1938 Speedway National League

1938 Speedway National League

League	National League Division One
No. of competitors	7
Champions	New Cross Rangers
National Trophy	Wimbledon Dons
A.C.U Cup	West Ham Hammers
London Cup	Wimbledon Dons
Highest average	Jack Milne
Division/s below	National League (Div 2)
← 1937 1939 →

The 1938 National League Division One was the tenth season of the highest tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

Summary

The only change from the previous season was Bristol Bulldogs moving up from the Provincial League and Hackney Wick Wolves moving down to take their place. They also swapped licences and riders as well as divisions.

New Cross Rangers won their first national title.

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	New Cross Rangers	24	15	1	8	31
2	West Ham Hammers	24	13	1	10	27
3	Wembley Lions	24	13	1	10	27
4	Wimbledon Dons	24	12	3	9	27
5	Belle Vue Aces	24	11	0	13	22
6	Harringay Tigers	24	10	1	13	21
7	Bristol Bulldogs	24	6	1	17	13

Fixtures & results

A fixtures

Home \ Away	BV	BRI	HAR	NC	WEM	WH	WIM
Belle Vue		49–35	53–31	41–40	48–36	43–41	50–34
Bristol	40–41		47–36	38–46	37–47	44–39	41–41
Harringay	51–30	41–42		59–24	38–45	43–39	54–30
New Cross	55–28	51–33	56–28		45–39	53–30	51–33
Wembley	54–30	57–27	50–34	37–46		44–40	43–41
West Ham	46–38	55–29	55–28	41–39	40–34		57–27
Wimbledon	48–36	53–31	41–41	44–39	42–42	49–34

Source: ^[5]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

B fixtures

Home \ Away	BV	BRI	HAR	NC	WEM	WH	WIM
Belle Vue		54–30	45–39	40–44	43–41	36–47	50–34
Bristol	45–38		42–41	52–31	32–50	39.5–44.5	40–44
Harringay	52–32	45–39		52–32	47–37	42–40	46–38
New Cross	55–29	48–34	54–29		45–39	50–34	39–45
Wembley	47–36	54–28	49–35	35–48		48–35	45–39
West Ham	56–28	54–30	50–33	42–42	50–34		42–41
Wimbledon	51–31	47–35	48–35	43–39	47–36	45–39

Source: ^[6]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top ten riders

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Jack Milne		New Cross	10.96
2	Wilbur Lamoreaux		Wimbledon	10.93
3	Bluey Wilkinson		West Ham	10.67
4	Lionel van Praag		Wembley	10.50
5	Bill Kitchen		Belle Vue	10.24
6	Cordy Milne		Hackney	9.46
7	Frank Varey		Belle Vue	9.16
8	Jack Parker		Harringay	9.16
9	Les Wotton		Harringay	8.92
10	Frank Charles		Wembley	8.59

National Trophy

The 1938 National Trophy was the eighth edition of the Knockout Cup. ^[7]

Qualifying rounds

Norwich Stars won the Division Two final and therefore secured a place in the quarter-finals.

Quarterfinals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
01/07	Bristol	50-56	West Ham
05/07	West Ham	73-35	Bristol
06/07	New Cross	50-57	Wimbledon
07/07	Wembley	61-47	Belle Vue
09/07	Belle Vue	60-48	Wembley
11/07	Wimbledon	62-46	New Cross
21/07	Norwich	58-50	Harringay

Semifinals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
06/08	Norwich	53-55	Wembley
15/08	Wimbledon	78-29	West Ham
16/08	West Ham	53-55	Wimbledon
25/08	Wembley	38-15	Norwich

Final

First leg

15 September 1938

Wembley Lions Lionel van Praag 12 Tommy Price 8 Cliff Parkinson 7 Malcolm Craven 6 Eric Gregory 6 Frank Charles 3 George Wilks 1 Dicky Case 0	43 – 65	Wimbledon Dons Wilbur Lamoreaux 18 Benny Kaufman 12 Geoff Pymar 11 Eric Collins 9 Wally Lloyd 8 Nobby Key 4 Norman Evans 2 Fred Leavis 1
	[8]

Empire Stadium

Second leg

19 September 1938

Wimbledon Dons Eric Collins 15 Wilbur Lamoreaux 14 Wally Lloyd 11 Benny Kaufman 7 Geoff Pymar 5 Nobby Key 2 Norman Evans 2 Fred Leavis 2	58 – 49	Wembley Lions Frank Charles 12 Lionel van Praag 10 Malcolm Craven 8 George Wilks 7 Tommy Price 5 Eric Gregory 3 Wally Kilmister 2 Andy Menzies 2
	[8]

Wimbledon Stadium

Wimbledon were National Trophy Champions, winning on aggregate 123-92.

A.C.U Cup

The 1938 Auto-Cycle Union Cup was the fifth edition of the Cup and was won by West Ham Hammers, which ended the five year winning run of Belle Vue. The groups were decided on the number of heat points scored within matches, rather than match wins. ^[9]

First round

Group 1 Team PL W D L Race Pts West Ham Hammers 4 3 1 0 252 New Cross Rangers 4 1 1 2 227 Harringay Tigers 4 1 0 3 166

Group 2 Team PL W D L Race Pts Wimbledon Dons 6 4 1 1 355 Wembley Lions 6 3 1 2 335 Belle Vue Aces 6 3 0 3 320 Bristol Bulldogs 6 1 0 5 283

Group 1 Home \ Away HAR NC WH Harringay 57–51 42–64 New Cross 75–32 54–54 West Ham 73–35 61–47 Source: [10] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group 2 Home \ Away BV BRI WEM WIM Belle Vue 78–30 71–36 56–52 Bristol 74–34 44–64 53–55 Wembley 67–40 61–47 54–54 Wimbledon 67–41 73–35 54–53 Source: [11] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Final

Date	Team one	Team two	Score
05/09	Wimbedon	West Ham	50–58
06/09	West Ham	Wimbledon	64–43

London Cup

First round

Team one	Score	Team two
Harringay	59–49, 44–60	Wembley

Semi final round

Team one	Score	Team two
Wimbledon	66–42, 61–47	Wembley
West Ham	56–52, 46–62	New Cross

Final

First leg

5 October 1938

Wimbledon Wilbur Lamoreaux 16 Benny Kaufman 13 Geoff Pymar 8 Eric Collins 6 Norman Evans 4 Wally Lloyd 5 Nobby Key 4 Fred Leavis 1	57–49	New Cross Jack Milne 13 Ron Johnson 11 George Newton 7 Clem Mitchell 6 Bill Longley 5 Stan Greatrex 3 Ray Duggan 2 Joe Francis 2

Plough Lane

Second leg

10 October 1938

New Cross Jack Milne 18 Ron Johnson 10 Bill Longley 7 Stan Greatrex 5 Clem Mitchell 5 George Newton 5 Joe Francis 4 Ernie Evans 1	55–52	Wimbledon Benny Kaufman 15 Wilbur Lamoreaux 11 Norman Evans 7 Wally Lloyd 6 Geoff Pymar 4 Eric Collins 4 Nobby Key 3 Fred Leavis 2
	[12]

New Cross Stadium

Wimbledon won on aggregate 109–104

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• Bill Kitchen 10.24
• Frank Varey 9.43
• Eric Langton 8.39
• Bob Harrison 5.68
• Jack Hargreaves 5.43
• Oliver Langton 5.25
• Wally Hull 4.42
• Ernie Price 3.59
• Harold Jackson 3.43
• Oliver Hart 1.38

Bristol

• Cordy Milne 9.46
• Vic Duggan 7.14
• Morian Hansen 5.95
• Bill Clibbett 5.93
• Bill Rogers 5.69
• Harry Shepherd 4.87
• Roy Dook 4.20
• Reg Lambourne 3.29
• Bill Maddern 3.28

Harringay

• Jack Parker 9.14
• Les Wotton 8.88
• Alec Statham 8.00
• Jack Ormston 6.31
• Norman Parker 5.30
• Lloyd Goffe 5.13
• Bill Pitcher 4.78
• Will Lowther 3.64
• Dick Harris 3.58

New Cross

• Jack Milne 10.96
• George Newton 8.35
• Ron Johnson 7.87
• Stan Greatrex 6.61
• Bill Longley 6.45
• Clem Mitchell 6.09
• Goldy Restall 5.05
• Joe Francis 4.10
• Ernie Evans 4.00

Wembley

• Lionel Van Praag 10.50
• Frank Charles 8.48
• Malcolm Craven 6.99
• George Wilks 6.91
• Cliff Parkinson 6.52
• Tommy Price 6.14
• Dicky Case 5.95
• Eric Gregory 4.88
• Wally Kilmister 4.59
• Andy Menzies 4.00

West Ham

• Bluey Wilkinson 10.67
• Arthur Atkinson 8.42
• Eric Chitty 8.00
• Tommy Croombs 7.88
• Jimmie Gibb 6.69
• Charlie Spinks 5.80
• Colin Watson 4.75
• Tiger Stevenson 5.41
• Broncho Dixon 4.69
• Dick Geary 3.83
• Phil Bishop 3.53

Wimbledon

• Wilbur Lamoreaux 10.93
• Benny Kaufman 8.46
• Geoff Pymar 7.96
• Wally Little 7.56
• Eric Collins 5.74
• Wally Lloyd 5.28
• Norman Evans 4.44
• Nobby Key 4.12
• Ron Howes 2.26
• Fred Leavis 2.12

See also

• List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
• Knockout Cup (speedway)

References

1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
2. "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
3. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN   0-904584-45-3.
4. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - PRE-WAR ERA (1929-1939)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
5. "1938 fixtures & results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
6. "1938 fixtures & results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
7. "1938 National Trophy". Speedway archive.
8. "1938 National Trophy" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
9. "1938 ACU Cup" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
10. "1938 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 3 June 2025.
11. "1938 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 3 June 2025.
12. "Speedway win for Wimbledon" . Daily Herald. 11 October 1938. Retrieved 16 September 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.