Colin Hill was given the "Promoter of the Year" award at the AGM the previous winter, and all the troubled waters of 1987 seemed to have passed under the Exeter bridge, but the tide of bad luck was once again about to hit the County Ground.

The Falcons management vowed to strengthen the side, and in a winter of change Hill and John Brooks signed veteran National League campaigner Dave Trownson from Edinburgh. Soon after they captured ex Birmingham rider Paul Evitts from the defunct Canterbury camp, hoping he would regain his old form.

But they had to release the bright spark of the previous year David Smart. Parent club Swindon wanted him back to complete a swap deal in which Andrew Silver would go to the Wiltshire club and Smart return to Arena-Essex. Then Michael Coles was surprisingly snapped up by Mildenhall.

It left the Devon side with a solid looking line-up, but one which would take a while to get used to the County Ground circuit. The season had hardly got underway when popular captain Colin Cook broke his ankle and the Falcons were left a little vulnerable. Poole exploited those weaknesses in the Easter Trophy, winning the second leg at Exeter by 18 points. In those two meetings new signings Trownson and Evitts were far from effective and it was obvious that the team needed strengthening.

TEAM PIC: (L to R) Steve Regelin, Peter Jefferey, Richard Green, John Brooks, Colin Cook, Rob Fortune, Andy Sell and Alan Rivett.

A fortnight after the Poole meetings, the Falcons, with their original septet and Cook making a premature but short-lived comeback, amazingly pushed eventual League Champions Hackney to a last heat decider. Exeter led the East Londoners by two points going into the final heat but a 5-1 from the Kestrels denied the Falcons their first league points of the season. But after that promising result Cook declared himself unfit and Mildenhall came to the County Ground in a mean mood and crushed the Falcons 64-32.

However, something good did come out of that thrashing because a young stop gap by the name of Peter Jeffery was thrown in at reserve. The youngster didn't miss a league meeting after that and breathed new life into the Devon side. "Peter came on leaps and bounds and was a joy to watch everywhere. He just put 100 per cent in every race and lap," said Hill. "After Peter came in and gave us extra strength at reserve it was just a matter of praying someone else would become available, and that's when Richard Green came into it.

"He hadn't turned a wheel in 1988 after Mildenhall had left him out in the cold so he was delighted when we came in for him and jumped at the chance of riding for us." Green was an instant hit with the County Ground faithful and started his Exeter career in mid May at Eastbourne in the K.O Cup, scoring three. A day later he made a remarkable Devon debut against Eastbourne with paid 15. The former Fen Tiger's form over-shadowed the Falcons K.O Cup exit at the hands of the holders, with a crushing first leg defeat at Arlington by 66-29 and a four-point reverse at the County Ground. Green's inclusion marked the end of Evitts' career in Devon. He only showed glimpses of his old slick-starting self and had his best meeting with paid 11 against Hackney.

Things were beginning to brighten up with Green and Jeffery on the scene, even though they suffered big league defeats at Arena- Essex and Mildenhall. Bruce Cribb decided after the meeting at Arena, and in mutual agreement with the Exeter management, that he should take a month's break from racing in view of his fitness and form. That was to be the end of his conventional speedway career and it hit the Falcons like a bolt out of the blue. It meant that Hill and Brooks had to find another rider to replace Cribb but the remaining Falcons rallied and coped remarkably well in his absence.

In the first meeting at the County Ground without Cribb, the Devon side picked up their initial league points of the season with an eight point victory over Rye House. They came back down to earth with a bump when the following week Wimbledon ran riot winning 56-40, and they seemed back to square one. The Falcons never really got to grips with their National League Fours group against Poole, Wimbledon and Eastbourne and went out of the competition, only mustering 46 points from the four legs. At the County Ground in the second leg Exeter managed to finish third, above Wimbledon, but that was the best they could do, ending up last in the other three meetings.

Returning to league action, the Devon side got another two league points under their belts with their biggest win of the season beating Milton Keynes 57-39, and that was followed by another home win over Peterborough. The Panthers, traditional County Ground favourites, went down by eight points and the Falcons had reached another milestone. But they were hit by an even bigger blow this time.

Trownson had just begun to shine around the Devon bowl and had helped the Falcons build up a reasonable lead against the East Anglian side when he tangled with team-mate Cook, crashed awkwardly and broke his thigh. It was at this point in time that John Brooks persuaded Steve Regeling, who was having a bad time in the British League, to come and join Exeter.

He made an enormous difference to the whole team set-up and his experience helped the lesser lads in the team. Steve also gave Exeter that extra top end strength. Exeter were to suffer further set backs in the team as skipper Colin Cook never really recovered from several nasty knocks and his crash with Trownson was beginning to take its toll. He missed a handful of matches towards the end of the season but the Falcons managed to hang on to their home league unbeaten record since Wimbledon's success there in late May.

The Falcons had two more impressive home victories in August over Eastbourne and Poole, and Cook was missing from the line-up against the Eagles. Beating Poole was especially rewarding as the Pirates were in the top three, but what was becoming a little predictable at Exeter, was their continuing disastrous away form, and 1988 was no exception with another pointless away record.

Both Richard Green and Steve Regeling were very much loved by the Exeter fans. Green's "never-say-die" attitude injected enthusiasm into the rest of the riders and he was a good influence. The crowd loved his all action style and he took to the County Ground like a duck to water.

The same could be said about Regalin who came to Exeter at a despondent time having been going through a rough time with Ipswich in the British League and he needed somewhere he could regain his confidence and at Exeter he certainly did that. He was a prime target to buy outright during this winter if negotiations with King's Lynn went smoothly. He was a team man through and through and every team needed a rider like him.

Alan Rivett had bounced onto the National League scene in recent years. But 1988 was not one of his most impressive, although he had a good World Pairs Final appearance. Colin Cook performed the way Exeter had expected, but he would have been a lot better if he had avoided injuries.

One of the highlights of 1988 will be the emergence of Peter Jeffery. He had a few opportunities in the past, but this year he really took off. Hill even rated Peter as a future England prospect, and had only been brought into the team to plug a gap.

Elsewhere in 1988

The season began with N.L side Newcastle shutting its doors on speedway just a week before they were due to begin their season, whilst Belle Vue had switched from their old track at Hyde Road to the new Greyhound Stadium.

Mark Loram stormed to a faultless maximum in the British U21 Final staged at Eastbourne. Andy Philips dropped just one point to secure runners up position and third was Martin Dugard who scored 13pts. In the World U21's Final staged in Czechoslovakia, it was P.Nahlin of Sweden who triumphed finishing on 14pts to beat H.Gustaffass (Sweden) with 11pts and B.Karger (Denmark) also on 11pts.

Simon Wigg (Pictured Left) was crowned British Champion, dropping just a single point at Brandon. He scored 14 pts to beat Kelvin tatum (13pts) and Chris Morton (11pts). Kelvin however went on to win the Commonwealth Final, he scored 14pts to beat second placed Mitch Shirra on 13pts with Simon Wigg third on 12pts.

It was Simon Cross (13pts) who took the Overseas Final beating Kelvin tatum (13pts) and Simon Wigg (13pts) after a run off for final placings. Jan pedersen took the Inter Continental Final, he scored 14pts to beat Hans Nielsen 12pts and Erik Gundersen also ending on 12pts.

But it was to be Erik Gundersen who won his third World title staged in Vojens. He beat Hans Nielsen in a run off after both riders had finished on 14pts. Third place went to Jan pedersen (13pts) with Sam Ermolenko fourth on 12pts.

Peterborough won the N.L Fours Final scoring 14pts to beat Mildenhall 13pts, Eastbourne 13pts and Poole 8pts. meanwhile, the Stoke pairing of G.Jones and S.Bastable won the N.L Pairs title beating the Poole pairing of S.Schofield and D.Biles.

Jan O Pedersen wons the B.L Riders Championship. he scored 14pts to beat Erik Gundersen on 13pts and third placed Hans Nielsen with 12pts. In the N.L Riders Championship, Troy Butler scored a faultless 15pts to beat Mark Loram (11pts) and Kenny McKinna (1pts1).

Denmark win the World Team Cup staged in Los Angeles and make it an incredible six in a row scoring 44pts to beat Runners up USA on 32pts, Sweden 22pts and England 22pts. They also win the World Pairs title for the fourth year in a row. Hans Nielsen and Erik Gundersen score 45pts to beat Englands Kelvin tatum and Simon Cross (41) and Americans Shawn Moran and Sam Ermolenko who scored 39pts. Behind these came N.Zealand (32), Sweden (29), Hungary (25) Itlay (21), West Germany (21) and Poland (17).

Karl Maier held onto his World Longtrack crown in West Germany. He scored 42pts to beat K.Lausch (32) and Chris Morton (31).

Cradley beat Coventry (for the second season on the trot) 100-80 to win the K.O Cup, whilst Hackney beat Wimbledon 110-82 to take the N.L KO Cup.

Coventry won the B.L Championship title scoring 82pts ahead of B.Vue on 66pts and C.Heath finishing third with 60pts. In the National League, Hackney totalled 54pts to win the title from runners up Poole on 41pts with Eastbourne third on 36pts.

Coventry Picture: Back Row, (L to R) Neville Tatum, Kelvin Tatum, Rick Miller, David Clarke Front Row, Tommy Nudsen, John Jorgensen, Andy Hackett

Topping the B.L Averages in 1988 was Kelvin Tatum (Coventry) on 10.73 ahead of Hans Nielsen (Oxford) on 10.10 and T.Knudsen on 9.98 whilst in the N.L, M.Courtney (Berwick) topped the chart on 11.00 ahead of M.Taylor (Mildenhall) 10.91 and M.Loram (Hackney) 10.75