1980 National League season

Last updated

1980 National League season
League National League
No. of competitors20
Champions Rye House Rockets
Knockout Cup Berwick Bandits
Individual Wayne Brown
Pairs Middlesbrough Tigers
Fours Crayford Kestrels
Highest average Dave Perks
Division/s above 1980 British League

The 1980 National League was contested as the second division of Speedway in the United Kingdom. [1]

Contents

Summary

The league was increased from 19 teams to 20 from the previous season. Exeter Falcons dropped down from the British League to join the 19 incumbent sides. [2]

Rye House Rockets who had been pipped to the title in the previous season in the last meeting, won the title by just one point from Newcastle Diamonds to win their first National League title. [3] [4] Rye House had managed to retain all of their top riders from the previous season and the solid performances of Bob Garrad, Karl Fiala, Kelvin Mullarkey and Kevin Smith for the second year running made up for the disappointment of 1979. Newcastle's second-place finish was remarkable bearing in mind that they had lost the league's leading rider Tom Owen to Hull Vikings in the highest division. [5] Despite signing 1979 Riders' champion Ian Gledhill, the defending champions Mildenhall suffered after losing Melvyn Taylor and Mick Hines to other teams. [5]

Final table

PosTeamPLWDLPts
1 Rye House Rockets 38310762
2 Newcastle Diamonds 38301761
3 Middlesbrough Tigers 38272956
4 Berwick Bandits 382411349
5 Edinburgh Monarchs 382321348
6 Boston Barracudas 382321348
7 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 382121544
8 Peterborough Panthers 382101742
9 Crayford Kestrels 372011641
10 Ellesmere Port Gunners 382011741
11 Glasgow Tigers 381921740
12 Exeter Falcons 381712035
13 Scunthorpe Stags 381512231
14 Nottingham Outlaws 381422230
15 Oxford Cheetahs 381412329
16 Stoke Potters 381402428
17 Weymouth Wildcats 371312327
18 Canterbury Crusaders 381042424
19 Milton Keynes Knights 38822818
20 Workington Comets 3820364

National League Knockout Cup

The 1980 National League Knockout Cup was the 13th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Berwick Bandits were the winners of the competition for the first time, having been runners-up three times in the previous four seasons. [6]

First round

DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
03/05Berwick52-26Newcastle
28/04Newcastle41-37Berwick
25/05Mildenhall45-33Rye House
26/05Rye House44-34Mildenhall
04/05Boston54-24Stoke
05/05Stoke27-51Boston

Second round

DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
07/06Berwick46-32Ellesmere Port
13/06Ellesmere Port42-36Berwick
23/05Edinburgh42-34Glasgow
25/05Glasgow40-37Edinburgh
01/06Mildenhall46-32Nottingham
18/06Nottingham37-41Mildenhall
07/06Canterbury44-33Milton Keynes
10/06Milton Keynes40-38Canterbury
19/06Middlesbrough51-27Scunthorpe
29/06Scunthorpe37-40Middlesbrough
05/06Oxford40-37Weymouth
27/06Weymouth40-38Oxford
08/06Boston59-19Workington
11/07Workington26-52Boston
13/06Peterborough42-25Crayford
22/07Crayford41-37Peterborough

Quarter-finals

DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
20/07Berwick47-31Edinburgh
18/07Edinburgh39-39Berwick
23/07Mildenhall51-27Canterbury
26/07Canterbury44-34Mildenhall
24/07Middlesbrough45-33Oxford
06/08Oxford32-46Middlesbrough
31/08Boston50-27Peterborough
12/09Peterborough39-39Boston

Semi-finals

DateTeam oneScoreTeam two
06/09Berwick52-26Mildenhall
07/09Mildenhall41-37Berwick
18/09Middlesbrough54-24Boston
05/10Boston42-36Middlesbrough

Final

First leg

Middlesbrough Tigers
Brian Havelock 10
Mike Spink 10
Steve Wilcock 9
Mark Courtney 6
Geoff Pusey 4
Martin Dixon 3
John Clegg 0
42 – 36 Berwick Bandits
Mike Fullerton 11
Steve McDermott 9
Brett Saunders 6
Mike Caroline 5
Rob Grant 3
Nigel Close 2
Wayne Brown R/R
[7]

Second leg

Berwick Bandits
Steve McDermott 15
Mike Fullerton 9
Nigel Close 8
Rob Grant 8
Brett Saunders 3
Mike Caroline 0
Wayne Brown R/R
43 – 34 Middlesbrough Tigers
Mark Courtney 11
Steve Wilcock 9
Geoff Pusey 6
Martin Dixon 6
Mike Spink 2
John Clegg 0
Alan Armstrong 0
[7]
Brough Park* (Berwick evicted from Shielfield Park)

Berwick were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 79–76.

Riders' Championship

Wayne Brown won the Riders' Championship, sponsored by Toshiba and held at Wimbledon Stadium on 28 September 1980. [8]

Pos.RiderPtsTotal
1 Flag of New Zealand.svg Wayne Brown 3 3 3 3 214
2 Flag of England.svg Martin Yeates 2 1 3 3 312
3 Flag of England.svg Steve Finch 2 2 2 3 312
4 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Gary Guglielmi 3 0 3 1 310
5 Flag of England.svg Paul Woods 2 3 3 210
6 Flag of Zimbabwe.svg Mike Ferreira 3 1 2 2 210
7 Flag of England.svg Mike Sampson 3 2 2 2 110
8 Flag of England.svg Rob Maxfield 0 3 0 2 38
9 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Rod Hunter 1 1 3 16
10 Flag of England.svg Kelvin Mullarkey 1 2 1 1 16
11 Flag of England.svg Steve Wilcock 2 0 0 2 15
12 Flag of England.svg Andy Hines 1 1 2 1 05
13 Flag of England.svg Phil White 1 0 1 1 25
14 Flag of England.svg Ray Bales 3 1 04
15 Flag of England.svg Derek Harrison 0 2 0 0 02
16 Flag of England.svg Graham Knowler 1 0 0 01
17 Flag of England.svg Keith Yorke 00

Pairs

The National League Pairs was held at The Shay on 19 July and was won by Middlesbrough Tigers. [9] [10]

Semi finals

Final

Fours

Crayford Kestrels won the fours championship final, held at the East of England Arena on 27 July. [11] [12]

Semi finals

Final

PosTeamPtsRiders
1 Crayford Kestrels 14Rumsey 7, Woods 4, Naylor 3, Sage 0, Etheridge 0
2 Rye House Rockets 13Garrad 4 Mullarkey 4, Smith 3, Pullen 2, Fiala 0
3 Ellesmere Port Gunners 12Carr L 5, Jackson 3, Carr P 2, Finch 2, Ellams 0
4 Stoke Potters 9Burton 6, Sawyer 2, Boyle 1, Stead 0, Evitts 0

Leading final averages

RiderNatTeamC.M.A.
1 Dave Perks Flag of England.svg Oxford Cheetahs 10.82
2 Paul Woods Flag of England.svg Crayford Kestrels 10.47
3 Mike Ferreira Flag of Zimbabwe.svg Canterbury Crusaders 10.32
4 Steve Wilcock Flag of England.svg Middlesbrough Tigers 10.28
5 Steve Lawson Flag of England.svg Glasgow Tigers 10.17

Riders & final averages

Berwick

Boston

Canterbury

Crayford

Edinburgh

Ellesmere Port

Exeter

Glasgow

Middlesbrough

Mildenhall

Milton Keynes

Newcastle

Nottingham

Oxford

Peterborough

Rye House

Scunthorpe

Stoke

Weymouth

Workington

See also

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References

  1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  3. Oakes, Peter (1981). Daily Mirror 1981 Speedway Yearbook, pages 101. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. ISBN   0-86215-017-5.
  4. "About - Exeter Speedway 1980". Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Teams". wwosbackup. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  6. "1980 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  7. 1 2 "1980 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  8. "Brown the King" . Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 1 October 1979. Retrieved 20 June 2023 via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. "1980 season results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  10. "Tigers pairs champs" . Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 20 July 1980. Retrieved 22 May 2023 via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. "Speedway" . Daily Mirror. 28 July 1980. Retrieved 10 May 2023 via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 69. ISBN   0-86215-017-5.