1978 National League season

1978 National League season

League	National League
No. of competitors	20
Champions	Canterbury Crusaders
Knockout Cup	Eastbourne Eagles
Individual	Steve Koppe
Pairs	Ellesmere Port Gunners
Fours	Peterborough Panthers
Highest average	Tom Owen
Division/s above	1978 British League
← 1977 1979 →

The 1978 National League was contested as the second division of Speedway in the United Kingdom. ^[1]

Summary

Newport Dragons dropped out of the league after just one season of second tier racing, however two new entrants - Milton Keynes Knights and Barrow Furness Flyers - saw the league expanded to twenty teams. Weymouth changed their nickname from Wizards to Wildcats.

Former Leicester and Teesside promoter Ron Wilson brought speedway to Milton Keynes ^[2] with a team called the Knights who would race at the Milton Keynes Greyhound Stadium (known in speedway circles as the Groveway). ^[3]

Canterbury Crusaders won the National League title. ^{[4] [5]} Although equal on points with Newcastle Diamonds they won by virtue of the fact that their race points difference was greater than their rival. ^[6] It was Canterbury's second title win in eight years, previously winning in 1970. The Crusaders were led by heavy scoring from Les Rumsey and Riders' Champion Steve Koppe, while Newcastle's Tom Owen topped the averages for the second consecutive year. ^[7]

Earlier in the season 18 year-old junior rider Chris Prime was representing Newcastle when he was killed in the National League match against Mildenhall on 3 April. ^[8]

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Canterbury Crusaders	38	30	0	8	60
2	Newcastle Diamonds	38	29	2	7	60
3	Rye House Rockets	38	27	0	11	54
4	Eastbourne Eagles	38	25	1	12	51
5	Ellesmere Port Gunners	38	24	0	14	48
6	Peterborough Panthers	38	22	1	15	45
7	Oxford Cheetahs	38	20	4	14	44
8	Stoke Potters	38	21	1	16	43
9	Glasgow Tigers	38	19	1	18	39
10	Crayford Kestrels	38	16	2	20	34
11	Berwick Bandits	38	17	0	21	34
12	Mildenhall Fen Tigers	38	16	1	21	33
13	Weymouth Wildcats	38	16	0	22	32
14	Workington Comets	38	16	0	22	32
15	Edinburgh Monarchs	38	15	1	22	31
16	Milton Keynes Knights	38	12	6	20	30
17	Boston Barracudas	38	13	2	23	28
18	Teesside Tigers	38	12	0	26	24
19	Scunthorpe Saints	38	9	2	27	20
20	Barrow Furness Flyers	38	8	2	28	18

National League Knockout Cup

The 1978 National League Knockout Cup was the 11th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Eastbourne Eagles were the winners of the competition for the second successive year. ^[9]

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
13/05	Stoke	51-27	Workington
12/05	Workington	40-38	Stoke
29/05	Newcastle	43-33	Teesside
01/06	Teesside	39-39	Newcastle
21/05	Rye House	58-20	Milton Keynes
23/05	Milton Keynes	26-52	Rye House
19/05	Ellesmere Port	47-31	Berwick
21/05	Berwick	35-42	Ellesmere Port

Second round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
11/06	Eastbourne	57-21	Scunthorpe
12/06	Scunthorpe	28-47	Eastbourne
23/06	Peterborough	43-35	Barrow
20/06	Barrow	33-45	Peterborough
08/06	Oxford	47-31	Stoke
10/06	Stoke	43-35	Oxford
25/06	Mildenhall	56-21	Newcastle
26/06	Newcastle	40-38	Mildenhall
11/06	Rye House	52-26	Glasgow
16/06	Glasgow	39-39	Rye House
04/07	Crayford	46-32	Edinburgh
30/06	Edinburgh	40-38	Crayford
17/06	Canterbury	48-27	Weymouth
20/06	Weymouth	37-41	Canterbury
07/07	Ellesmere Port	54-23	Boston
25/06	Boston	36-42	Ellesmere Port

Quarter-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
06/08	Eastbourne	45-30	Peterborough
11/08	Peterborough	39-38	Eastbourne
10/08	Oxford	43-34	Mildenhall
09/07	Mildenhall	40-38	Oxford
09/07	Rye House	44-34	Crayford
18/07	Crayford	39-39	Rye House
12/08	Canterbury	55-23	Ellesmere
28/07	Ellesmere	48-30	Canterbury

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
27/08	Eastbourne	56-22	Oxford
07/09	Oxford	32-45	Eastbourne
24/09	Rye House	57-20	Canterbury
30/09	Canterbury	41-37	Rye House

Final

First leg

22 October 1978

Eastbourne Eagles Dave Kennett 10 Mike Sampson 9 Steve Naylor 9 Eric Dugard 8 Roger Abel 6 Paul Woods 4 Ian Fletcher 0	46 – 32	Rye House Rockets Bob Garrad 11 Ted Hubbard 7 Ashley Pullen 6 Kelvin Mullarkey 4 Kevin Smith 2 Karl Fiala 1 Hugh Saunders 1
	[10]

Arlington Stadium

Second leg

29 October 1978

Rye House Rockets Ted Hubbard 10 Kelvin Mullarkey 9 Bob Garrad 9 Hugh Saunders 5 Karl Fiala 4 Kevin Smith 4 Ashley Pullen 0	41 – 37	Eastbourne Eagles Eric Dugard 11 Dave Kennett 7 Mike Sampson 6 Roger Abel 4 Paul Woods 4 Steve Naylor 3 Ian Fletcher 2
	[10]

Rye House Stadium

Eastbourne were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 83–73.

Riders' Championship

Steve Koppe won the Riders' Championship, held at Wimbledon Stadium on 23 September 1978. ^[11]

Pos.	Rider	Pts	Total
1	Steve Koppe	3 3 3 2 3	14
2	John Jackson	3 3 2 2 3	13
3	Ted Hubbard	3 2 2 3 2	12+3
4	Dave Gooderham	1 2 3 3 3	12+2
5	Ray Bales	2 0 3 3 3	11
6	Tom Owen	1 1 2 3 2	9
7	Arthur Price	3 2 2 1 1	9
8	Danny Kennedy	0 1 3 2 2	8
9	Laurie Etheridge	2 3 0 1 1	7
10	Tony Lomas	1 1 1 2 1	6
11	Graham Jones	1 3 1 0 0	5
12	Rob Hollingworth	0 2 1 1 0	4
13	George Hunter	2 1	3
14	Steve Wilcock (res)	1 1 0 1	3
15	Nicky Allott	0 0 0 0 2	2
16	Mike Sampson	2	2
17	Steve Lawson	0 0 0 0 0	0

Pairs

The National League Pairs was held at The Shay on 15 July and was won by Ellesmere Port. ^[12]

Group A Pos Team Pts Riders 1 Newcastle 15 Owen T 9 Blackadder 6 2 Stoke 10 Lomas 6 Harrhy 4 3 Crayford 6 Etheridge 3 Sage 3 4 Oxford 5 Hunter 3 Hack 2

Group B Pos Team Pts Riders 1 Eastbourne 11 Sampson 9 Naylor 2 2 Peterborough 10 Gooderham 8 Hines A 2 3 Workington 9 Price 6 Maxfield 3 4 Berwick 6 Jones 4 Hiftle 2

Group C Pos Team Pts Riders 1 Canterbury 13 Rumsey 7 Koppe 6 2 Edinburgh 8 Hollingworth 4 Lomas 4 3 Mildenhall 8 Coles 4 Taylor 4 4 Scunthorpe 7 White 4 Allott 3

Group D Pos Team Pts Riders 1 Ellesmere P 15 Jackson 9 Finch 6 2 Rye House 8 Fiala 5 Hubbard 3 3 Glasgow 7 Lawson 5 Janke 2 4 Weymouth 5 Kennedy 4 Shakespeare 1

Semi finals

• Newcastle bt Canterbury
• Ellesmere Port bt Eastbourne

Final

• Ellesmere Port bt Newcastle

Fours

Peterborough won the fours championship final for the second successive year, held at the East of England Arena on 30 July. ^{[13] [14]}

Semi finals

• SF1 = Stoke 13, Peterborough 12, Newcastle 12, Edinburgh 10
• SF2 = Canterbury 16, Weymouth 12, Ellesmere Port 12, Eastbourne 8

Final

Pos	Team	Pts	Riders
1	Peterborough Panthers	18	Couzens 6, Flatman 5, Hunt 4, Gooderham 3
2	Stoke Potters	12	Robertson 4, Lomas 3, Harrhy 3, Mountford 2
3	Canterbury Crusaders	9	Koppe 4, Clifton 3, Ferreira 2, Rumsey 0
4	Ellesmere Port Gunners	9	Ellams 4, Collins 3, Carr L 2, Finch 0, Jackson 0

Top Five Riders

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Tom Owen		Newcastle	10.82
2	Bob Humphreys		Milton Keynes	10.59
3	John Jackson		Ellesmere Port	10.36
4	Les Rumsey		Canterbury	9.81
5	Mike Sampson		Eastbourne	9.74

Riders & final averages

Barrow

• Charlie Monk 8.20
• Geoff Pusey 7.22
• Chris Bevan 6.82
• Andy Reid 5.53
• Chris Roynon 5.01
• Ken Murray 4.23
• Mark Courtney 3.61
• Chris Robins 3.13
• Malcolm Chambers 2.29
• Gary Pottenger 2.29
• Les Race 1.74
• Dave Butt 1.73
• Des Wilson 1.25

Berwick

• Graham Jones 8.79
• Roger Wright 7.66
• Mike Hiftle 6.40
• Willie Templeton 6.12
• Mike Fullerton 6.02
• Dave Gifford 5.62
• Colin Caffrey 4.25
• Wayne Brown 3.94
• Ian Darling 2.72

Boston

• Gary Guglielmi 8.38
• Tony Boyle 7.95
• Steve Clarke 7.11
• Dave Allen 7.02
• Paul Gilbert 6.50
• Stuart Cope 5.36
• Andy Fisher 5.33
• Craig Featherby 5.26
• Dave Mortiboys 4.94
• Ron Cooper 4.13
• Roger Lambert 4.00
• Keith Bloxsome 3.79
• Dennis Mallett 2.93

Canterbury

• Les Rumsey 9.81
• Steve Koppe 9.68
• Graham Banks 8.11
• Mike Ferreira 7.65
• Bob Spelta 7.54
• Graham Clifton 7.48
• Brendan Shiletto 6.58
• Barney Kennett 6.48
• Dave Piddock 5.65
• Derek Hole 3.71

Crayford

• Laurie Etheridge 9.34
• Alan Sage 8.63
• Alan Johns 6.28
• Pete Wigley 5.19
• Richard Davey 5.18
• Tony Featherstone 5.02
• John Hooper 4.36

Eastbourne

• Mike Sampson 9.74
• Dave Kennett 8.93
• Eric Dugard 8.88
• Roger Abel 7.40
• Steve Naylor 7.31
• Paul Woods 6.64
• Colin Ackroyd 5.94
• John Barker 5.78

Edinburgh

• Rob Hollingworth 7.39
• Bert Harkins 7.17
• Steve Lomas 6.93
• Dave Trownson 6.55
• Brian Collins 6.04
• Steve McDermott 6.00
• Ivan Blacka 5.11
• Alan Morrison 4.67
• Alan Bridgett 4.75
• Mark Stokes 2.00

Ellesmere Port

• John Jackson 10.36
• Steve Finch 9.28
• Phil Collins 8.70
• John Williams 5.77
• Louis Carr 5.73
• Paul Tyrer 5.13
• Pete Ellams 4.39
• Steve Taylor 4.06
• Neil Collins 2.87

Glasgow

• Steve Lawson 7.93
• Derek Richardson 7.52
• Merv Janke 7.51
• Benny Rourke 6.68
• Colin Farquharson 4.64
• Jim Beaton 4.49
• Charlie McKinna 3.54
• Keith Bloxsome 3.50
• Terry Kelly 3.48
• Mick Newton 2.97

Mildenhall

• Ray Bales 9.12
• Bob Coles 8.35
• Melvyn Taylor 8.35
• Robert Henry 6.47
• Neil Leeks 6.31
• Mike Spink 6.26
• Mick Bates 5.43
• Richard Knight 4.31

Milton Keynes

• Bob Humphreys 10.59
• Derek Harrison 6.87
• Chris Robins 6.52
• Andy Grahame 6.17
• Malcolm Holloway 5.39
• Cliff Anderson 4.93
• Phil Bass 4.82
• Harry Maclean 4.57
• Richard Evans 3.04

Newcastle

• Tom Owen 10.82
• Robbie Blackadder 9.10
• Kenny Carter 7.58
• Robbie Gardner 7.40
• Graeme Stapleton 6.55
• Rod Hunter 6.54
• Neil Coddington 4.16
• Nigel Crabtree 3.56

Oxford

• George Hunter 9.53
• David Shields 8.75
• John Hack 7.37
• Carl Askew 7.08
• Colin Meredith 6.87
• Pip Lamb 6.39
• James Moore 5.81
• Mick Handley 5.47
• Les Sawyer 3.26

Peterborough

• Dave Gooderham 8.36
• Ian Clark 8.03
• Andy Hines 7.97
• Nigel Flatman 7.48
• Kevin Hawkins 6.67
• Tim Hunt 6.54
• Brian Clark 6.38
• Nigel Couzens 6.07
• Peter Spink 4.74

Rye House

• Ted Hubbard 9.32
• Kelvin Mullarkey 9.11
• Karl Fiala 7.81
• Hugh Saunders 7.74
• Bobby Garrad 7.52
• Ashley Pullen 6.86
• Peter Tarrant 4.85
• Bob Cooper 4.84
• Kevin Smith 4.82

Scunthorpe

• Nicky Allott 9.03
• John McNeill 7.96
• Arthur Browning 6.03
• Phil White 5.63
• Mick Handley 4.29
• Danny Boyle 4.00
• Trevor Whiting 4.00
• Danny Young 3.47
• Paul Cooper 2.77
• John Priest 2.24

Stoke

• Tony Lomas 9.07
• Ian Gledhill 7.45
• John Harrhy 6.98
• Stuart Mountford 6.93
• Ian Robertson 6.89
• Tim Nunan 6.20
• Frank Smith 6.05
• Ian Jeffcoate 4.20

Teesside

• Steve Wilcock 7.94
• Nigel Close 7.39
• Pete Smith 7.23
• Pete Reading 6.13
• Martyn Cusworth 4.75
• Peter Spink 4.46
• Martin Dixon 4.09
• Bob Watts 3.79
• John Robson 3.14
• Dave Gatenby 2.90

Weymouth

• Danny Kennedy 9.16
• Malcolm Shakespeare 7.49
• Sean Willmott 6.96
• Malcolm Corradine 6.76
• Geoff Swindells 6.56
• Gary Ford 5.46
• Mick Conroy 3.77
• Nigel Davis 2.83

Workington

• Arthur Price 8.63
• Brian Havelock 8.39
• Rob Maxfield 7.66
• Ian Hindle 6.40
• Mark Dickinson 5.14
• David Coles 4.82
• Andy Margarson 4.79
• Des Wilson 4.43
• Tony Childs 3.27

See also

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

References

1. "About - Exeter Speedway 1978". Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
2. "Talking Sport" . Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph. 21 January 1978. Retrieved 29 September 2024– via British Newspaper Archive.
3. "Join out joust with Knights of Milton Keynes" . Daily Mirror. 21 March 1978. Retrieved 29 September 2024– via British Newspaper Archive.
4. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
5. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 101. ISBN   0-86215-017-5.
6. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
7. "Teams". wwosbackup. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
8. "Chris Prime Newcastle History". Newcastle Speedway. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
9. "1978 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
10. "1978 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
11. "Bales edged out" . Cambridge Daily News. 25 September 1978. Retrieved 20 June 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
12. "1978 season results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
13. "Speedway" . Daily Mirror. 31 July 1978. Retrieved 10 May 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
14. "1978 full season results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 11 May 2023.