What initially looked like a very exciting season, soon turned into dissapointment for some hardened Exeter fans as the Exeter camp sell off one of the top Div 2 riders in the form of Steve Regeling, reject the opportunity to take Jasonl Crump on a 2 point average, and discard Tony Olsson, an imensley talented and popular rider who had broken the 13 year old track record on Monday May 4th, formerly held by Scott Autrey since 1979, lowering it to 66.1 seconds.

These were lean times for promoter Colin Hill who had teamed up with Roger Jones in an effort to keep Milton Keynes afloat, a move that was to end in failure, as well as add fuel to the debate regarding Exeter's future survival. M.Keynes closed in June having had their license suspended earlier due to the state of the track.

Richard Green, Peter Jeffery, Colin Cook and Mark simmonds were retained, and in came Tony Olsson to replace the transferred Steve Regeling whilst Paul Fry was bought outright. Justin Elkins also moved on from Exeter and so began an up and down season for the Falcons.

A supposedly running feud between Regeling and Green was the reason given for Regelings departure, and not happy with loaning riders, Crump was turned down, whilst spiralling costs and low crowds were to lead to Olsson becoming too expensive to retain.

A final signing was made in the form of Ian Humphreys, formerly with Weymouth, Hackney and Arena Essex and having sat out the 1991 season, whilst there was no place for Frank Smart who went out on loan to Milton Keynes. Peter Jeffery and Paul Fry were involved in a bad smash at Rye House that put Jeffery out for a short while.

Bank holiday Monday sees Exeter trounce Milton Keynes as Green scores a 15pt maximum and Fry, Cook and Olsson all grabbing paid maximums, and then a couple of weeks later and Exeter beat Mildenhall 71-19.

Then Olsson was left out of the team on a financial matter, and he was eventually to move to Ipswich after much protest from the Exeter supporters. Indeed, despite his early departure, he was still voted Rider of the Year by Exeter's supporters at the end of the season. When Olsson moved, Frank smart, who was benefiting from a spell at Milton keynes was brought in and showed good signs home and away.

But Frank was not on the level of Tony Olsson and the results, after a good start began to slip away and in August, Exeter found themselves on a string of seven consecutive defeats, three of those at the County Ground.

Exeter finished exactly halfway in the table in sixth place which all considered was not that bad a placement for the Falcons. Richard Green added some relief when he came very close to a rostrum place in the Division 2 Riders Championship but for a fall in his last heat.

Possibly hope for the future ? Exeter's reserve side won the Homefire Div 2 reserve league (South).

Elsewhere in 1992

First honours of 1992 went to Juri Ivanov who won the World Ice Final in Frankfurt. He finished on 28pts to beat Antonin Klatovsky 22pts and Stefan Svensson on 21pts.

Back at home, it was the Wolves who lifted the first trophy as they beat Bradford 96-84 on aggregate to win the Premiership trophy. Scott Smith (Cradley) was crowned British U21 Champion scoring 14pts to beat second placed Mark Loram (Kings Lynn) 13 and Joe Screen 12.

Gary Havelock is crowned British Champion in the final held at Coventry beating runner up Martin Dugard and third placed Andy Smith. Gary also went on to win the Overseas Final, scoring 13pts to beat second placed Mitch Shirra (12pts) and Kelvin Tatum (11pts)

Kelvin Tatum won the Commonwealth Final staged at K.Lynn, runner up was Mark Thorpe and third Gary Havelock.

The USA win the World team Cup. They score 39 points to beat Sweden (33) England (31) and Denmark (17). They then went on to pip England to win the World Pairs Final. Both teams had scored 23 points at the finish, but Greg Hancock beat Gary Havelock in the run off. Third place went to Sweden who scored 22pts.

Belle Vue (24pts) win the Div 1 Fours final from Ipswich (18pts) Oxford (18pts) and Swindon (12pts). In the Div 2 Fours Final, Peterborough (24pts) win from Edinburgh (23pts) Rye House (17pts) and Glasgow (8pts).

Wolves beat Reading to take the Div 1 Gold Cup, whilst Newcastle beat Stoke over both legs to take the Div 2 Gold Cup 104-75 on aggregate.

Gary Havelock was crowned World Champion, the first Englishman to win it since Michael Lee 12 years earlier. At the Final held in Wroclaw, Gary dropped a single point from his five rides to beat Per Jonsson (11) Gert Hanberg (10) and Henrik Gustafsson (9).

Leigh Adams won the world U21 Final, after a run off with Mark Loram, both having finished the night on 14 points apiece. Third place went to Joe Screen who scored 13 points. Pictured Right, the U21 trio with their trophies, all destined for greater things.

Marcel Gerhard (23pts) of Switzerland won the World Longtrack Final in Germany beating Mitch Shirra (21pts) Karl Maier(20pts) and Mark Loram (18pts). Robert Nagy (Glasgow) won the Div2 Riders Championship at Coventry, he beat Mick Poole in a run off after both had scored 13 points apiece. Third place went to Exeter's Richard Green on 11 ponts.

Joe Screen won the Div1 Riders Championship, he scored 14pts to beat Per Jonsson, Gary Havelock, Marvyn Cox, Leigh Adams and Simon Wigg who had all scored 11 points and finished a run off in that order.

Bradford win the Speedway Star KO Cup beating Reading 92-88 on aggregate, and Peterborough beat Rye House 99-81 in the Div 2 KO Cup. Reading gained some consolation winning the BSPA Cup beating Poole 92-88 on agg and also won the Div1 Championship ahead of Bradford and Poole. Peterborough were crowned Div 2 Champions ahead of Berwick and Glasgow.