1948 Speedway National League Division Two

1948 Speedway National League Division Two

League	National League Division Two
No. of competitors	9
Champions	Bristol Bulldogs
National Trophy (Div 2 final)	Birmingham Brummies
Highest average	Fred Tuck
Division/s above	National League (Div 1)
Division/s below	National League (Div 3)
← 1947 1949 →

The 1948 National League Division Two was the third post-war season of the second tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain. Edinburgh Monarchs were new participants as the league was extended to 9 teams. ^[1]

Bristol Bulldogs were crowned champions, whilst Wigan Warriors were replaced by Fleetwood Flyers after just 3 away matches with their entire team transferring. ^[2]

32-year-old Bill Wilson of the Middlesbrough Bears was fatally injured, on 3 July at Norwich and died two days later in hospital. ^{[3] [4]}

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Bristol Bulldogs	32	23	0	9	46
2	Birmingham Brummies	32	20	1	11	41
3	Middlesbrough Bears	32	18	2	12	38
4	Sheffield Tigers	32	17	1	14	35
5	Norwich Stars	32	17	0	15	34
6	Glasgow White City Tigers	32	14	3	15	31
7	Newcastle Diamonds	32	11	0	21	22
8	Fleetwood Flyers	32	10	1	21	21
9	Edinburgh Monarchs	32	10	0	22	20

• Wigan Warriors were replaced by Fleetwood Flyers after 3 away matches

The Anniversary Cup for Division Two was run in a league format. Birmingham Brummies came out on top.

Anniversary Cup (Div 2) Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Birmingham Brummies	16	12	0	4	24
2	Sheffield Tigers	16	9	0	7	16
3	Bristol Bulldogs	16	8	0	8	16
4	Glasgow White City Tigers	16	8	0	8	16
5	Middlesbrough Bears	16	8	0	8	16
6	Norwich Stars	16	7	1	8	15
7	Fleetwood Flyers	16	7	1	8	15
8	Newcastle Diamonds	16	6	0	10	12
9	Edinburgh Monarchs	16	6	0	10	12

Top Five Riders (League only)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Fred Tuck		Bristol	10.20
2	Frank Hodgson		Middlesbrough	9.84
3	Graham Warren		Birmingham	9.84
4	Wilf Plant		Middlesbrough/Fleetwood	9.24
5	Jack Hunt		Newcastle	9.22

National Trophy

The 1948 Trophy (sponsored by the Daily Mail) was the 11th edition of the Knockout Cup. ^[5] The Qualifying event for Division 3 teams saw Southampton Saints win the final and qualify for the Elimination event. The Elimination event for Division 2 teams saw Birmingham Brummies win the final and qualify for the Quarter Finals proper.

Elimination Event First Round

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
19/06	Birmingham	79-29	Southampton
15/06	Southampton	41-66	Birmingham
16/06	Glasgow White City	70-38	Edinburgh
19/06	Edinburgh	62-46	Glasgow White City

Elimination Second Round

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
17/06	Sheffield	55-53	Norwich
19/06	Norwich	76-32	Sheffield
03/07	Birmingham	80-28	Glasgow White City
23/06	Glasgow White City	45.5-61.5	Birmingham
18/06	Bristol	65-43	Fleetwood
22/06	Fleetwood	69-39	Bristol
14/06	Newcastle	41-65	Middlesbrough
17/06	Middlesbrough	67-40	Newcastle

Elimination Third Round

Date	Team One	Score	Team Two
26/07	Birmingham	75-33	Fleetwood
13/07	Fleetwood	49-59	Birmingham
03/07	Norwich	66-41	Middlesbrough
01/07	Middlesbrough	53-54	Norwich

Elimination Final

First leg

31 July 1948

Norwich Stars Aussie Powell 15 Paddy Mills 12 Ted Bravery 9 Geoff Revett 9 Sid Littlewood 9 Phil Clarke 7 Jack Freeman 3 Reg Morgan 0	64 – 43	Birmingham Brummies Graham Warren 15 Charlie May 10 Doug McLachlan 6 Geoff Bennett 5 Buck Whitby 4 Arthur Payne 2 Stan Dell 1 Brian Wilson 0
	[6] [7]

The Firs Stadium

Second leg

2 August 1948

Birmingham Brummies Graham Warren 15 Arthur Payne 14 Stan Dell 13 Doug McLachlan 9 Brian Wilson 9 Geoff Bennett 8 Charlie May 6 Buck Whitby 5	79 – 28	Norwich Stars Paddy Mills 10 Ossie Powell 5 Phil Clarke 5 Geoff Revett 3 Ted Bravery 2 Sid Littlewood 2 Jack Freeman 1 Reg Morgan 0
	[8] [7]

Perry Barr Stadium

Riders & final averages

Birmingham

• Graham Warren 9.84
• Stan Dell 8.57
• Doug McLachlan 8.26
• Geoff Bennett 7.91
• Arthur Payne 7.53
• Brian Wilson 6.79
• Charlie May 6.55
• Buck Whitby 5.94
• Roy Dook 5.46
• Dick Tolley 5.39

Bristol

• Fred Tuck 10.20
• Billy Hole 8.95
• Nobby Stock 8.60
• Mike Beddoe 8.45
• Roger Wise 7.94
• Jack Mountford 7.83
• Eric Salmon 7.40
• Cyril Quick 5.38
• Johnny Hole 4.37
• Ginger Nicholls 3.25
• Graham Hole 1.67

Edinburgh

• Bill Maddern 7.15
• Dick Campbell 6.68
• Clem Mitchell 6.00
• Eddie Lack 6.00
• Danny Lee 5.50
• Dennis Parker 5.32
• Keith Cox 4.96
• Bill Baird 4.74
• Bert Shearer 3.75
• Nobby Downham 3.30
• Don Cuppleditch 2.55

Fleetwood

• Wilf Plant 9.47
• Dick Geary] 9.03
• Norman Hargreaves 7.46
• Jack Gordon 6.06
• Cyril Cooper 5.68
• Reg Lambourne 5.18
• Ron Hart 4.70
• Ernie Appleby 4.54
• Percy Brine 4.14
• Dick Seers 2.40
• Jack Winstanley 1.60

Glasgow

• Joe Crowther 8.13
• Bat Byrnes 7.80
• Will Lowther 7.59
• Buck Ryan 7.20
• Harold Fairhurst 6.21
• Norman Lindsay 5.98
• Junior Bainbridge 5.57
• Gruff Garland 5.00
• Nobby Downham 4.87
• Gordon McGregor 3.83
• Angus McGuire 1.50

Middlesbrough

• Frank Hodgson 9.84
• Wilf Plant 8.88
• Jack Hodgson 8.77
• Geoff Godwin 7.77
• Benny King 6.91
• Billy Wilson 6.23
• Derick Close 6.22
• Tip Mills 5.94
• Herby King 5.45
• Frank Bettis 4.53
• Joe Arthur 4.00
• George Farmer 3.75
• Dick Tolley 3.56

Newcastle

• Jack Hunt 9.22
• Wilf Jay 8.72
• Charlie Spinks 8.17
• Norman Evans 7.41
• Ken Le Breton 6.80
• Alec Grant 6.66
• Keith Gurtner 4.80
• Rol Stobbart 4.14
• Maurice Stobbart 3.82
• Ed Pye 3.52
• Peter Lloyd 3.41
• Fred Rogers 3.17
• Danny Calder 3.09

Norwich

• Bert Spencer 8.61
• Paddy Mills (Horace Burke) 8.47
• Phil Clarke 8.10
• Ted Bravery 6.79
• Fred Rogers 6.63
• Sid Hipperson 6.50
• Ossie Powell 6.35
• Jack Freeman 6.04
• Syd Littlewood 5.49
• Geoff Revett 4.91
• Paddy Hammond 4.00

Sheffield

• Bruce Semmens 9.09
• Tommy Bateman 8.33
• Tommy Allott 7.31
• Len Williams 7.16
• Jack Bibby 6.94
• Stan Williams 6.77
• Danny Lee 4.71
• Ken Sharples 4.55
• John Duncan White 4.21
• Bryan Gorman 2.60
• Henry Long 3.50
• Alf Parker 1.56

See also

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

References

1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
2. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
3. "Norwich the Firs Stadium". National Speedway Museum. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
4. "Still unconscious" . Coventry Evening Telegraph. 5 July 1948. Retrieved 11 August 2021– via British Newspaper Archive.
5. "1948 National Trophy". Speedway archive.
6. "Norwich feat" . Weekly Dispatch (London). 1 August 1948. Retrieved 28 October 2021– via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "Norwich 1948 results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
8. "Speedway win for Blues" . Birmingham Daily Gazette. 3 August 1948. Retrieved 28 October 2021– via British Newspaper Archive.