1980 National League season
LeagueNational League
ChampionsRye House Rockets
No. of competitors20
Knockout CupBerwick Bandits
IndividualWayne Brown
PairsMiddlesbrough Tigers
FoursCrayford Kestrels
Highest averageDave Perks
Division/s above1980 British League

The 1980 National League was contested as the second division of Speedway in the United Kingdom.[1]

Summary

The league was increased from 19 teams to 20 from the previous season. Exeter Falcons dropped down from the British League to join the 19 incumbent sides.[2]

Rye House Rockets who had been pipped to the title in the previous season in the last meeting, won the title by just one point from Newcastle Diamonds to win their first National League title.[3][4] Rye House had managed to retain all of their top riders from the previous season and the solid performances of Bob Garrad, Karl Fiala, Kelvin Mullarkey and Kevin Smith for the second year running made up for the disappointment of 1979. Newcastle's second-place finish was remarkable bearing in mind that they had lost the league's leading rider Tom Owen to Hull Vikings in the highest division.[5] Despite signing 1979 Riders' champion Ian Gledhill, the defending champions Mildenhall suffered after losing Melvyn Taylor and Mick Hines to other teams.[5]

Final table

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Rye House Rockets 38 31 0 7 62
2 Newcastle Diamonds 38 30 1 7 61
3 Middlesbrough Tigers 38 27 2 9 56
4 Berwick Bandits 38 24 1 13 49
5 Edinburgh Monarchs 38 23 2 13 48
6 Boston Barracudas 38 23 2 13 48
7 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 38 21 2 15 44
8 Peterborough Panthers 38 21 0 17 42
9 Crayford Kestrels 37 20 1 16 41
10 Ellesmere Port Gunners 38 20 1 17 41
11 Glasgow Tigers 38 19 2 17 40
12 Exeter Falcons 38 17 1 20 35
13 Scunthorpe Stags 38 15 1 22 31
14 Nottingham Outlaws 38 14 2 22 30
15 Oxford Cheetahs 38 14 1 23 29
16 Stoke Potters 38 14 0 24 28
17 Weymouth Wildcats 37 13 1 23 27
18 Canterbury Crusaders 38 10 4 24 24
19 Milton Keynes Knights 38 8 2 28 18
20 Workington Comets 38 2 0 36 4
  • Crayford v Weymouth fixture was never ridden.

National League Knockout Cup

The 1980 National League Knockout Cup was the 13th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Berwick Bandits were the winners of the competition for the first time, having been runners-up three times in the previous four seasons.[6]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
03/05Berwick52-26Newcastle
28/04Newcastle41-37Berwick
25/05Mildenhall45-33Rye House
26/05Rye House44-34Mildenhall
04/05Boston54-24Stoke
05/05Stoke27-51Boston

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
07/06Berwick46-32Ellesmere Port
13/06Ellesmere Port42-36Berwick
23/05Edinburgh42-34Glasgow
25/05Glasgow40-37Edinburgh
01/06Mildenhall46-32Nottingham
18/06Nottingham37-41Mildenhall
07/06Canterbury44-33Milton Keynes
10/06Milton Keynes40-38Canterbury
19/06Middlesbrough51-27Scunthorpe
29/06Scunthorpe37-40Middlesbrough
05/06Oxford40-37Weymouth
27/06Weymouth40-38Oxford
08/06Boston59-19Workington
11/07Workington26-52Boston
13/06Peterborough42-25Crayford
22/07Crayford41-37Peterborough

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
20/07Berwick47-31Edinburgh
18/07Edinburgh39-39Berwick
23/07Mildenhall51-27Canterbury
26/07Canterbury44-34Mildenhall
24/07Middlesbrough45-33Oxford
06/08Oxford32-46Middlesbrough
31/08Boston50-27Peterborough
12/09Peterborough39-39Boston

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
06/09Berwick52-26Mildenhall
07/09Mildenhall41-37Berwick
18/09Middlesbrough54-24Boston
05/10Boston42-36Middlesbrough

Final

First leg

Middlesbrough Tigers
Brian Havelock 10
Mike Spink 10
Steve Wilcock 9
Mark Courtney 6
Geoff Pusey 4
Martin Dixon 3
John Clegg 0		42 – 36Berwick Bandits
Mike Fullerton 11
Steve McDermott 9
Brett Saunders 6
Mike Caroline 5
Rob Grant 3
Nigel Close 2
Wayne Brown R/R
[7]

Second leg

Berwick Bandits
Steve McDermott 15
Mike Fullerton 9
Nigel Close 8
Rob Grant 8
Brett Saunders 3
Mike Caroline 0
Wayne Brown R/R		43 – 34Middlesbrough Tigers
Mark Courtney 11
Steve Wilcock 9
Geoff Pusey 6
Martin Dixon 6
Mike Spink 2
John Clegg 0
Alan Armstrong 0
[7]

Berwick were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 79–76.

Riders' Championship

Wayne Brown won the Riders' Championship, sponsored by Toshiba and held at Wimbledon Stadium on 28 September 1980.[8]

Pos.RiderPtsTotal
1New Zealand Wayne Brown3 3 3 3 214
2England Martin Yeates2 1 3 3 312
3England Steve Finch2 2 2 3 312
4Australia Gary Guglielmi3 0 3 1 310
5England Paul Woods2 3 3 210
6Zimbabwe Mike Ferreira3 1 2 2 210
7England Mike Sampson3 2 2 2 110
8England Rob Maxfield0 3 0 2 38
9Australia Rod Hunter1 1 3 16
10England Kelvin Mullarkey1 2 1 1 16
11England Steve Wilcock2 0 0 2 15
12England Andy Hines1 1 2 1 05
13England Phil White1 0 1 1 25
14England Ray Bales3 1 04
15England Derek Harrison0 2 0 0 02
16England Graham Knowler1 0 0 01
17England Keith Yorke00
  • f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Pairs

The National League Pairs was held at The Shay on 19 July and was won by Middlesbrough Tigers.[9][10]

Semi finals

  • Middlesbrough bt Crayford
  • Boston bt Peterborough

Final

  • Middlesbrough bt Boston

Fours

Crayford Kestrels won the fours championship final, held at the East of England Arena on 27 July.[11][12]

Semi finals

  • SF1 = Crayford 17, Ellesmere Port 16, Berwick 8, Boston 7
  • SF2 = Rye House 18, Stoke 15, Glasgow 8, Oxford 7

Final

PosTeamPtsRiders
1Crayford Kestrels14Rumsey 7, Woods 4, Naylor 3, Sage 0, Etheridge 0
2Rye House Rockets13Garrad 4 Mullarkey 4, Smith 3, Pullen 2, Fiala 0
3Ellesmere Port Gunners12Carr L 5, Jackson 3, Carr P 2, Finch 2, Ellams 0
4Stoke Potters9Burton 6, Sawyer 2, Boyle 1, Stead 0, Evitts 0

Leading final averages

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Dave Perks England Oxford Cheetahs 10.82
2 Paul Woods England Crayford Kestrels 10.47
3 Mike Ferreira Zimbabwe Canterbury Crusaders 10.32
4 Steve Wilcock England Middlesbrough Tigers 10.28
5 Steve Lawson England Glasgow Tigers 10.17

Riders & final averages

Berwick

Boston

  • David Gagen 9.80
  • Gary Guglielmi 9.33
  • Rob Hollingworth 8.57
  • Steve Lomas 8.10
  • Dennis Mallett 7.09
  • Chris Turner 6.87
  • Tony Featherstone 6.19
  • Michael Holding 4.52
  • Ian Turner 4.49
  • Mike Spinks 4.04
  • Chris Cole 2.24

Canterbury

Crayford

Edinburgh

Ellesmere Port

Exeter

  • Rob Maxfield 9.09
  • Nigel Boocock 8.64
  • John Barker 8.50
  • Martin Hewlett 6.39
  • John Williams 6.26
  • Arnold Haley 5.83
  • Tony Garard 5.76
  • Dave Brewer 4.17
  • Tony Sanford 3.92
  • Phil Vance 1.78

Glasgow

Middlesbrough

Mildenhall

Milton Keynes

  • Bob Humphreys 8.81
  • Graham Plant 6.34
  • Nigel Sparshott 6.06
  • Andy Hibbs 5.96
  • Bert Harkins 5.86
  • Mick Blaynee 5.66
  • Barry Allaway 4.63
  • Nigel Davis 4.39
  • Graham Clifton 3.56
  • Robbie Vigus 3.79
  • Steve Payne 2.17

Newcastle

Nottingham

  • Mike Sampson 9.88
  • Ivan Blacka 7.85
  • Glenn MacDonald 7.56
  • Craig Featherby 7.45
  • Mark Collins 5.37
  • Arthur Price 4.84
  • Steve Sant 3.62
  • Mark Williams 3.60
  • Pete Bacon 3.43
  • John Homer 2.98

Oxford

Peterborough

  • Andy Hines 8.81
  • Nigel Flatman 8.73
  • Richard Greer 8.19
  • Mick Hines 7.66
  • Adrian Pepper 4.59
  • Andy Fisher 4.57
  • Nigel Couzens 4.41
  • Andy Buck 4.32
  • Ian Barney 1.58

Rye House

Scunthorpe

  • Phil White 9.07
  • Arthur Browning 8.59
  • Nicky Allott 7.08
  • Kevin Teager 5.31
  • Rob Woffinden 4.03
  • John Priest 4.00
  • Ian Jeffcoate 3.94
  • Ian Westwell 3.88
  • Graham Mortimer 2.96

Stoke

  • Billy Burton 8.02
  • Tony Boyle 7.26
  • Paul Stead 6.47
  • Les Sawyer 5.99
  • Alan MacLean 5.70
  • Neil Evitts 4.78
  • Ian Robertson 4.64
  • Rod North 4.58
  • Mike Wilding 3.86
  • Rob Lightfoot 3.34

Weymouth

  • Martin Yeates 9.30
  • Brian Woodward 7.68
  • Simon Wigg 6.60
  • Bob Coles 6.25
  • Chris Pusey 5.94
  • Malcolm Corradine 5.50
  • Mark DeKok 4.93
  • Terry Tulloch 4.22
  • Geoff Swindells 2.78

Workington

  • Ian Hindle 6.65
  • Ian Robertson 5.16
  • Steve Regeling 4.51
  • Des Wilson 4.51
  • Wayne Jackson 4.43
  • Mark Dickinson 4.06
  • Terry Kelly 3.68
  • Chris Roynon 3.50
  • Kevin Clapham 3.45
  • Andy Margarson 2.76

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ↑ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  3. ↑ Oakes, Peter (1981). Daily Mirror 1981 Speedway Yearbook, pages 101. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  4. ↑ "About - Exeter Speedway 1980". Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Teams". wwosbackup. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  6. ↑ "1980 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  7. 1 2 "1980 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  8. ↑ "Brown the King". Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 1 October 1979. Retrieved 20 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ↑ "1980 season results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  10. ↑ "Tigers pairs champs". Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 20 July 1980. Retrieved 22 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. ↑ "Speedway". Daily Mirror. 28 July 1980. Retrieved 10 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. ↑ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 69. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.