zealander just shaded it in the finish, although both riders finished with almost identical averages to that of 1986.

Smart claimed the remaining heat leader berth, a fraction behind Cook. His signing proved a shrewd move and Hill was hoping to see him return the next season, depending on his paremt club agreeing. Coles remained a steady five point man and, with Sell and Mattingley, formed the other regular choices.

Gibbs's Exeter career took a turn for the worse after his early point spree and by June, he'd lost his place following the return from New Zealand of Alan Mason. He finished the season on loan to Wimbledon. Mason's reappearance in Exeter colours was to prove all too brief. He asked to be dropped shortly after resuming to be given time to sort out his equipment. After failing to answer a Falcons SOS when they found themselves shorthanded for a Northern tour in July, he was axed. And team manager Brooks promptly declared that Mason would not be given a chance in a Falcons race jacket again.

Action right with Colin Cook (left) and Michael Coles engaging in a spot of team riding.

As the injury crisis continued, a steady stream of youngsters were given their chance to shore up the lower order, and former Falcon Kevin Price was given another opportunity. Price returned from Long Eaton in August when it became clear that Cribb would not be fit to resume but he failed to recapture his best County Ground form on a track he knows so well. Even Tony Garard, a former Bristol rider from the late seventies, attempted a comeback with the Falcons at the age of 29 but didn't make enough of an impact during a one-month trial to warrant a permanent place.

In terms of league position, 1987 could hardly be classed a success for Exeter but Hill's mid-term report that the club were "breaking even" financially suggests a sounder base on which to build a stronger team next year. Indeed, attendances had increased at the County Ground by some thirty percent, although no one could determine exactly why.

Elsewhere in 1987

Hans Nielsen retains the World Champion title in the farce of the two day Final staged in Amsterdam, luckily a one-off. The idea being that two finals were held on two consecutive days and the points added together. He also retained the B.L Riders Championship at B.Vue. He scored 14pts to beat runner up Chris Morton 13pts with Kelly Moran 3rd on 11pts and in doing so, became the first ever rider to achieve the double twice.

Kelvin Tatum is crowned British Champion at Coventry. He scored 13pts to beat runner up Neil Evitts who scored 11pts, and Simon Wigg was third on 10pts. Kelvin then went on to win the Commonwealth final held at B.Vue, this time beating Simon Cross and Marvyn Cox. But he couldn't make it a record Treble as Mitch Shirra won the Overseas final from Jeremy Doncaster and Kelly Moran in third.

Erik Gundersen won the Intercontinental Title by beating runner up Jimmy Nilsen and third placed Hans Nielsen.

Eastbourne won the National League Pairs scoring 21pts to beat Stoke 20pts and Peterborough 19pts and doubled that with the K.O cup by beating Mildenhall. Andrew Silver scored an unbeaten 15 point maximum to take the N.L Riders Final ahead of Nigel Crabtree 14pts, and David Blackburn 10pts

Denmark win the World Team Cup yet again, making it 5 in a row, and aso win the World Pairs for the third consecutive year. Like the World Final, the "Crazy" ideas affected the World Cup also, with the World Team Cup staged over three seperate meeting and the points totalled up.

In the W.T.Cup they scored 130 to beat England 101, USA 93 and Czechoslovakia 36, whilst in the pairs, they notched up 52 points to comfortably win from England (44), USA (36), New Zealand (36), Czechoslovakia (30), Australia (21), Finland (19), Italy (18) and Poland (14).

Gary Havelock was crowned European U21 Champion in Poland, he scored 13pts to beat P.Swist 11pts and S.Wilson 11pts. Karl Maier is crowned World Longtrack champion after the Final in West Germany. Runner up was Simon Wigg, Simon Cross was third and Martin Hagon fourth.

Coventry follow the trend of Oxford in the previous year and go through the league season unbeaten. They scored 52 pts, miles ahead of runners up C.Heath on 36pts and third placed Swindon's 33pts to win the B.L Championship title.

Having already won the N.L Pairs and K.O Cup, Eastbourne were crowned National League Champions topping the table with 44pts to beat Mildenhall 41pts and Milton Keynes 39pts - Exeter finishing 14th out of 16 teams.

Coventry took the League Cup beating B.Vue 84-72, whilst Cradley beat Coventry 94-86 to win the K.O Cup and deny Coventry the treble.

Pictured Left, the 1987 Double winning Coventry "Bees".

Mildenhall win the N.L Fours Final in a close fought battle scoring 31pts to beat runners up Arena-Essex by a single point. Third were Eeastbourne on 27 with luckless Wimbledon only managing 7.

Hans Nielsen (Oxford) topped the B.L averages in 1987, he ended on 11.53 ahead of Cradley's Erik Gundersen (10.50) and Coventry'e Tommy Knudsen