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1976 National League season

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1976 National League season
LeagueNational League
No. of competitors18
ChampionsNewcastle Diamonds
Knockout CupNewcastle Diamonds
IndividualJoe Owen
PairsEllesmere Port Gunners
FoursNewcastle Diamonds
Highest averageJoe Owen
Division/s above1976 British League

The 1976 National League was contested as the second division of Speedway in the United Kingdom having been renamed from the previous season's moniker of New National League.[1][2][3]

Summary

[edit]

The league was reduced from 20 teams down to 18, following the loss of three teams and gain of one. Birmingham Brummies moved up to the British League and Bradford Barons and Crewe Kings both closed down.[4] Sadly for Crewe the team would never return.[5] The additional team was the Oxford Cheetahs, who had returned to their traditional name following a three year period known as the Oxford Rebels. The Rebels team and promoters had moved to White City during the winter[6] but Oxford were saved by new promoters Harry Bastable and Tony Allsop after a committee of fans had created a "Save Our Stadium" campaign over the previous winter.[7][8]

Newcastle Diamonds comfortably won their first National League title, completing a cup double, and dropping only seven points.[9][10] The Owen brothers Joe Owen and Tom Owen topped the averages for the second consecutive year. Joe finished with an 11+ average and won the British League Division Two Riders Championship and Newcastle completed the league and cup double.

Final table

[edit]
Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Newcastle Diamonds 34 30 1 3 61
2 Ellesmere Port Gunners 34 24 1 9 49
3 Workington Comets 34 20 1 13 41
4 Canterbury Crusaders 34 20 0 14 40
5 Rye House Rockets 34 17 2 15 36
6 Crayford Kestrels 34 17 1 16 35
7 Coatbridge Tigers 34 17 1 16 35
8 Eastbourne Eagles 34 17 0 17 34
9 Peterborough Panthers 34 16 2 16 34
10 Berwick Bandits 34 17 0 17 34
11 Stoke Potters 34 15 1 18 31
12 Boston Barracudas 34 15 1 18 31
13 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 34 15 1 18 31
14 Oxford Cheetahs 34 14 1 19 29
15 Weymouth Wizards 34 11 2 21 24
16 Paisley Lions 34 12 0 22 24
17 Scunthorpe Saints 34 11 1 22 23
18 Teesside Tigers 34 10 0 24 20

Top Five Riders (League Averages)

[edit]
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Joe Owen England Newcastle 11.55
2 Tom Owen England Newcastle 10.28
3 Steve Weatherley England Eastbourne 10.27
4 John Jackson England Ellesmere Port 10.20
5 Laurie Etheridge England Crayford 9.96

National League Knockout Cup

[edit]

The 1976 Speedway Star Knockout Cup was the ninth edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Newcastle Diamonds were the winners of the competition.[11]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
22/04 Oxford 48-30 Weymouth
20/04 Weymouth 40-38 Oxford

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
01/06 Ellesmere Port 46-32 Paisley
27/05 Stoke 37-41 Newcastle
24/05 Newcastle 59-19 Stoke
23/05 Mildenhall 38-40 Peterborough
22/05 Paisley 36-42 Ellesmere Port
21/05 Peterborough 42-36 Mildenhall
17/05 Scunthorpe 43-35 Berwick
16/05 Eastbourne 41-37 Oxford
16/05 Workington 46-32 Coatbridge
14/05 Coatbridge 33-45 Workington
13/05 Oxford 47-31 Eastbourne
11/05 Crayford 46-32 Boston
09/05 Boston 48-30 Crayford
02/05 Rye House 45-32 Canterbury
01/05 Berwick 45-32 Scunthorpe
01/05 Canterbury 44-34 Rye House
23/04 Coatbridge 52-25 Teesside
22/04 Teesside 46-32 Coatbridge

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
23/07 Workington 46-31 Boston
20/07 Ellesmere Port 50-28 Rye House
18/07 Rye House 38-39 Ellesmere Port
17/07 Berwick 48-30 Oxford
11/07 Boston 48-29 Workington
08/07 Oxford 40-38 Berwick
05/07 Newcastle 47-31 Peterborough
25/06 Peterborough 39-39 Newcastle

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
05/09 Boston 42-35 Berwick
28/08 Berwick 49-29 Boston
17/08 Ellesmere Port 41-37 Newcastle
16/08 Newcastle 46-31 Ellesmere Port

Final

[edit]

First leg

Berwick Bandits
Mike Hiftle 10
Graham Jones 10
Dave Gifford 9
Willie Templeton 5
Eddie Argall 5
Robin Adlington 4
Wayne Brown 0		43 – 35Newcastle Diamonds
Joe Owen 15
Tom Owen 14
Robbie Blackadder 3
Phil Michelidies 1
Andy Cusworth 1
Tim Swales 1
Ron Henderson R/R
[12]

Second leg

Newcastle Diamonds
Joe Owen 12
Tom Owen 12
Ron Henderson 6
Tim Swales 5
Andy Cusworth 5
Robbie Blackadder 4
Phil Michelidies 4		48 – 29Berwick Bandits
Eddie Argall 11
Roger Wright (guest) 6
Dave Gifford 6
Graham Jones 4
Willie Templeton 2
Peter Waite 0
Mike Hiftle R/R
[12]

Newcastle were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 83–72.

Riders' Championship

[edit]

Joe Owen won the Riders' Championship, sponsored by Gauloises and held at Wimbledon Stadium on 2 October.[13]

Pos. Rider Pts Total
1 England Joe Owen 3 3 3 3 2 14
2 England John Jackson 3 3 0 3 3 12+3
3 England Ted Hubbard 1 2 3 3 3 12+2
4 England Alan Emerson 2 2 3 2 2 11
5 England Steve Weatherley 2 3 1 3 1 10
6 England Brian Clark 2 2 2 1 3 10
7 Australia Lou Sansom 3 0 2 2 2 9
8 England Rob Hollingworth 1 1 1 2 3 8
9 England Les Rumsey 3 0 2 1 1 7
10 England Bob Coles 1 1 2 1 2 7
11 Scotland Brian Collins 2 3 0 0 1 6
12 England Laurie Etheridge 1 2 3 0 0 6
13 England Martin Yeates 0 1 0 1 1 3
14 England Graham Jones 0 1 1 0 0 2
15 Australia Carl Askew (res) 0 2 0 2
16 England Keith Evans 0 0 1 1
17 England Les Collins 0 0
18 England Ian Williams (res) 0 0 0 0
  • f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Pairs

[edit]

The National League Pairs was held at Hyde Road on 5 June and was won by Ellesmere Port Gunners.[14]

Semi finals

  • Ellesmere Port bt Workington
  • Newcastle bt Mildenhall

Final

  • Ellesmere Port bt Newcastle

Fours

[edit]

Newcastle won the fours championship final, held at King's Lynn Stadium on 17 July.[15]

Semi finals

  • SF1 = Ellesmere Port 17, Workington 15, Rye House 10, Peterborough 5
  • SF2 = Newcastle 17, Eastbourne 13, Coatbridge 9, Boston 9

Final

Pos Team Pts Riders
1 Newcastle 18 Owen T 6, Owen J 6, Cusworth 3, Michelides 3
2 Eastbourne 13 Weatherley 5, Sampson 4, Richardson 4, Dugard 0, Jarman 0
3 Ellesmere Port 12 Jackson 6, Gardner 3, Turner 2, Finch 1
4 Workington 5 Lawson 4, Goad 1, Havelock 0, Kelly 0

Leading final averages

[edit]
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Joe Owen England Newcastle 11.54
2 Tom Owen England Newcastle 10.43
3 Steve Weatherley England Eastbourne 10.35
4 John Jackson England Ellesmere Port 10.08
5 Laurie Etheridge England Crayford 9.87

Riders & final averages

[edit]

Berwick

Boston

  • Rob Hollingworth 9.63
  • Billy Burton 8.26
  • Paul Gilbert 6.58
  • Stuart Cope 5.82
  • Trevor Whiting 5.57
  • Chris Emery 5.56
  • Steve Clarke 5.28
  • Ron Cooper 5.00
  • Dave Allen 3.46

Canterbury

Coatbridge

Crayford

  • Laurie Etheridge 9.87
  • Alan Sage 8.78
  • Mike Broadbank 7.33
  • Pete Wigley 7.22
  • Alan Johns 6.54
  • Trevor Barnwell 5.71
  • Bill Archer 5.45
  • Richard Davey 4.71
  • Gary Spencer 4.10
  • John Hooper 3.09
  • Dave Shepherd 2.77

Eastbourne

Ellesmere Port

Mildenhall

Newcastle

Oxford

Paisley

  • Colin Farquharson 8.22
  • Mick Fishwick 6.99
  • Stuart Mountford 6.79
  • Mike Fullerton 5.37
  • Alan Bridgett 5.17
  • Sid Sheldrick 5.10
  • Malcolm Chambers 3.96
  • Chris Roynon 3.91
  • Mick Sheldrick 3.83
  • Colin Caffrey 3.16
  • Tom Davie 2.34

Peterborough

Rye House

Scunthorpe

  • Keith Evans 9.27
  • Andy Hines 6.77
  • Tony Boyle 5.97
  • Phil Kynman 5.72
  • Colin Cook 5.34
  • Sid Sheldrick 5.10
  • Ray Watkins 4.98
  • Tony Gillias 4.75

Stoke

Teesside

Weymouth

Workington

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Oakes, P.(2006). Speedway Star Almanac. ISBN 0-9552376-1-0
  2. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  3. ^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  4. ^ "Teams". wwosbackup. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  5. ^ "Crewe Speedway". Defunct Speedway. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  6. ^ Lawson,K (2018) “Rebels 1975 – The Last Season”. ISBN 978-0-244-99725-0
  7. ^ Oakes, P (2006). Speedway Star Almanac. Pinegen Ltd. ISBN 0-9552376-1-0.
  8. ^ Lawson,K (2018) “The Cheetahs – The Resurrection”. ISBN 978-0-244-69934-5
  9. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  10. ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 101. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  11. ^ "1976 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  12. ^ a b "1976 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  13. ^ "Joe Owen gains speedway double". Lincolnshire Echo. 4 October 1976. Retrieved 17 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. ^ "1976 season results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  15. ^ "Brothers clinch win for Diamonds". Lynn Advertiser. 20 July 1976. Retrieved 9 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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