Wikipedia

1979 National League season

The 1979 National League was contested as the second division/tier of Speedway in the United Kingdom.[1][2]

1979 National League season
LeagueNational League
No. of competitors19
ChampionsMildenhall Fen Tigers
Knockout CupRye House Rockets
IndividualIan Gledhill
PairsMilton Keynes Knights
FoursEllesmere Port Gunners
Highest averageTom Owen
Division/s above1979 British League

Summary

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The league was reduced from 20 teams to 19 from the previous season. White City Rebels closure saw their riders move to Eastbourne Eagles, who moved up to the British League and Barrow Furness Flyers dropped out. Teesside Tigers changed their name to Middlesbrough Tigers and Scunthorpe Saints changed their name to Scunthorpe Stags and left the Quibell Park Stadium for Ashby Ville Stadium.[3][4] Long Eaton Stadium saw the return of speedway under the promotion of Dan McCormick but his decision to call the team the "Nottingham Outlaws" upset the supporters club.[5]

Tom Owen of Newcastle topped the averages for the third consecutive year and Ian Gledhill, riding for Stoke won the Riders' Championship but both Newcastle and Stoke finished well behind Mildenhall Fen Tigers and Rye House Rockets in the league table.[6] In a season that would go down to the last match, Mildenhall won their first title in their history. The consistency of four riders, Ray Bales, Mick Hines, Melvyn Taylor and Robert Henry was the crucial factor to their success.[6]

There was a controversial end to the season when Rye House visited Mildenhall, needing a draw to win the title. Needing a 5-1 in the last heat to tie the match, Rocket Karl Fiala's exclusion prompted team-mate Bob Garrad to withdraw from the re-run in protest. Mildenhall went on to win at bottom club Scunthorpe Saints in the last match of the season to win the title by one point.[1][7][8]

Final table

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Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 36 30 0 6 60
2 Rye House Rockets 36 29 1 6 59
3 Oxford Cheetahs 36 24 1 11 49
4 Berwick Bandits 36 21 3 12 45
5 Milton Keynes Knights 36 21 0 15 42
6 Newcastle Diamonds 36 20 0 16 40
7 Glasgow Tigers 36 19 0 17 38
8 Peterborough Panthers 36 18 2 16 38
9 Ellesmere Port Gunners 36 18 1 17 37
10 Canterbury Crusaders 36 17 2 17 36
11 Middlesbrough Tigers 36 17 1 18 35
12 Crayford Kestrels 36 16 0 20 32
13 Stoke Potters 36 15 2 19 32
14 Nottingham Outlaws 36 14 1 21 29
15 Workington Comets 36 14 1 21 29
16 Boston Barracudas 36 13 2 21 28
17 Edinburgh Monarchs 36 13 1 22 27
18 Weymouth Wildcats 36 9 1 26 19
19 Scunthorpe Stags 36 4 1 31 9

National League Knockout Cup

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The 1979 National League Knockout Cup was the 12th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Rye House Rockets were the winners of the competition.[9]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
29/04 Rye House 56-22 Weymouth
22/05 Weymouth 34-44 Rye House
20/04 Edinburgh 46-32 Boston
10/06 Boston 44-34 Edinburgh

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
03/06 Rye House 54-24 Glasgow
08/06 Glasgow 47-31 Rye House
15/06 Workington 46-30 Middlesbrough
14/06 Middlesbrough 45-32 Workington
10/06 Mildenhall 53-25 Ellesmere Port
08/06 Ellesmere Port 41-37 Mildenhall
19/06 Crayford 44-34 Edinburgh
06/07 Edinburgh 39-39 Crayford
09/06 Berwick 60-18 Scunthorpe
04/06 Scunthorpe 38-40 Berwick
14/06 Oxford 45-33 Peterborough
08/06 Peterborough 34-44 Oxford
18/06 Newcastle 57-21 Canterbury
26/05 Canterbury 39-39 Newcastle
12/06 Milton Keynes 50-28 Stoke
09/06 Stoke 42-36 Milton Keynes

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
15/07 Rye House 59-19 Workington
29/06 Workington 49-29 Rye House
25/07 Mildenhall 56-22 Crayford
10/07 Crayford 39-39 Mildenhall
? Berwick 51-27 Oxford
05/07 Oxford 44-34 Berwick
09/07 Newcastle 53-25 Milton Keynes
10/07 Milton Keynes 35-42 Newcastle

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
27/08 Rye House 44-34 Mildenhall
26/08 Mildenhall 38-40 Rye House
22/09 Berwick 47-31 Newcastle
19/08 Newcastle 46-32 Berwick

Final

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First leg

Rye House Rockets
Bob Garrad 10
Karl Fiala 10
Kelvin Mullarkey 10
Ashley Pullen 9
Ted Hubbar 8
Peter Tarrant 6
Simon Aindow 1		54 – 24Berwick Bandits
Wayne Brown 8
Nigel Close 6
Graham Jones 3
Mike Fullerton 3
Roger Wright 2
Phil Kynman 2
Rob Grant 0
[10]

Second leg

Berwick Bandits
Roger Wright 10
Wayne Brown 10
Nigel Close 8
Graham Jones 4
Mike Caroline 4
Rob Grant 4
Phil Kynman 0		40 – 38Rye House Rockets
Karl Fiala 11
Bob Garrad 7
Kelvin Mullarkey 7
Ashley Pullen 5
Ted Hubbard 5
Peter Tarrant 3
Simon Aindow 0
[10]

Rye House were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 92–64.

Riders' Championship

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Ian Gledhill won the Riders' Championship, sponsored by Gauloises and held at Wimbledon Stadium on 29 September 1979.[11]

Pos. Rider Pts Total
1   Ian Gledhill 3 3 3 3 2 14
2   Steve Wilcock 2 2 3 3 2 12
3   Andy Grahame 1 3 2 3 2 11+3
4   Nigel Boocock 2 2 3 1 3 11+2
5   Alan Emerson 1 1 1 3 3 9
6   Karl Fiala 3 1 2 2 1 9
7   Rob Hollingworth 0 3 3 1 1 8
8   John Jackson 3 2 1 2 0 8
9   Les Rumsey 1 2 2 0 3 8
10   Ray Bales 3 0 0 2 3 8
11   Nigel Flatman 2 1 2 1 2 8
12   Dave Perks 2 3 1 ret 1 7
13   Steve Lawson 0 0 1 2 0 3
14   Steve Naylor 0 1 0 1 1 3
15   Brian Woodward 1 f 0 0 0 1
16   Graham Jones 0 0 0 0 0 0
17   Dave Brewer (res) 0 0
  • f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Pairs

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The National League Pairs was held at The Shay on 21 July and was won by Milton Keynes Knights.[12][13]

Semi finals

  • Milton Keynes bt Newcastle
  • Ellesmere Port bt Nottingham

Final

  • Milton Keynes bt Ellesmere Port

Fours

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Ellesmere Port Gunners won the fours championship final, held at the East of England Arena on 29 July.[14][15]

Semi finals

  • SF1 = Peterborough 18, Ellesmere Port 14, Rye House 12, Oxford 4
  • SF2 = Mildenhall 18, Berwick 11, Newcastle 10, Boston 9

Final

Pos Team Pts Riders
1 Ellesmere Port Gunners 17 Jackson 6, Carr L 6, Finch 5, Ellams 0, Monaghan 0
2 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 15 Hines 5, Bales 4, Taylor 3, Henry 3
3 Peterborough Panthers 9 Gooderham 4, Flatman 2, Hines 1, Spink 1, Clark B 1
4 Berwick Bandits 7 Brown 5, Close 2, Kynman 0, Jones 0, Matthews 0

Final leading averages

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The top ten averages of the National League.[16]

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Tom Owen   Newcastle Diamonds 11.18
2 George Hunter   Oxford Cheetahs 10.86
3 Dave Perks   Nottingham Outlaws 10.13
4 Les Rumsey   Oxford Cheetahs 9.78
5 Mike Sampson   Nottingham Outlaws 9.62
6 Andy Grahame   Milton Keynes Knights 9.57
7 Steve Finch   Ellesmere Port Gunners 9.52
8 Ray Bales   Mildenhall Fen Tigers 9.51
9 Mick Hines   Mildenhall Fen Tigers 9.31
10 John Jackson   Ellesmere Port Gunners 9.27

Riders & final averages

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Berwick

Boston

  • David Gagen 9.27
  • Rob Hollingworth 8.91
  • Dave Allen 8.23
  • Tony Featherstone 6.12
  • Dennis Mallett 4.85
  • Andy Fisher 4.48
  • Dave Mortiboys 3.80
  • Andy Hibbs 3.67
  • Colin Ackroyd 2.60

Canterbury

Crayford

Edinburgh

Ellesmere Port

Glasgow

  • Merv Janke 9.06
  • Steve Lawson 9.06
  • Derek Richardson 8.05
  • Andy Reid 6.25
  • Colin Caffrey 6.12
  • Charlie McKinna 5.89
  • Jim Beaton 5.76
  • Keith Bloxsome 5.23

Middlesbrough

Mildenhall

Milton Keynes

Newcastle

Nottingham

Oxford

Peterborough

Rye House

Scunthorpe

Stoke

  • Ian Gledhill 8.21
  • Billy Burton 7.06
  • Tony Lomas 6.76
  • Chris Turner 6.42
  • Ian Robertson 6.19
  • Stuart Mountford 6.17
  • Nicky Allott 5.57
  • Frank Smith 5.53
  • Alan MacLean 3.33
  • Ian Jeffcoate 2.94
  • Paul Evitts 2.31

Weymouth

Workington

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ Bott, Richard (1980). The Peter Collins Speedway Book No.4. Stanley Paul & Co Ltd. p. 95. ISBN 0-09-141751-1.
  3. ^ "Brewery boost for Stadium". Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph. 16 February 1978. Retrieved 3 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ "Speedway Ashby Ville". Defunct Speedway. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  5. ^ "Speedway one of the greatest". Stapleford & Sandiacre News. 1 March 1979. Retrieved 22 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ^ a b "Teams". wwosbackup. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  7. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  8. ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 101. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  9. ^ "1979 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  10. ^ a b "1979 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  11. ^ "Outlaw's Crash". Derby Daily Telegraph. 1 October 1979. Retrieved 20 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. ^ "1979 season results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  13. ^ "Diamonds out in semi finals". Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 22 July 1979. Retrieved 22 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. ^ "Speedway". Daily Mirror. 30 July 1979. Retrieved 10 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. ^ "1979 full season results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  16. ^ Bott, Richard (1980). The Peter Collins Speedway Book No.4. Stanley Paul & Co Ltd. p. 96. ISBN 0-09-141751-1.
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