1964 Speedway National League

1964 Speedway National League

League	National League
No. of competitors	7
Champions	Oxford Cheetahs
National Trophy	Oxford Cheetahs
Britannia Shield	Oxford Cheetahs
London Cup	Wimbledon Dons
Highest average	Ove Fundin
Division/s below	1964 Provincial League
← 1963 1965 →

The 1964 National League was the 30th season and the nineteenth post-war season of the highest tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain, but the final season of the National League being the highest tier. ^[1]

Summary

West Ham Hammers returned after a nine-year absence but the league stayed at seven competitors with the withdrawal of Southampton Saints. Oxford Cheetahs, who had finished bottom of the table in 1963, rose spectacularly up the league to win the title, a repeat of the feat they had accomplished at a lower level in 1950. ^{[2] [3] [4] [5]}

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Oxford Cheetahs	12	9	0	3	18
2	Coventry Bees	12	8	1	3	17
3	Norwich Stars	12	6	0	6	12
4	Belle Vue Aces	12	5	1	6	11
5	Swindon Robins	12	4	1	7	9
6	Wimbledon Dons	12	4	1	7	9
7	West Ham Hammers	12	4	0	8	8

On account of the small number of teams in the league meeting each other only once home and away, the Britannia Shield was run in a league format. Oxford Cheetahs came out on top.

Fixtures and results

Home \ Away	BV	COV	NOR	OX	SWI	WH	WIM
Belle Vue		40–44	48–36	46–38	42–42	47–37	50–34
Coventry	45–39		44–40	51–33	51–33	45–39	42–42
Norwich	46–38	34.5–49.5		45–39	43–41	45–39	50–34
Oxford	53–31	52–32	48–36		45–39	50–34	54–30
Swindon	49–35	44–40	40–44	40–43		51–32	48–35
West Ham	38–45	44–40	46–38	39–44	43–41		50–34
Wimbledon	49–35	39–45	51–33	38–46	43–41	46–38

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

Britannia Shield table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Oxford Cheetahs	12	8	1	3	17
2	Coventry Bees	12	8	0	4	16
3	Belle Vue Aces	12	6	0	6	12
4	Swindon Robins	12	6	0	6	12
5	Norwich Stars	12	5	0	7	10
6	Wimbledon Dons	12	5	0	7	10
7	West Ham Hammers	12	3	1	8	7

Fixtures and results

Home \ Away	BV	COV	NOR	OX	SWI	WH	WIM
Belle Vue		39–45	46–38	45–39	51–33	46–38	46–38
Coventry	45–39		57–27	49–35	51–33	50–34	53–31
Norwich	49–35	47–35		37–47	55–29	58–26	55–29
Oxford	46–38	48–36	55–29		53–31	54–30	47–37
Swindon	50–34	39–45	47–37	44–40		46–38	45–39
West Ham	39–45	44–40	43–40	42–42	45–39		41–42
Wimbledon	44–40	49–35	46–38	40–43	45–43	43–41

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

Top ten riders (league only)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ove Fundin		Norwich Stars	10.71
2	Göte Nordin		Wimbledon Dons	10.62
3	Barry Briggs		Swindon Robins	10.51
4	Nigel Boocock		Coventry Bees	10.44
5	Ken McKinlay		Coventry Bees	9.92
6	Ron How		Oxford Cheetahs	9.84
7	Mike Broadbank		Swindon Robins	9.80
8	Sören Sjösten		Belle Vue Aces	9.62
9	Björn Knutson		West Ham Hammers	9.16
10	Dick Fisher		Belle Vue Aces	8.77

^[8]

National Trophy

The 1964 National Trophy was the 26th edition of the Knockout Cup. Oxford were the winners. ^[9]

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
03/07	Norwich	47-36	Oxford
25/06	Oxford	48-36	Norwich
13/06	Coventry	43-41	West Ham
09/06	West Ham	45-39	Coventry
17/08	Wimbledon	46-38	Swindon
08/08	Swindon	51-33	Wimbledon

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
08/08	Belle Vue	32a-28a	Oxford
12/09	Belle Vue	46-38	Oxford
06/08	Oxford	49-35	Belle Vue
01/09	West Ham	51-33	Swindon
05/09	Swindon	43-41	West Ham

a=abandoned after 10 heats

Final

first leg

22 September 1964

West Ham Hammers Stan Stevens 11 Björn Knutson 9 Bengt Jansson 9 Reg Luckhurst 9 Ray Cresp 7 Malcolm Simmons 3 Norman Hunter 2 Alf Hagon 2	52–32	Oxford Cheetahs Ron How 8 Jimmy Gooch 7 Ronnie Genz 6 Arne Pander 4 Eddie Reeves 3 Colin Gooddy 2 John Bishop 2 Ted Ede 0
	[10]

West Ham Stadium

second leg

24 September 1964

Oxford Cheetahs Colin Gooddy 10 Ron How 9 Jack Geran 8 Ronnie Genz 8 Arne Pander 7 Jimmy Gooch 5 Eddie Reeves 4 John Bishop 2	53–31	West Ham Hammers Björn Knutson 10 Bengt Jansson 7 Stan Stevens 5 Bob Dugard 5 Ray Cresp 2 Reg Luckhurst 1 Norman Hunter 1 Alf Hagon 0
	[10]

Oxford Stadium

Oxford Cheetahs were declared National Trophy Champions, winning on aggregate 85-83.

London Cup

Just two teams competed. Wimbledon won on aggregate 87–81 ^[11]

Team 1	Team 2	Score	Scorers	Scorers
Wimbledon	West Ham	47–37	Harrfeldt 10, Nordin 9, Jackson 9, Andrews 8, Tebby 5, McAuliffe 5, Whipp 1, Baker 0	Jansson 10, Knutson 9, Luckhurst 4 Dugard 4, Ray Cresp 3, Stevens 3, Hagon 3, Hunter 1
West Ham	Wimbledon	44–40	Knutson 12, Simmons 7, Luckhurst 7, Hunter 5, Hagon 3, Cresp 3, Jansson 3	Andrews 11, Nordin 6, McAuliffe 6, Tebby 6, Jackson 5, Stan Stevens 4, Harrfeldt 3, Baker 2, Whipp 2

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

• Sören Sjösten 9.62
• Dick Fisher 8.77
• Cyril Maidment 7.84
• Gordon McGregor 5.60
• Jim Yacoby 4.47
• Danny Dunton 3.50
• Bill Powell 3.24
• Norman Nevitt 3.11
• Dave Schofield 2.00

Coventry

• Nigel Boocock 10.44
• Ken McKinlay 9.92
• Ron Mountford 7.31
• Jim Lightfoot 7.10
• Col Cottrell 5.14
• Les Owen 5.00
• Bryan Elliott 4.97
• Jack Biggs 4.86
• Rick France 4.74
• Howie Booton 0.67

Norwich

• Ove Fundin 10.71
• Olle Nygren 8.65
• David Crane 7.45
• Trevor Hedge 7.68
• Billy Bales 6.12
• Tich Read (George Snailum) 4.69
• Sándor Lévai 4.57
• George Major 4.00
• Reg Trott 3.89
• Cyril Crane 1.33
• John Debbage 0.50

Oxford

• Ron How 9.84
• Arne Pander 8.00
• Jimmy Gooch 8.00
• Ronnie Genz 7.27
• Colin Gooddy 6.70
• Jack Geran 6.47
• John Bishop 4.57
• Eddie Reeves 3.83
• Colin McKee 3.67

Swindon

• Barry Briggs 10.51
• Mike Broadbank 9.80
• Brian Brett 6.98
• Tadeusz Teodorowicz 6.57
• Martin Ashby 6.00
• Leo McAuliffe 5.50
• Bob Kilby 4.97
• Roy Bowers 2.94
• John Debbage 2.92
• Mike Keen 2.40
• Colin Pratt 2.33
• George Summers 1.78

West Ham

• Björn Knutson 9.16
• Alf Hagon 7.08
• Bengt Jansson 6.93
• Norman Hunter 6.38
• Malcolm Simmons 6.33
• Reg Luckhurst 6.33
• Stan Stevens 5.45
• Ray Cresp 5.03
• Bob Dugard 3.68

Wimbledon

• Göte Nordin 10.62
• Bob Andrews 6.88
• Sverre Harrfeldt 6.87
• Leo McAuliffe 7.06
• Gerald Jackson 5.18
• Keith Whipp 3.20
• Jim Tebby 3.11
• Roy Trigg 3.00
• Ernie Baker 2.86

See also

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

References

1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
2. "League Tables".
3. "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
4. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN   0-904584-45-3.
5. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
6. "1964 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
7. "1964 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
8. "Rider Averages" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 July 2017.
9. "1964 National Trophy". Speedway archive.
10. "Oxford 1964" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
11. "Speedway" . Daily Mirror. 30 September 1964. Retrieved 26 September 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.