Following their victory in the League in 1975, Ipswich fans eagerly awaited the commencement of the 1976 season. Back for another year were heat leaders John Louis, Billy Sanders and Tony Davey.

In the Knockout Cup competition, Ipswich defeated Cradley United, Swindon, and then Belle Vue in the Semi-Final to reach the Final. The Knockout Cup went to the Ipswich Witches in 1976 with the club's 91-63 victory over King's Lynn in the Final.Over the two legs in the Final, Sanders scored 16 points.

 

     In what turned out to be an historic year for the Witches, the club also won the League finishing with 55 points, seven ahead of second placegetter Belle Vue.

1976 was John Louis' seventh consecutive season wearing the Ipswich race jacket and he topped the club's averages for League and Cup matches in all but the first of those seven years. His 1976 figure was 11.08. For the third consecutive season, Sanders finished second to Louis. In 1976, Sanders' average for League and Cup matches was 9.44.

 

     The staging of the Semi-Final of the British League Pairs Championship at Hackney saw the Ipswich pairing of John Louis and Billy Sanders victorious with a score of 24 points. Louis scored 13 and Sanders 11. Ipswich and Belle Vue had both finished on 24 points and a run-off between Louis and Belle Vue's Chris Morton decided the match.

The Ipswich pair had the advantage of the Final being staged at Foxhall Stadium. Louis (12 points) and Sanders (10) brought more glory to Ipswich when they became the 1976 British League Pairs Champions. This Final was a thrilling spectacle as three of the other six competing pairs all finished just one point behind Ipswich. These were the riders who appeared in those three pairs....Ole Olsen and Mitch Shirra for Coventry, Peter Collins and Chris Morton for Belle Vue, and John Boulger and Bruce Cribb for Cradley United. What an array of stars there was on parade at Foxhall Stadium for the Pairs Championship Final.

 

     In the 1976 Grand Prix competition, Sanders won the round staged at Ipswich. 

A victory over John Louis and Peter Collins on his home track saw Sanders win the 1976 Golden Sovereign meeting. He became the fourth rider to win this event and joined the impressive list of previous winners......Ole Olsen, Peter Collins and John Louis.

 

     For the second successive year, Sanders appeared in the Inter-Continental Final. He finished with 7 points at Wembley.

 

     Sanders also made the most of his home track advantage when the British Qualifying Round of the 1976 World Team Championship was staged at Foxhall Heath.He scored a 12 point maximum and so played an important role in Australia's qualification for the country's first appearance in a World Team Championship Final.

The Final was staged at London's White City Stadium with the nations competing being Australia, Poland, Sweden and the U.S.S.R. The Australian team at White City was John Boulger, Phil Crump, Phil Herne, Billy Sanders, and Garry Middleton at reserve.

The Australians raced to victory scoring 31 points of which Sanders contributed 7. A Gold F.I.M. medal for Sanders.

 

     Australia also made the World Pairs Final in Sweden at Eskilstuna in 1976 where Phil Crump ( 10 points) and Billy Sanders ( 6 points) finished in fourth place in the field of seven.

 

     1976 was a memorable year for Ipswich supporters with the club winning the League, the Knockout Cup and the British League Pairs Championship. As for Sanders, he had played a major role in all these three victories, had recorded his third consecutive average in excess of 9 points for League and Cup competition, and had also competed in the Finals of two World Championship events winning a Gold Medal. Billy Sanders had shown he could compete at the very highest level of speedway competition.

 

     During the 1976/77 Australian season, Sanders won his first New South Wales State Championship. The meeting was staged on January 29th. at the Sydney Showground. The Championship wasn't decided on points but as the result of a Final. Sanders won from two visitors, Kristian Praestbro from Denmark and Nigel Boocock from England.

The Brisbane Exhibition Ground was the venue for the staging of the Australian Championship on January 22nd.  Home town favourite John Titman was the victor on the night scoring a 15 point maximum. Phil Crump finished second scoring 13 points and Sanders finished third with 12 points.

 

 

     Billy Sanders returned to Britain in 1977 for his sixth consecutive season with the Witches. All three Heat Leaders from the successful 1976 side were again in the lineup. After experiencing victory in the 1976 Knockout Cup, it was a major disappointment to team management and supporters when Ipswich was bundled out of the 1977 Knockout Cup in the first round. Belle Vue was successful in both legs winning 99-57.

In the League competition, Ipswich couldn't repeat their 1976 success and finished fourth on the Table but only four points behind the winners, White City.

After finishing second to John Louis in the club's League and Cup averages the three previous seasons, Sanders relegated Louis to second place in 1977. Sanders recorded the superb figure of 10.18 for his 37 League and Cup matches.

During these 37 matches, Sanders recorded 8 full and 3 paid maximum scores. John Louis' 1977 average was 9.50.

 

     Sanders' record for League matches alone was even better,10.39. Michael Lee from King's Lynn headed the season's British League averages with 10.64. Sanders finished in fifth place. The other three riders to finish in front of him were Ivan Mauger, Peter Collins and Gordon Kennett.

Both Louis and Sanders were almost unbeatable around Foxhall during the 1977 season.

 

                 

     The 1977 British League Riders' Championship meeting staged at Belle Vue was a nightmare for Sanders who was making his first appearance in this prestigious event. He scored just one point.

 

     In the British League Pairs Championship Semi-Final at Hackney, Louis and Sanders finished second behind White City's Gordon Kennett and Steve Weatherley. Louis scored 14 points and Sanders 10. 

In the Final of this competition at Foxhall Heath, the Ipswich pair made use of their home-track experience to win the competition for the second year running. Sanders scored 14 points and Louis 12.

 

     Ipswich hadn't reached the Semi-Finals of the Inter League Knockout Cup in either of the first two years this tournament had been staged. In 1977, the Witches recorded a one point victory over Belle Vue in the Semi-Final to set up a meeting with Cradley Heath in the Final. Ipswich won the Final 81-75 with Sanders contributing a total of 21 points for the Witches over the two legs.

 

     Phil Crump was the winter holder of the Golden Helmet Match Race Championship and successfully defended his Title on three occasions at the commencement of the 1977 season. At his fourth defence, Billy Sanders took the Title from Crump four races to nil, recording 2-0 victories at both the Bristol and Ipswich venues. Sanders was beaten by Gordon Kennett at his second defence of the Crown.

 

     Billy Sanders had some good results in Individual meetings during 1977. He finished third to Ole Olsen and Michael Lee in the British Superstars Trophy meeting at Ipswich, second to Malcolm Simmons in the Supporters Club Trophy at King's Lynn, and won both the Daily Express Spring Classic at Wimbledon ( from Peter Collins and Dave Jessup) and the Olympique at Wolverhampton (beating Gordon Kennett and Dave Jessup).

 

     A series of matches between England and a combined Rest of the World side was staged during the season. The Rest of the World won by three matches to two with the final match of the series being cancelled due to the condition of the Bristol track. In the five matches, Sanders recorded the scores of 13, 11, 11, 13 and 9. That is a magnificent total of 57 points racing against riders of the calibre of John Louis, Peter Collins, Michael Lee, Dave Jessup, Gordon Kennett and Malcolm Simmons.

 

     The 1977 Inter-Continental Final was staged at White City Stadium. Peter Collins was the winner recording a 15 point maximum.

Ole Olsen was second on 13 points and Billy Sanders finished third with 12 points. This was a fine achievement from Sanders considering Peter Collins and Ole Olsen had won the previous two World Finals. Sanders had qualified for his first World Individual Final.

 

     The 1977 World Individual Final was staged at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. A crowd in the vicinity of 35,000 was present to witness a meeting remembered for the heavy rain which ruined the spectacle of the final two rounds of heats.

Twenty-one year old Sanders' first race in his debut World Individual Final was in Heat 3 and what a tough pair he met. Denmark's Ole Olsen had won this Championship on two previous occasions and Sweden's Bernt Persson had finished second in the 1972 World Final having been defeated by Ivan Mauger in a Championship-deciding run-off.... one would hardly say that Sanders' task in his first race would be an easy one !!!!

When the tapes rose, a rider shot to the lead and wasn't headed. That rider was Billy Sanders...he is on record as having won his very first race in his debut World Individual Final. Olsen finished second, Persson third and Jan Mucha from Poland finished fourth.

 

     Sanders' second appearance was in Heat 7. His opposition was four time winner of the Title, Ivan Mauger (he had won his first heat), Denmark's Finn Thomsen (he had finished second in his first heat) and Czech rider Jiri Stancl (he had a fourth placing in his first heat). Thomsen led early from Sanders, Mauger and Stancl. The order remained unchanged until the final lap when Mauger passed Sanders relegating the Australian to third place. That is the order in which the riders finished....Thomsen, Mauger, Sanders, Stancl. 

With two rounds of heats completed, Peter Collins remained unbeaten on 6 points, five riders were on 5 points, and one rider (Sanders) was next with 4 points.

 

     Heat 9 saw Sanders' next appearance on the track. His opposition, and the points each had on the scorechart, was England's Michael Lee (5), Germany's Egon Muller (5), and Poland's Edward Jancarz (2). Sanders made another lightening start to take the lead, a position he held until passed by Lee on the second lap. The finishing order...Lee first, Sanders second, Jancarz third, and Muller fourth.

At the completion of three rounds of heats, four riders were on 8 points (Mauger, Collins, Olsen and Lee). Then followed two riders on 6 points, Sanders and Thomsen. Sanders was enjoying a fine debut in this competition.

 

     This is the stage of the meeting at which heavy rain made the track almost un-rideable. Unfortunately, one of the riders most effected by the conditions was Sanders. Having recorded a win, a second placing and a third from his first three heats, Sanders failed to add a further point from his remaining two rides.

In Heat 14, he finished last behind Bengt Jansson from Sweden, Australia's John Boulger, and Czech rider Jan Verner.

Sanders' final appearance was in Heat 20. In what were now atrocious conditions, two riders retired from this race on the first lap. Sanders was one of them.

Ivan Mauger was crowned 1977 World Champion with a score of 14 points. Peter Collins (13 points) was second, Ole Olsen (12 points) finished third and Michael Lee (also 12 points) was fourth.

Sanders finished with 6 points in ninth position. It is pointless to speculate what the result of Sanders' final two heats might have been if the heavy rain hadn't effected the track. I will make one observation, however, in his first three heats Sanders had already met four of the riders who finished in the top five places on the night and had dropped just three points in doing so.

 

     For the fourth consecutive year, Australia qualified for the World Pairs Final. At Belle Vue, Australia finished last in the field of seven with Phil Crump scoring 10 points and Sanders 2. Sanders' meeting was ruined by persistent mechanical problems.

 

     1977 hadn't seen a repeat of the glory of 1976 for the Ipswich management and fans. However the club did enjoy success in the League Pairs Championship and the Inter League Knockout Cup.

For Sanders, his 1977 season was one to remember. He had topped his club's averages for the first time, had finished with the fifth highest League average of the season , he had been a part of the League Pairs and Inter League Knockout Cup successes, had scored well for the Rest of the World, had held the Golden Helmet Match Race Title, had finished third in the Inter-Continental Final, and had also appeared in the Finals of two World Championship events.

 

 

     Sanders made it back-to-back victories when he was successful in the 1978 New South Wales Championship staged at the  Sydney Showground. What a pair of classy riders he defeated to win that night, Les Collins from England and Bernt Persson from Sweden. Sanders dropped just a single point to finish on 14. Collins finished with 13 and Persson 12.

 

     The big and fast Claremont circuit in Perth was the venue for the staging of the 1978 Australian Title. Sanders had appeared on the presentation dais on three previous occasions following the running of his nation's Championship. He had recorded third placings in 1973, 1976 and 1977. Billy Sanders ( 14 points) won his first Australian Championship in 1978 dropping just a single point.

 

     An English Lions touring party visited Australia from the end of December to the end of February for a seven Test series.

Sanders was absent from the Australian team for the first two Test matches (which England won) as he was in dispute with officialdom concerning pay rates. However he did appear in the final five Tests of the series and what a marvelous five matches they were for him. His scores were 17 in the Third Test in Brisbane (top scorer on the night), 15 in Sydney (again top scorer on the night), 14 in Adelaide (equal top scorer on the night with John Boulger), 13 in Sydney (equal top scorer for Australia with John Titman) and 10 in Perth. That's 69 points in five Test matches for Sanders.

The English Lions won the Series 5-2.

Sanders also rode in two other non-Test matches against the tourists. He was top scorer for New South Wales in Sydney with 11 points (13 heat format) and he scored another 11 points for a Phil Crump Select side at Mildura (18 heat format). England won the first match but was defeated at Mildura.

 

 

 

     In 1978, Sanders returned to Ipswich for his seventh consecutive season. The club dropped two places to finish sixth of nineteen in the League.

In the Knockout Cup competition, Ipswich disposed of Wolverhampton and White City to reach the Semi-Finals.

Following a four point win over Cradley Heath, Ipswich lined up against Belle Vue in the Final. The first leg at Belle Vue finished in a 39-39 draw with Sanders scoring 4 points. The home leg resulted in a resounding 53-25 victory for Ipswich. Sanders contributed 9 points. For the second time in three years, Ipswich won the Knockout Cup.

 

     During the 1978 season, Sanders appeared in 38 League and Cup matches for Ipswich and scored 380 points and 10 bonus points. His average for these 38 matches was 9.93, and he topped the Ipswich averages for the second year running. He registered 10 full and 3 paid maximum scores. 

From his 32 League matches alone, Sanders recorded an ever higher average, 10.23, to finish in eighth place on that season's British League averages list.  

During the 1978 season, Billy Sanders wore the Ipswich No.1 race jacket for the first time, having taken over that spot from John Louis who moved to No.5.

The 1978 British League Riders' Championship at Belle Vue was won by Ole Olsen with 13 points. Sanders rode in the event scoring 9 points.

 

     As for Individual meetings during 1978, Sanders won the Golden Sovereign meeting at Ipswich beating John Louis and Kevin Jolly, finished second to John Davis in the Manpower Trophy event at Reading (Peter Collins was third), and finished third behind John Davis and Gordon Kennett in the Daily Mirror Golden Jubilee Trophy meeting at Eastbourne.

 

     Australasia won a five match series against England 3-2. Sanders rode in all five Test Matches and was the top pointscorer for Australasia for the series. His scores were 10, 11 (equal top pointscorer for his side),14 (again equal top scorer for Australasia), 15, and 12 (once more equal top scorer for his side). 62 points from Sanders over the five match Test Series, a superb performance.

 

     The 1978 season produced one highlight for Ipswich, victory in the Knockout Cup. For Sanders, the season was a successful one but he would have been disappointed at not making any of the Finals of World Championship events. An average of just below 10 in League and Cup competition, a 10.23 British League average, victory in the Knockout Cup, winning the Golden Sovereign meeting, and top-scoring for Australasia in the Test Series were all fine achievements.

 

 

 

     Australia hosted a touring English side for a series of 7 Test Matches during the 1978/1979 season. Australia was out-ridden during the Series losing all 7 encounters. Sanders rode for Australia in all Tests top-scoring for his country in 5 of them. In what was a superb personal achievement, Sanders' scores were 9, 13, 16, 15, 16, 13 and 4.....86 points in 7 Tests.

 

     Billy Sanders won his third consecutive New South Wales Championship becoming only the second rider to do so. The great Jim Airey was the other. The 1979 Title was rather unique in that it was decided over two meetings, the first at Liverpool and the second a week later at the Sydney Showground. Riders' scores from the two meetings were added to give a final points tally.

The Liverpool meeting was staged in the wet and Sanders dropped just one point at this venue. The rider to defeat him was Gary Guglielmi.

As for the Showground, Sanders went through the meeting unbeaten. His total of 29 points over the two meetings won him the Title. The next highest scorers were Ricky Day and Phil Herne who each finished with 23 points. Sanders had dropped just one point in 10 races.

 

     The final qualifying meeting held during this season for Australian and New Zealand riders vying for places in the 1979 World Final was the Australasian Final. This event had been introduced as a World Final qualifying round for the first time in 1976. The three riders to win the Australasian Final in the years since its introduction were John Boulger in 1976, Ivan Mauger in 1977 and Mitch Shirra in 1978. Sanders had appeared on the rostrum once, in 1976 when he finished second.

 

     The 1979 Australasian Final was staged at Rowley Park in South Australia on February 23. In his first heat that night, Sanders led home the New Zealand pair Mitch Shirra and Ivan Mauger. Phil Crump relegated Sanders into second place in his second heat and Gary Guglielmi did likewise to Sanders in his third heat. At the conclusion of three rounds of heats that night, only one rider remained undefeated, Queensland's Steve Koppe. Sanders was up against both Koppe and John Titman in his fourth heat. Sanders won from Titman and Koppe. With one round of heats remaining, three riders headed the scorechart with 10 points, Sanders, Koppe and Crump. On 9 points was John Titman..... the Championship was far from over. Sanders won Heat 18 to finish on 13 points. In the final heat (Heat 20), Gary Guglielmi beat both Koppe and Crump to end their chances of a run-off against Sanders for the Championship.

Billy Sanders was Australasian Champion. The second and third placegetters on the night were both Queenslanders, Steve Koppe (12 points)  and John Titman (11 points).Titman had defeated Phil Crump and Ivan Mauger in a run-off for third place. What an extraordinary array of talent was present to do battle that night at Rowley Park. Three others who rode that night were John Boulger, Danny Kennedy and New Zealander Larry Ross.

 

     Sanders made an interesting admission following the staging of this Championship. He said he had come close to quitting speedway after a wretched run of accidents and injury during January. If he had not performed up to his own expectations at Rowley Park that night, there was a possibility he would have been lost to world speedway.

 

      When Sanders departed for England for the 1979 season, he was still in World Final contention as the first six finishers in the Australasian Final progressed to the next World Championship qualifying round to be staged in England.