1983 National League season
LeagueNational League
ChampionsNewcastle Diamonds
No. of competitors18
Knockout CupExeter Falcons
IndividualSteve McDermott
PairsWeymouth Wildcats
FoursNewcastle Diamonds
Highest averageJoe Owen
Division/s above1983 British League

The 1983 National League was the second tier of motorcycle speedway racing in the United Kingdom.[1]

Summary

The winning team was Newcastle Diamonds.[2][3][4]

After the tragedy of losing a rider the previous season Milton Keynes endured a second loss when their rider Craig Featherby was killed in a crash at Peterborough in a National League match on 16 September. Featherby hit a lamp standard after being thrown from the bike.[5]

Final table

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Newcastle Diamonds 34 25 1 8 51
2 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 34 23 2 9 48
3 Crayford Kestrels 34 23 0 11 46
4 Weymouth Wildcats 34 19 2 13 40
5 Scunthorpe Stags 34 19 2 13 40
6 Milton Keynes Knights 34 19 1 14 39
7 Middlesbrough Tigers 34 18 3 13 39
8 Berwick Bandits 34 17 0 17 34
9 Edinburgh Monarchs 34 16 1 17 33
10 Exeter Falcons 34 16 0 18 32
11 Rye House Rockets 34 15 1 18 31
12 Peterborough Panthers 34 14 2 18 30
13 Glasgow Tigers 34 14 1 19 29
14 Oxford Cheetahs 34 14 1 19 29
15 Canterbury Crusaders 34 12 2 20 26
16 Boston Barracudas 34 12 1 21 25
17 Stoke Potters 34 10 1 23 21
18 Long Eaton Invaders 34 9 1 24 19

Top Five Riders (League Averages)

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Joe Owen England Newcastle 11.18
2 Martin Yeates England Weymouth 10.41
3 Rod Hunter Australia Newcastle 10.39
4 Bobby Beaton Scotland Newcastle 10.12
5 Jim McMillan Scotland Glasgow 10.03

National League Knockout Cup

The 1983 National League Knockout Cup was the 16th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Exeter Falcons were the winners of the competition.[6][7]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
19/04Crayford45-50Mildenhall
17/04Mildenhall55-41Crayford
01/04Oxford51-45Milton Keynes
29/03Milton Keynes47-49Oxford

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
22/06Long Eaton58-38Berwick
09/06Oxford45-51Rye House
05/06Berwick61-35Long Eaton
27/05Peterborough57-39Mildenhall
25/05Mildenhall58-38Peterborough
23/05Newcastle61-35Scunthorpe
22/05Rye House51-45Oxford
22/05Scunthorpe43-53Newcastle
20/05Edinburgh50-46Middlesbrough
30/04Canterbury45-51Exeter
24/04Boston45-51Weymouth
22/04Glasgow62-34Stoke
19/04Weymouth58-38Boston
16/04Stoke55-41Glasgow
14/04Middlesbrough55-41Edinburgh
11/04Exeter70-26Canterbury

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
15/08Exeter64-32Rye House
14/08Rye House55-41Exeter
23/07Berwick45-50Newcastle
19/07Weymouth65-31Glasgow
03/07Mildenhall67-25Middlesbrough
27/06Newcastle53-42Berwick
11/06Glasgow41-54Weymouth
09/06Middlesbrough47-49Mildenhall

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
02/10Mildenhall66-30Exeter
12/09Exeter74-21Mildenhall
12/09Newcastle54-42Weymouth
02/08Weymouth55-41Newcastle

Final

First leg

Exeter Falcons
Kevin Price 10
Rob Maxfield 9
Keith Millard 9
Steve Bishop 8
Rob Ashton 7
Bob Coles 6
Alun Rossiter 3		52 – 43Weymouth Wildcats
Martin Yeates 13
Steve Schofield 10
Simon Cross 9
Stan Bear 9
Gordon Humphreys 1
Chris Martin 1
David Biles 0
[8]

Second leg

Weymouth Wildcats
Steve Schofield 15
Martin Yeates 12
Simon Cross 11
Stan Bear 6
Gordon Humphreys 3
David Biles 3
Chris Martin 2		52 – 44Exeter Falcons
Rob Ashton 10
Alun Rossiter 10
Keith Millard 9
Bob Coles 7
Rob Maxfield 5
Kevin Price 2
Steve Bishop 1
[8]

Exeter were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 96–95.

Riders' Championship

Steve McDermott won the Riders' Championship, sponsored by the FSO Cars and held at Wimbledon Stadium on 24 September 1983.[9]

Pos.RiderPtsTotal
1England Steve McDermott3 2 3 3 213+3
2England Richard Knight2 3 3 2 313+2
3England Martin Yeates3 2 1 3 312
4England Marvyn Cox3 3 2 3 011
5England Steve Wilcockf 3 1 3 310
6England Dave Perks2 0 2 2 28
7England Dave Trownson0 1 3 1 27
8England Keith Millard3 2 0 2 07
9England Nigel Crabtree0 3 2 1 17
10England Joe Owen2 ef 3 2 fexc7
11England Barney Kennett1 1 2 1 16
12Scotland Jim McMillan2 2 0 1 05
13England Barry Thomas1 1 1 0 14
14England Tom Owen0 1 1 0 24
15England Keith White0 0 0 0 33
16England Nigel Sparshott1 0 0 0 01
  • f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Pairs

The National League Pairs was held at Hyde Road on 4 June and was won by Weymouth Wildcats for the second consecutive season.[10]

Semi finals

  • Weymouth bt Newcastle
  • Glasgow bt Mildenhall

Final

  • Weymouth bt Glasgow

Fours

Newcastle Diamonds won the fours championship final for the second successive year, held at the East of England Arena on 24 July.[11]

Semi finals

  • SF1 = Newcastle 15, Milton Keynes 13, Middlesbrough 13, Crayford 7
  • SF2 = Mildenhall 21, Long Eaton 11, Edinburgh 8, Weymouth 7

Final

PosTeamPtsRiders
1Newcastle Diamonds21Emerson 6, Hunter 5, Owen 5, Scarisbrick 3, Beaton 2
2Mildenhall Fen Tigers17Knight 5, Harrison 5, Baldwin 4, Henry 3
3Milton Keynes Knights6Pendlebury 2, White 1, Clarke 1, McKinna 1, Mallett 1
4Long Eaton Invaders4Perks 2, Molyneux 1, Stead 1, Frankland 0, Evitts 0

Final leading averages

Rider Team Average
Joe OwenNewcastle11.10
Rod HunterNewcastle10.51
Martin YeatesWeymouth10.39
Bobby BeatonNewcastle10.20
Steve LawsonGlasgow10.00
Jim McMillanGlasgow9.85
Marvyn CoxRye House9.83
Barry ThomasCrayford9.69
Steve WilcockMiddlesbrough9.48
Steve McDermottBerwick9.43
Bob GarradRye House9.28

Riders & final averages

Berwick

Boston

  • Steve Lomas 7.93
  • David Gagen 7.75
  • Billy Burton 6.40
  • Phil Alderman 5.67
  • David Blackburn 5.21
  • Dennis Mallett 4.94
  • Peter Framingham 4.37
  • Pete Chapman 4.31
  • Guy Wilson 3.92
  • Michael Holding 2.83

Canterbury

Crayford

Edinburgh

Exeter

Glasgow

Long Eaton

  • Dave Perks 8.14
  • Alan Molyneux 8.09
  • Paul Stead 7.86
  • Paul Evitts 5.64
  • John Frankland 5.21
  • Mark Stevenson 4.63
  • Nicky Allot 3.50
  • David Tyler 2.58
  • John Proctor 1.18

Middlesbrough

  • Steve Wilcock 9.48
  • Mike Spink 8.66
  • Geoff Pusey 6.72
  • Brian Havelock 6.16
  • Rob Woffinden 5.92
  • Paul Price 5.48
  • Ashley Norton 4.77
  • Peter Nightingale 2.98
  • Mark Crang 2.88

Mildenhall

Milton Keynes

  • Craig Featherby 8.66
  • Keith White 8.56
  • Steve Payne 8.51
  • Charlie McKinna 7.84
  • Chris Pidcock 6.09
  • Paul Clarke 5.57
  • Dennis Mallett 5.02
  • Peter Framingham 5.00
  • Steve Mildoon 2.78
  • Rob Wall 2.37

Newcastle

Oxford

Peterborough

  • Ashley Pullen 8.74
  • Dave Allen 8.09
  • Mick Hines 7.22
  • Ian Barney 6.53
  • Andy Buck 6.44
  • Mike Spinks 5.37
  • Neil Cotton 4.89
  • Dale Watson 2.36

Rye House

  • Marvyn Cox 9.83
  • Bobby Garrad 9.28
  • Steve Naylor 8.00
  • Peter Johns 7.03
  • Kerry Gray 5.73
  • Steve Bryenton 5.70
  • Andrew Silver 4.69
  • Kevin Bowen 4.60
  • Chris Chaplin 2.89
  • Terry Broadbank 2.87
  • John Barclay 1.27

Scunthorpe

  • Nigel Crabtree 9.10
  • Andy Fisher 7.59
  • Rob Hollingworth 7.15
  • Craig Pendlebury 6.91
  • Julian Parr 6.56
  • Derek Richardson 6.28
  • Ian Gibson 5.68
  • Kevin Armitage 5.29
  • Mark DeKok 4.00

Stoke

  • Tom Owen 8.98
  • Pete Smith 7.35
  • John Jackson 6.66
  • Ian Robertson 5.16
  • Gary O'Hare 4.91
  • Jim Burdfield 4.80
  • Steve Sant 3.95
  • Gary Johnson 3.00
  • Richie Owen 2.60

Weymouth

See also

References

  1. ↑ "1983 full season results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  2. ↑ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  3. ↑ Oakes, P.(2006). Speedway Star Almanac. ISBN 0-9552376-1-0
  4. ↑ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  5. ↑ "Craig Featherby". Cradley Speedway. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  6. ↑ "1983 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  7. ↑ "Speedway". Daily Mirror. 11 October 1983. Retrieved 9 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. 1 2 "1983 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  9. ↑ "Bandit Steals Title". Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 25 September 1983. Retrieved 21 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ↑ "1983 season results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  11. ↑ "Tigers miss out again in dramatic finish". Cambridge Daily News. 25 July 1983. Retrieved 10 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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