1960 Provincial Speedway League

1960 Provincial Speedway League
LeagueProvincial League
No. of competitors10
ChampionsRayleigh Rockets
Knockout CupBristol Bulldogs
IndividualTrevor Redmond
Highest averageReg Reeves
Division/s above1960 National League

The 1960 Provincial Speedway League was the first season of the Provincial League, ten motorcycle speedway teams took part.[1][2][3][4][5]

Teams

The ten teams that made up the re-incarnated Provincial League were mainly teams that had not experienced league racing for several years. Eight teams were Sheffield Tigers (who had been without league speedway since 1951), Cradley Heath Heathens (1952), Stoke Potters & Liverpool Pirates (1953), Bristol Bulldogs[6] and Edinburgh Monarchs (1954), Bradford Panthers (formerly Odsal) & Rayleigh Rockets (1957). The remaining two teams were Poole Pirates, who joined from the National League and Yarmouth Bloaters, who joined the league after moving up from the Southern Area League. The Southern Area League was disbanded leaving three teams Eastbourne Eagles, Aldershot Shots and Rye House Rockets without a league, so they ran a series of challenge matches throughout 1960.

Summary

The league was dominated by Rayleigh, Poole and Bristol. Rayleigh and Poole finished on the same points, but Rayleigh triumphed with a superior number of race points scored. At the end of the season Liverpool and Yarmouth folded and Bristol closed after their track was sold for redevelopment.[7]

Final table

Pos Team M W D L Pts
1 Rayleigh Rockets 18 16 0 2 32
2 Poole Pirates 18 16 0 2 32
3 Bristol Bulldogs 18 15 0 3 30
4 Sheffield Tigers 18 9 0 9 18
5 Stoke Potters 18 8 1 9 17
6 Cradley Heath Heathens 18 8 0 10 16
7 Yarmouth Bloaters 18 7 0 11 14
8 Edinburgh Monarchs 18 5 1 12 11
9 Liverpool Pirates 18 4 0 14 8
10 Bradford Panthers 18 1 0 17 2

M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points

Top Five Riders (League only)

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Reg Reeves England Rayleigh 11.29
2 Trevor Redmond New Zealand Bristol 10.92
3 Harry Bastable England Cradley Heath 10.59
4 Tony Lewis England Poole 10.43
5 Alan Smith England Rayleigh 10.41

Provincial League Knockout Cup

The 1960 Provincial League Knockout Cup was the first edition of the Knockout Cup for the Provincial League teams. Bristol Bulldogs were the winners.[8]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
30/05 Liverpool 47–49 Cradley Heath
09/07 Edinburgh 59–37 Sheffield

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
25/06 Bradford 35–61 Bristol
02/07 Stoke 60–35 Cradley Heath
16/07 Edinburgh 54–41 Yarmouth
03/08 Poole 47–49 Rayleigh

Semifinals

Date Team one Score Team two
27/08 Edinburgh 38–58 Bristol
02/09 Rayleigh 52–43 Stoke

Final

Date Team one Score Team two
07/09 Rayleigh 52–41 Bristol
23/09 Bristol 59–37 Rayleigh

Riders' Championship

Trevor Redmond won the Riders' Championship. The final was held at Dudley Wood Stadium on 24 September.[9]

Pos. Rider Pts Total
1 New Zealand Trevor Redmond 3 3 3 3 3 15
2 England Ken Middleditch 3 3 2 3 2 13
3 England Eric Hockaday 3 3 3 1 3 13
4 England Tony Robinson 3 3 1 2 2 11
5 Scotland Doug Templeton 2 1 3 3 1 10
6 England Jack Kitchen 2 2 2 0 3 9
7 England Tony Lewis 2 1 2 2 2 9
8 England Wal Morton 1 1 0 3 0 9
9 England Ivor Brown 1 2 3 1 1 9
10 England Tommy Roper 2 0 2 1 0 5
11 England Johnny Hole 0 2 1 2 3 5
12 England Reg Reeves 1 1 1 0 1 4
13 England Ray Day 0 2 1 0 0 3
14 Scotland Ross Gilbertson (res) 2 1 3
15 England Eric Eadon (res) 1 2 3
16 England Clive Featherby 1 0 r 1
17 England Norman Strachan f 0 0 0 0 0
18 England Cliff Cox 0 0 0 0
  • f=fell r-retired

Riders & final averages

Bradford

  • England Tommy Roper 6.90
  • England Ray Day 6.57
  • England Vic Lonsdale (Jack Thorp) 5.46
  • England Stan Holey 4.48
  • England Jim Yacoby 4.15
  • England Dave Anderson 3.08
  • England Tony Barnard 1.64

Bristol

Cradley Heath

  • England Harry Bastable 10.59
  • England Eric Eadon 8.06
  • England Ronnie Rolfe 6.59
  • England Roy Spencer 6.04
  • England George Bewley 5.55
  • England Vic White 5.28
  • England Tony Eadon 3.52
  • England Errol Brook 2.00

Edinburgh

Liverpool

  • England Brian Craven 10.00
  • Australia Shorty Schirmer 8.15
  • England Wal Morton 7.40
  • United States Dave Dodd 5.30
  • England Dennis Jenkins 4.93
  • England Col Smith 3.52
  • England Graham Beattie 3.26
  • England Bob McHugh 2.57
  • England Derick Skyner 2.09

Poole

Rayleigh

Sheffield

Stoke

Yarmouth

See also

References

  1. ^ "Speedway thrills return". Birmingham Weekly Mercury. 7 February 1960. Retrieved 10 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. ^ "Championship History". Poole Speedway. 2008. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 18 May 2008.
  3. ^ "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  4. ^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  5. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  6. ^ "Bristol Bulldogs hope to have full speedway season". Somerset Guardian and Radstock Observer. 19 February 1960. Retrieved 5 October 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  8. ^ "1960 Provincial League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  9. ^ "Bulldog Redmond is leagues's top rider". Bristol Evening Post. 26 September 1960. Retrieved 10 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.