1976 National League season

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]

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

Summary

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

National League Knockout Cup

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
22/04Oxford48-30Weymouth
20/04Weymouth40-38Oxford

Second round
Date Team one Score Team two
01/06Ellesmere Port46-32Paisley
27/05Stoke37-41Newcastle
24/05Newcastle59-19Stoke
23/05Mildenhall38-40Peterborough
22/05Paisley36-42Ellesmere Port
21/05Peterborough42-36Mildenhall
17/05Scunthorpe43-35Berwick
16/05Eastbourne41-37Oxford
16/05Workington46-32Coatbridge
14/05Coatbridge33-45Workington
13/05Oxford47-31Eastbourne
11/05Crayford46-32Boston
09/05Boston48-30Crayford
02/05Rye House45-32Canterbury
01/05Berwick45-32Scunthorpe
01/05Canterbury44-34Rye House
23/04Coatbridge52-25Teesside
22/04Teesside46-32Coatbridge

Quarter-finals
Date Team one Score Team two
23/07Workington46-31Boston
20/07Ellesmere Port50-28Rye House
18/07Rye House38-39Ellesmere Port
17/07Berwick48-30Oxford
11/07Boston48-29Workington
08/07Oxford40-38Berwick
05/07Newcastle47-31Peterborough
25/06Peterborough39-39Newcastle

Semi-finals
Date Team one Score Team two
05/09Boston42-35Berwick
28/08Berwick49-29Boston
17/08Ellesmere Port41-37Newcastle
16/08Newcastle46-31Ellesmere Port

Final

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

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

Pos.RiderPtsTotal
1England Joe Owen3 3 3 3 214
2England John Jackson3 3 0 3 312+3
3England Ted Hubbard1 2 3 3 312+2
4England Alan Emerson2 2 3 2 211
5England Steve Weatherley2 3 1 3 110
6England Brian Clark2 2 2 1 310
7Australia Lou Sansom3 0 2 2 29
8England Rob Hollingworth1 1 1 2 38
9England Les Rumsey3 0 2 1 17
10England Bob Coles1 1 2 1 27
11Scotland Brian Collins2 3 0 0 16
12England Laurie Etheridge1 2 3 0 06
13England Martin Yeates0 1 0 1 13
14England Graham Jones0 1 1 0 02
15Australia Carl Askew (res)0 2 02
16England Keith Evans0 0 11
17England Les Collins00
18England Ian Williams (res)0 0 00
  • f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Pairs

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

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

PosTeamPtsRiders
1Newcastle Diamonds18Owen T 6, Owen J 6, Cusworth 3, Michelides 3
2Eastbourne Eagles13Weatherley 5, Sampson 4, Richardson 4, Dugard 0, Jarman 0
3Ellesmere Port Gunners12Jackson 6, Gardner 3, Turner 2, Finch 1
4Workington Comets5Lawson 4, Goad 1, Havelock 0, Kelly 0

Leading final averages
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Joe Owen England Newcastle Diamonds 11.54
2 Tom Owen England Newcastle Diamonds 10.43
3 Steve Weatherley England Eastbourne Eagles 10.35
4 John Jackson England Ellesmere Port Gunners 10.08
5 Laurie Etheridge England Crayford Kestrels 9.87

Riders & final averages

Berwick

  • Graham Jones 8.12
  • Dave Gifford 7.91
  • Mike Hiftle 7.17
  • Robin Adlington 6.84
  • Willie Templeton 6.63
  • Eddie Argall 6.54
  • Keith Williams 2.00
  • Peter Waite 1.80
  • Wayne Brown 1.71

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

  • Brian Collins 9.09
  • Grahame Dawson 7.91
  • Mick McKeon 6.79
  • Jimmy Gallacher 5.68
  • Derek Richardson 5.65
  • Max Brown 5.18
  • Doug Templeton 5.18
  • Rob Maxfield 5.02
  • Benny Rourke 4.83
  • John Wilson 2.93

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

  • Bob Coles 9.21
  • Kevin Jolly 8.41
  • Trevor Jones 7.88
  • Alan Cowland 6.24
  • Fred Mills 5.67
  • John Gibbons 5.54
  • Stan Stevens 5.13
  • Robert Henry 4.93
  • Mick Bates 4.81
  • Neil Leeks 3.54

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

  • Brian Clark 9.37
  • Tony Featherstone 8.11
  • Ian Clark 6.93
  • Roy Carter 6.85
  • Ken Matthews 6.53
  • Steve Taylor 6.42
  • Kevin Hawkins 5.33
  • Nigel Couzens 5.11
  • Alan Cowland 4.24
  • Paul Cooper 4.19
  • Russ Osborne 4.15

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

  • Les Collins 9.31
  • Jack Millen 7.90
  • Malcolm Corradine 7.35
  • Ricky Day 6.07
  • Jim Brett 5.74
  • Mick Newton 5.69
  • Steve McDermott 5.33
  • Tim Nunan 5.01
  • Colin Meredith 4.82

Teesside

  • Alan Emerson 8.41
  • Tom Leadbitter 7.67
  • Steve Wilcock 5.85
  • Pete Reading 5.54
  • Andy Cowan 5.27
  • Pete Smith 4.92
  • Nigel Close 4.78
  • John Robson 2.95
  • Martyn Cusworth 2.50

Weymouth

  • Martin Yeates 8.69
  • Vic Harding 7.18
  • Chris Robins 7.07
  • Gerald Purkiss 6.25
  • Danny Kennedy 5.82
  • Billy Spiers 5.32
  • Garry May 3.51
  • Trevor Vincent/Charley 3.94
  • Jack Walker 3.54
  • Roger Stratton 3.47

Workington

See also

References
  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. "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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