1962 Provincial Speedway League

1962 Provincial Speedway League

League	Provincial League
No. of competitors	13
Champions	Poole Pirates
Knockout Cup	Exeter Falcons
Individual	Len Silver
Highest average	Ivor Brown
Division/s above	1962 National League
← 1961 1963 →

The 1962 Provincial Speedway League was the third season of the Provincial League. ^[1]

Summary

Thirteen speedway teams took part. Bradford, at their new venue at Greenfields Stadium, returned to the league after missing the previous season due to delays building their new track. The league season proved to be disastrous for Bradford and the club folded at the end of the year. New team Neath Welsh Dragons joined the league and Leicester joined after dropping down from the National League. Neath, near Port Talbot in Wales, was not a successful venue and many of their fixtures were raced at St. Austell. ^{[2] [3]} Rayleigh Rockets withdrew with promoters Wally Mawdsley and Pete Lansdale citing falling gates and rider wage demands. ^[4]

Poole won the league championship for the second year in a row. ^[5] The Neath Welsh Dragons achieved what was described as the impossible by finishing second in the league standings. ^[6]

Final table

Pos	Team	M	W	D	L	Pts
1	Poole Pirates	24	17	0	7	34
2	Neath Welsh Dragons	24	14	1	9	29
3	Exeter Falcons	24	14	0	10	28
4	Stoke Potters	24	14	0	10	28
5	Edinburgh Monarchs	24	12	2	10	26
6	Plymouth Devils	24	12	2	10	26
7	Sheffield Tigers	24	12	1	11	25
8	Cradley Heath Heathens	24	12	0	12	24
9	Newcastle Diamonds	24	12	0	12	24
10	Wolverhampton Wolves	24	11	1	12	23
11	Middlesbrough Bears	24	11	0	13	22
12	Leicester Hunters	24	6	0	18	12
13	Bradford Panthers	24	5	1	18	11

M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points

Fixtures and results

Home \ Away	BRA	CH	ED	EX	LEI	MID	ND	NEW	PLY	PP	SHE	STO	WOL
Bradford		45–33	32–46	29–49	49–28	44–34	32–46	38–40	42–36	34–41	39–39	41–37	34–43
Cradley Heath	50–28		43–35	45–32	48–30	44–34	38–40	52–26	49–29	40–38	56–22	36–42	46–32
Edinburgh	51–26	50–28		48–29	47–31	41–37	42–36	48–29	38–39	37–41	40–38	43–34	34–44
Exeter	57–21	56–22	44–34		51–27	49–29	43–34	60–18	44–34	43–35	46–32	45–33	61–14
Leicester	56–22	37–41	30–45	48–30		40–38	32–44	51–27	32–46	32–45	37–41	48–30	51.5–26.5
Middlesbrough	48–29	42–36	54–24	55–23	51–27		49–29	37–31	49–29	34–44	44–34	50–28	41–37
Neath	51–27	34–44	42–36	34–44	50–28	49–29		44–34	47–31	36–42	41–36	50–28	47–31
Newcastle	51–27	45–32	40–38	51–26	46–30	35–43	37–40		47–29	40–38	44.5–31.5	41–37	28–50
Plymouth	44–34	45–33	39–39	42–36	41–37	46–32	39–39	38–37		43–34	42–36	43–25	55–22
Poole	55–23	54–23	47–30	58–19	54–24	47–31	38–40	54–24	45–32		48–30	52–25	62–16
Sheffield	45–33	47–31	36–42	43–35	49–29	49–29	49–29	54–24	54–23	42–36		46–32	61–15
Stoke	53–24	47–31	46–32	45–33	60–18	41–36	42–35	43–35	41–36	45–33	46–32		44–33
Wolverhampton	56–22	40–36	39–39	52–26	55–23	46–32	45–33	36–42	50–28	37–40	48–30	33–45

Source: ^[7]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top five riders (league only)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ivor Brown		Cradley	10.21
2	Clive Featherby		Sheffield	10.21
3	Eric Boothroyd		Middlesbrough	10.15
4	Geoff Mudge		Poole	10.04
5	Jimmy Squibb		Plymouth	9.74

Provincial League Knockout Cup

The 1962 Provincial League Knockout Cup was the third edition of the Knockout Cup for the Provincial League teams. Exeter Falcons were the winners. ^[8]

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
18/06	Newcastle	74–22	Sheffield
21/06	Middlesbrough	66–30	Cradley Heath
22/06	Leicester	32–64	Poole
22/06	Bradford	57–39	Neath
23/06	Edinburgh	71–25	Wolverhampton

Second round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
11/08	Edinburgh	54–42	Middlesbrough
11/08	Stoke	61–31	Newcastle
14/08	Bradford	44–52	Poole
27/08	Exeter	53–43	Plymouth

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
10/09	Exeter	57–39	Edinburgh
15/09	Stoke	49–47	Poole

Final

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
20/10	Stoke	60–36	Exeter
22/10	Exeter	70–26	Stoke

Riders' Championship

Len Silver won the Riders' Championship. The final was held at Hyde Road on 22 September in front of 20,000 spectators. Four riders finished on 11 points forcing a race off. ^[9]

Pos.	Rider	Pts	Total
1	Len Silver	2 3 3 3	11+3
2	Wayne Briggs	3 2 3 3	11+2
3	Brian Craven	3 3 2 3	11+1
4	Guy Allott	3 2 3 3	11+0
5	Geoff Mudge	2 2 2 3	9
6	Ron Bagley	3 2 2 2	9
7	Norman Hunter	3 3 1 2	9
8	Doug Templeton	1 1 3 3	8
9	Brian McKeown	2 3 1 1	7
10	Ivor Brown	1 3 1 2	7
11	Pete Lansdale	1 1 1 3	6
12	Eric Hockaday	1 3 0 2	6
13	Jimmy Squibb	f 2 2 2	6
14	Clive Featherby	3 f 1 1	5
15	Cliff Cox	0 2 2 1	5
16	Bill Andrew	0 2 3 0	5
17	Graham Warren	1 0 0 2	3
18	George Hunter	2 1 - -	3
19	Eric Boothroyd	2 0 1 0	3
20	Trevor Redmond	2 ef 1 0	3
21	Eric Boocock	1 1 0 0	2
22	Willie Templeton	0 1 0 ef	1
23	Charlie Monk	0 1 0 0	1
24	Howdy Byford (res)	0 0 1	1
25	Ernie Baker (res)	0 1	1
26	Reg Duval	0 - - - -	0

• f=fell, r-retired, exc=excluded, ef=engine failure

Riders & final averages

Bradford

• Tommy Roper 7.10
• Reg Duval 6.23
• Geoff Pymar 5.89
• Peter Kelly 5.82
• Wal Morton 5.66
• Dave Gerrard 5.60
• Ray Day 5.40
• Stuart Hickman 3.56
• Dennis Jenkins 3.40
• Malcolm Bruce 2.67

Cradley Heath

• Ivor Brown 10.21
• Harry Bastable 7.91
• John Hart 6.80
• Ivor Davies 6.59
• Nick Nicholls 6.56
• Stan Stevens 6.45
• Derek Timms 5.49
• Alan Totney 3.82
• George Bewley 3.13

Edinburgh

• Doug Templeton 9.36
• Wayne Briggs 8.45
• Dick Campbell 7.05
• George Hunter 7.66
• Willie Templeton 6.67
• Alf Wells 6.24
• Jimmy Cox 4.44
• Dudley McKean 3.94
• Jimmy Tannock 3.80

Exeter

• Len Silver 8.97
• Pete Lansdale 8.00
• Howdy Byford 7.31
• Francis Cann 6.68
• Eric Howe 6.20
• Dennis Day 6.04
• Alan Cowland 5.64

Leicester

• Norman Hunter 7.85
• Eric Hockaday 7.25
• Derek Strutt 6.58
• Rick France 6.36
• Vic White 6.24
• Slant Payling 5.57
• Harry Edwards 5.35
• Bil Osborne 4.50
• Trevor Hedge 4.46
• John Poyser 3.59

Middlesbrough

• Eric Boothroyd 10.15
• Brian McKeown 8.83
• Johnny Fitzpatrick 7.38
• Eric Boocock 6.36
• Clive Hitch 5.49
• Dave Younghusband 4.33
• Kevin Torpie 3.20
• Bob Webb 2.18

Neath

• Trevor Redmond 9.43
• Charlie Monk 7.74
• Howdy Cornell 7.47
• Roy Taylor 7.44
• Jon Erskine 6.73
• George Major 5.78
• Glyn Chandler 5.26
• Fred Powell 2.46

Newcastle

• Brian Craven 9.60
• Gil Goldfinch 7.76
• Bill Andrew 6.70
• Mike Watkin 6.38
• Don Wilkinson 6.15
• Vic Lonsdale (Jack Thorp) 5.79
• Ivan Crozier 5.09
• Pete Sampson 4.25
• George Glen 4.05
• Russ Dent 3.20

Plymouth

• Jimmy Squibb 9.74
• Cliff Cox 8.87
• Chris Julian 7.31
• Chris Blewett 6.84
• Maury Mattingley 5.96
• Bert Roger 5.63
• Ivor Toms 3.25
• George Summers 2.87
• Ray Wickett 2.42

Poole

• Geoff Mudge 10.04
• Tony Lewis 9.30
• Ross Gilbertson 8.41
• Tim Bungay 7.78
• Roy Trigg 7.54
• Norman Strachan 6.74
• Bobby Croombs 6.05
• Pete Munday 3.25

Sheffield

• Clive Featherby 10.21
• Tony Robinson 9.60
• Guy Allott 9.58
• Ron Bagley 7.98
• Ronnie Rolfe 6.11
• Derrol Melbin 3.76
• John Dews 3.35
• Jack Winstanley 3.30
• Alan Jay 2.97

Stoke

• Eric Hockaday 8.69
• Ken Adams 8.67
• Pete Jarman 7.95
• Jimmy Heard 7.65
• Colin Pratt 6.20
• Ron Sharp 5.66
• John Edwards 4.93
• Howard Cole (Kid Bodie) 4.56
• Bill Wainwright 3.43
• Ray Harris 3.38

Wolverhampton

• Tommy Sweetman 8.67
• Graham Warren 8.13
• Ernie Baker 7.28
• Vic Ridgeon 6.52
• Cyril Francis 6.26
• Derek Strutt 6.16
• Les Jenkins 4.70
• Bill Bridgett 4.47
• Erol Brook 3.85
• Terry Stone 1.47

See also

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

References

1. "Championship History". Poole Speedway. 2008. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 18 May 2008.
2. "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
3. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN   0-904584-45-3.
4. "Speed Track closes" . Daily Express. 7 December 1961. Retrieved 20 February 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
5. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
6. "Speedway Dragons second in P.L. Championship" . Porthcawl Guardian. 19 October 1962. Retrieved 16 November 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "1962 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 4 February 2025.
8. "1962 Provincial League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
9. "Hunter out of Luck" . Edinburgh Evening News. 24 September 1962. Retrieved 12 June 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.