1946 Speedway Northern League

1946 Speedway Northern League

League	Northern League
No. of competitors	6
Champions	Middlesbrough Bears
A.C.U Cup	Norwich Stars
Highest average	Jeff Lloyd
Division/s above	1946 Speedway National League
← 1939 1947 →

The 1946 Northern League was a season of speedway racing in the United Kingdom for Northern British teams in 1946. With a National League in place and no Southern counterpart, it was effectively a second tier. ^[1]

Four of the six entrants were previously members of National League Division Two before war broke out. Glasgow and Birmingham were new entrants. ^[2]

Middlesbrough Bears won their first trophy. ^[3] The Bears only lost four league fixtures and had three riders in the leading averages; Frank Hodgson, Fred Curtis and Will Plant all contributed significantly during the season. ^[4]

During a fixture on 7 October at Brough Park the Birmingham Brummies Canadian rider Charlie Appleby crashed. A rider had fallen in front and in an effort to avoid the fallen rider, Appleby swerved and hit the machine instead. He was thrown into the air and suffered a fractured skull. He was taken to Newcastle Infirmary but died during the early hours of 8 October. ^[5]

Northern League Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Middlesbrough Bears	20	12	4	4	28
2	Sheffield Tigers	20	11	1	8	23
3	Norwich Stars	20	10	1	9	21
4	Birmingham Brummies	20	9	1	10	19
5	Newcastle Brough	20	8	1	11	17
6	Glasgow Tigers	20	6	0	14	12

On account of the small number of teams in the league the ACU Cup was run in a league format. Norwich Stars came out on top on points difference.

A.C.U. Cup (Div 2) Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Norwich Stars	10	6	2	2	14
2	Middlesbrough Bears	10	7	0	3	14
3	Sheffield Tigers	10	6	0	4	12
4	Birmingham Brummies	10	4	1	5	9
5	Glasgow Tigers	10	3	0	7	6
6	Newcastle Brough	10	2	1	7	5

Top Five Riders (League only)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Jeff Lloyd		Newcastle	10.38
2	Frank Hodgson		Middlesbrough	10.38
3	Bert Spencer		Norwich	10.15
4	Tommy Allott		Sheffield	10.00
5	Stan Williams		Sheffield	9.75

Riders & final averages

Birmingham

• Tiger Hart 9.42
• Doug Wells 9.04
• Stan Dell 8.73
• Roy Dook 8.00
• Laurie Packer 6.40
• Bob Lovell 5.46
• Percy Brine 4.19
• Ernie Appleby 3.67
• Cyril Page 3.29
• Charlie Appleby 3.12
• Jimmy Wright 2.93
• Dick Tolley 2.22

Glasgow

• Will Lowther 9.67
• Wal Morton 8.65
• Joe Crowther 7.90
• Gruff Garland 7.57
• Maurice Stobbart 6.30
• Eddie Lack 4.12
• Charlie Oates 4.00
• Bill Baird 3.57
• Wally Thomson 2.91
• Jack Tidbury 2.67
• Bert Shearer 0.89

Middlesbrough

• Frank Hodgson 10.38
• Kid Curtis 9.68
• Wilf Plant 9.45
• Tip Mills 7.27
• Geoff Godwin 6.95
• Jack Hodgson 6.51
• Ed Pye 6.45
• Jack Gordon 6.29
• Doug McLachlan 5.50
• Len Tupling 4.71
• Alex Peel 2.33

Newcastle

• Jeff Lloyd 10.38
• Norman Evans 8.90
• Charlie Spinks 7.77
• Doug McLachlan 6.86
• Syd Littlewood 6.79
• Alec Grant 4.51
• Leo Lungo 4.11
• Terry Tight 3.70
• Stan Pennell 2.00
• Harry Modral 1.33

Norwich

• Bert Spencer 10.15
• Wilf Jay 9.00
• Paddy Mills (Horace Burke) 8.20
• Ted Bravery 7.59
• Roy Duke 6.22
• Sid Hipperson 5.71
• Harwood Pike 4.52
• Len Read 4.00
• Don Houghton 3.94
• Paddy Hammond 1.60
• Bluey Thorpe 1.14
• Charlie Challis 1.00

Sheffield

• Tommy Allott 10.00
• Stan Williams 9.75
• Tommy Bateman 8.00
• Jack Bibby 6.56
• Dick Geary 5.64
• John Duncan White 4.84
• Stan Hodson 3.79
• Reg Lambourne 3.75
• Alf Elliott 3.49
• Bruce Semmens 3.27

See also

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

References

1. The Speedway Researcher Speedway Researcher. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
2. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
3. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN   0-904584-45-3.
4. "Northern League 1946" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
5. "Speedway crash" . Lincolnshire Echo. 8 October 1946. Retrieved 11 August 2021– via British Newspaper Archive.