1964 Provincial Speedway League

1964 Provincial Speedway League

League	Provincial League
No. of competitors	12
Champions	Newcastle Diamonds
Knockout Cup	Newport Wasps
Individual	Ivan Mauger
Highest average	Ivan Mauger
Division/s above	1964 National League
← 1963 1968 →

The 1964 Provincial Speedway League was the fifth and final season of the Provincial League in the United Kingdom. ^[1] Twelve speedway teams took part. A second division of British speedway would not return until 1968. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

Season summary

The 1964 season started in controversy which led to the Provincial League running 'black'. Officially the 1964 Provincial League season did not exist.

Wolverhampton Wolves refused to move up to the National League after winning the Provincial League title in 1963. The two leagues could not agree about the situation which led to the Provincial League being outlawed by the Speedway Control Board.

All National League riders were forbidden to ride on Provincial League tracks. Provincial League riders were warned by the Speedway Control Board that they were in breach of ACU regulations and could be suspended from all competitive racing. They were also barred from the Speedway World Championship.

The Stoke Potters, St Austell Gulls and Rayleigh Rockets all withdrew from the league for various reasons before the season started. The Sunderland Stars joined the league but then withdrew after riding only three matches. However Glasgow Tigers and the Newport Wasps joined and completed the season.

Newcastle Diamonds won the final Provincial League and their first title. ^[5]

Final table

Pos	Team	M	W	D	L	Pts
1	Newcastle Diamonds	22	17	0	5	34
2	Hackney Hawks	22	15	1	6	31
3	Wolverhampton Wolves	22	12	1	9	25
4	Newport Wasps	22	11	1	10	23
5	Edinburgh Monarchs	22	10	2	10	22
6	Exeter Falcons	22	10	1	11	21
7	Poole Pirates	22	10	1	11	21
8	Sheffield Tigers	22	9	2	11	20
9	Middlesbrough Bears	22	9	2	11	20
10	Cradley Heath Heathens	22	8	1	13	17
11	Long Eaton Archers	22	8	0	14	16
12	Glasgow Tigers	22	6	2	14	14

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

• Sunderland Saints withdrew after three matches – record expunged.

Fixtures and results

Home \ Away	CH	ED	EX	GLA	HAC	LE	MID	ND	NW	PP	SHE	WOL
Cradley Heath		43–35	37–41	42–36	36–42	42–36	57–21	41–37	42–36	47–31	41–36	38–40
Edinburgh	44–34		43–35	39–39	45–33	53–22	48–30	38–40	46–32	38–40	52.5–24.5	52–26
Exeter	43–35	45–33		43–35	47–31	48–30	52–26	34–44	46–32	54–24	0–0	38–40
Glasgow	41–37	37–41	41–36		42–36	44–34	37–41	31–46	40–38	39–39	44–34	35–42
Hackney	47–31	53–25	43–34	49–29		47–31	55–23	42–36	39–39	53–25	52–26	42–36
Long Eaton	43–35	32–46	36–42	45–33	38–40		54–24	41–37	44–34	40–38	44–34	40–38
Middlesbrough	39–39	39–39	41–37	41–37	40–38	49–29		34–44	43–35	47–31	45–33	53–25
Newcastle	40–38	49–29	55–23	51–26	37–41	45–33	53–25		48–30	51–27	42–36	44–34
Newport	48–30	42–36	50–28	48–30	51–27	54–23	55–23	33–45		47–31	47–31	44–33
Poole	42–36	42–36	41–37	43–35	35–43	55–23	50–28	41–37	37–41		56–22	43–35
Sheffield	55–23	48–30	56–22	42–36	47–31	44–34	51–27	33–45	50–28	48–30		39–39
Wolverhampton	42–36	42–36	40–38	39–38	33–45	49–29	49–29	37–40	57–21	45–33	50–28

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

Top five riders (league only)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ivan Mauger		Newcastle	11.54
2	Charlie Monk		Glasgow	10.88
3	Ivor Brown		Cradley	10.39
4	George Hunter		Edinburgh	10.31
5	Colin Pratt		Hackney	10.19

Provincial League Knockout Cup

The 1964 Provincial League Knockout Cup was the fifth edition of the Knockout Cup for the Provincial League teams. Newport Wasps were the winners. ^[7]

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
18/05	Cradley Heath	51–45	Edinburgh
15/06	Newcastle	53–43	Poole
16/06	Long Eaton	54–42	Middlesbrough
17/06	Glasgow White City	59–37	Sheffield

Second round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
03/07	Hackney	50–46	Exeter
13/07	Newcastle	62–34	Wolverhampton
17/07	Glasgow White City	46–49	Newport
18/07	Cradley Heath	51–45	Long Eaton

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
21/08	Newport	56–40	Hackney
19/09	Cradley Heath	54–42	Newcastle

Final

first leg

25 September 1964

Newport Wasps Peter Vandenberg 13 Dick Bradley 13 Jon Erskine 10 Alby Golden 8 Bob Hughes 5 Vic White 5 Geoff Penniket 4	58–38	Cradley Heath Ivor Brown 12 Harry Bastable 7 George Major 6 John Hart 6 Alan Totney 4 Eric Hockaday 3 John Edwards 0
	[8]

Somerton Park

second leg

24 October 1964

Cradley Heath Ivor Brown 15 John Edwards 13 John Hart 12 Harry Bastable 7 Eric Hockaday 5 Alan Totney 5 Matt Mattocks 0	57–39	Newport Wasps Peter Vandenberg 11 Dick Bradley 9 Alby Golden 8 Jon Erskine 4 Geoff Penniket 4 Bob Hughes 3 Vic White 0
	[9]

Dudley Wood Stadium

Riders' Championship

Ivan Mauger won the Riders' Championship for the second successive year. The final was held at Hyde Road on 26 September. ^[10]

Pos.	Rider	Pts	Total
1	Ivan Mauger	2,3,2,3,3	13+3
2	Charlie Monk	1,3,3,3,3	13+2
3	Roy Trigg	3,2,2,2,3	12+3
4	Peter Kelly	3,3,2,2,2	12+2
5	Peter Jarman	1,2,3,2,3	11
6	Ivor Brown	1,1,3,3,1	9
7	Ken Sharples	2,3,1,1,2	9
8	Bill Andrew	3,0,2,3,0	8
9	Colin Pratt	3,0,0,2,2	7
10	Jimmy Squibb	2,1,0,1,2	6
11	Trevor Redmond	0,2,1,1,1	5
12	Peter Vandenberg	1,0,3,1,0	5
13	George Hunter	0,2,1,0,1	4
14	Norman Storer	2,0,0,0,1	3
15	Bluey Scott	0,1,1,0,0	2
16	Jon Erskine	0,0,0,0,0	0

Riders & final averages

Cradley Heath

• Ivor Brown 10.39
• George Major 9.01
• John Hart 8.06
• Eric Hockaday 7.37
• Harry Bastable 5.33
• Alan Totney 4.44
• John Edwards 4.57
• Derek Timms 3.27
• Glyn Chandler 3.00
• Fred Priest 2.29
• Ivor Hughes 1.00
• Frank Holmes 0.57

Edinburgh

• George Hunter 10.31
• Doug Templeton 9.19
• Wayne Briggs 8.62
• Willie Templeton 6.17
• Alf Wells 5.25
• Bill Landels 5.07
• Jimmy Tannock 4.48
• Kevin Torpie 4.08
• Bert Harkins 4.00
• Alec Hughson 3.43

Exeter

• Jimmy Squibb 9.71
• Len Silver 9.55
• Tim Bungay 8.71
• Alan Cowland 8.24
• Chris Blewett 7.33
• Cliff Cox 6.57
• David Crane 6.15
• Des Lukehurst 5.49
• Maury McDermott 5.36
• Terry Stone 5.33
• Howdy Byford 5.03
• Ray Wickett 4.50
• Pat Flanagan 3.41

Glasgow

• Charlie Monk 10.88
• Trevor Redmond 7.74
• Maurie Mattingley 7.53
• Chris Julian 6.67
• Red Monteith 4.00
• Graham Coombes 3.64
• Bill McMillan 3.59
• Bruce Ovenden 3.05
• Terry Stone 2.70
• Vic Ridgeon 2.12

Hackney

• Colin Pratt 10.19
• Roy Trigg 10.04
• Les McGillivray 8.84
• Len Silver 8.57
• John Poyser 6.57
• Jimmy Heard 4.80
• Brian Davies 4.68
• Peter Jackson 4.50
• Dennis Day 3.78
• Sandy McGillivray 3.40
• Malcolm Brown 2.00

Long Eaton

• Eric Boothroyd 8.82
• Eric Boocock 8.80
• Slant Payling 8.00
• Ray Wilson 7.17
• Norman Storer 7.02
• Ken Adams 6.59
• Howard Cole (Kid Bodie) 6.05
• Ron Sharp 4.28
• John Mills 4.10
• Ken Vale 3.67

Middlesbrough

• Dave Younghusband 9.07
• Eric Boocock 8.50
• Bluey Scott 7.37
• Clive Hitch 5.68
• Ray Day 4.84
• Kevin Torpie 4.00
• John Butterfield 3.95
• Ken Handscombe 2.91
• Slant Payling 2.83
• Fred Greenwell 2.57
• Jack Swales 1.47

Newcastle

• Ivan Mauger 11.54
• Ken Sharples 8.66
• Peter Kelly 8.64
• Bill Andrew 8.36
• Mike Watkin 6.84
• Russ Dent 5.52
• Goog Allan 4.65
• Jack Winstanley 3.78
• Maury Robinson 2.67

Newport

• Alby Golden 9.20
• Peter Vandenberg 8.85
• Dick Bradley 8.23
• Jon Erskine 7.28
• Geoff Penniket 6.60
• Bob Hughes 5.30
• Vic White 4.31
• Fred Powell 4.00
• Ray Harris 2.70

Poole

• Ross Gilbertson 8.22
• Geoff Mudge 8.39
• Chum Taylor 8.13
• Norman Strachan 6.34
• Tony Lewis 6.20
• Tim Bungay 5.74
• Pete Smith 4.96
• Pete Munday 4.69
• Brian Leonard 3.50

Sheffield

• Jack Kitchen 9.96
• Clive Featherby 9.07
• John Dews 8.59
• Dent Oliver 6.56
• Tommy Roper 6.43
• Alan Jay 5.37
• Ron Bagley 4.23
• Ken Handscombe 3.74

Wolverhampton

• Pete Jarman 9.54
• Tommy Sweetman 8.71
• Cyril Francis 7.60
• Dave Hemus 7.43
• Jim Airey 5.81
• Gordon Guasco 5.76
• Colin McKee 5.57
• James Bond 5.20
• Harry Edwards 3.51
• Chris Harrison 3.00

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 28 September 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. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
5. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
6. "1964 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
7. "1964 Provincial League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
8. "1964 Cradley results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
9. "Brave Cradley just fail" . Birmingham Weekly Mercury. 25 October 1964. Retrieved 16 November 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
10. "Mauger keeps his title after a decider" . Birmingham Weekly Mercury. 27 September 1964. Retrieved 13 June 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.