1982 National League season

1982 National League season
LeagueNational League
No. of competitors19
ChampionsNewcastle Diamonds
Knockout CupNewcastle Diamonds
IndividualJoe Owen
PairsWeymouth Wildcats
FoursNewcastle Diamonds
Highest averageJoe Owen
Division/s above1982 British League

In 1982 the National League, also known as British League Division Two, was the second tier of speedway racing in the United Kingdom.

Summary

Long Eaton Invaders replaced Workington Comets, after the latter withdrew from the league before the start of the season.[1] Wolverhampton Wolves were unable to form a team and would not race for two seasons.[2]

The league champions were Newcastle Diamonds.[3][4]

Milton Keynes rider Brett Alderton was killed in an accident during the second half of a league meeting at King's Lynn. The 18-year old Australian sustained a fatal head injury on 17 April.[5][6]

Final table

[7] [8]

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Newcastle Diamonds 36 30 0 6 60
2 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 36 26 1 9 53
3 Ellesmere Port Gunners 36 25 0 11 50
4 Middlesbrough Tigers 36 24 1 11 49
5 Weymouth Wildcats 36 22 1 13 45
6 Rye House Rockets 36 22 0 14 44
7 Long Eaton Invaders 36 20 1 15 41
8 Boston Barracudas 36 19 1 16 39
9 Berwick Bandits 36 18 1 17 37
10 Exeter Falcons 36 17 0 19 34
11 Glasgow Tigers 36 16 0 20 32
12 Milton Keynes Knights 36 14 1 21 29
13 Peterborough Panthers 36 13 2 21 28
14 Edinburgh Monarchs 36 14 0 22 28
15 Crayford Kestrels 36 13 0 23 26
16 Canterbury Crusaders 36 12 1 23 25
17 Scunthorpe Stags 36 11 2 23 24
18 Stoke Potters 36 11 1 24 23
19 Oxford Cheetahs 36 7 3 26 17

Top Five Riders (League Averages)

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Joe Owen England Newcastle 11.09
2 Simon Wigg England Weymouth 10.67
3 Steve Lawson England Glasgow 10.40
4 Rod Hunter Australia Newcastle 10.22
5 Bob Garrad England Rye House 9.86

National League Knockout Cup

The 1982 National League Knockout Cup was the 15th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Newcastle Diamonds were the winners of the competition.[9]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
11/05 Milton Keynes 47-49 Oxford
06/05 Oxford 54-42 Milton Keynes
27/04 Weymouth 60-36 Canterbury
24/04 Canterbury 54-42 Weymouth

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
24/06 Oxford 39-56 Mildenhall
07/06 Scunthorpe 51-45 Peterborough
31/05 Rye House 35-25 Crayford
31/05 Long Eaton 67-29 Berwick
29/05 Berwick 67-29 Long Eaton
26/05 Edinburgh 53-43 Ellesmere Port
26/05 Mildenhall 62-34 Oxford
25/05 Crayford 33-62 Rye House
24/05 Newcastle 55-41 Middlesbrough
23/05 Boston 59-37 Stoke
22/05 Stoke 42-54 Boston
21/05 Ellesmere Port 60-36 Edinburgh
21/05 Peterborough 58-38 Scunthorpe
20/05 Middlesbrough 53-43 Newcastle
18/05 Weymouth 62-34 Exeter
17/05 Exeter 60-36 Weymouth
30/06
replay		 Long Eaton 62-34 Berwick
06/06
replay		 Berwick 67-29 Long Eaton

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
07/08 Berwick 64-32 Ellesmere Port
30/07 Ellesmere Port 69-26 Berwick
29/07 Weymouth 53-43 Peterborough
26/07 Newcastle 62-34 Boston
18/07 Boston 47-49 Newcastle
11/07 Rye House 60-35 Mildenhall
10/07 Mildenhall 56-39 Rye House
02/07 Peterborough 48-48 Weymouth

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
05/09 Rye House 59-37 Ellesmere Port
31/08 Weymouth 35-61 Newcastle
20/08 Ellesmere Port 71-25 Rye House
16/08 Newcastle 63-32 Weymouth

Final

First leg

Ellesmere Port Gunners
John Jackson 13
Steve Finch 12
Eric Monaghan 11
Phil Alderman 6
Rob Maxfield 4
Billy Burton 4
Glen Parrott 1		51 – 45Newcastle Diamonds
Joe Owen 15
Rod Hunter 14
Bobby Beaton 8
Tom Owen 5
Keith Bloxsome 2
Alan Emerson 1
Robbie Foy 0
[10]

Second leg

Newcastle Diamonds
Joe Owen 15
Rod Hunter 14
Alan Emerson 12
Tom Owen 11
Keith Bloxsome 11
Bobby Beaton 10
Robbie Foy 0		73 – 23Ellesmere Port Gunners
Eric Monaghan 7
Steve Finch 5
John Jackson 3
Phil Alderman 3
Billy Burton 2
Glen Parrott 2
Rob Maxfield 1
[10]

Newcastle were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 118–74.

Riders' Championship

Joe Owen won the Riders' Championship, sponsored by the Daily Mirror and held at Wimbledon Stadium on 18 September 1982.[11]

Pos. Rider Pts Total
1 England Joe Owen 3 3 3 3 2 14
2 England Steve Lomas 3 3 3 3 12
3 England Bob Garrad 1 3 2 3 2 11
4 England Andy Hines 2 3 2 3 10
5 England Keith White 0 1 2 3 3 9
6 England Derek Harrison 2 3 2 1 1 9
7 England Steve Lawson 2 0 1 2 3 8
8 England Andy Campbell 1 2 3 1 1 8
9 England Dave Trownson 0 2 1 2 2 7
10 England Alan Molyneux 2 2 2 0 6
11 England Martin Yeates 3 0 0 0 2 5
12 England Barry Thomas 3 0 1 1 0 5
13 England Steve Wilcock 3 1 1 0 5
14 England Barney Kennett 1 1 2 0 1 5
15 England John Jackson 2 1 0 1 0 4
16 England Steve McDermott 1 0 0 1 2

Pairs

The National League Pairs was held at Abbey Stadium on 28 August and was won by Weymouth Wildcats.[12][13]

Semi finals

  • Weymouth bt Middlesbrough
  • Long Eaton bt Newcastle

Final

  • Weymouth bt Long Eaton

Fours

Newcastle Diamonds won the fours championship final, held at the East of England Arena on 25 July.[14][15][16]

Semi finals

  • SF1 = Newcastle 16, Middlesbrough 12, Ellesmere Port 10, Peterborough 10
  • SF2 = Mildenhall 15, Rye House 14, Oxford 12, Exeter 7

Final

Pos Team Pts Riders
1 Newcastle 17 Owen 6, Beaton 4, Hunter 4, Emerson 3
2 Mildenhall 15 Henry 5, Knight 5, Bales 4, Harrison 1
3 Middlesbrough 13 Dixon 5, Wilcock 4, Pusey 2, Spink 2
4 Rye House 3 Mullarkey 2, Naylor 1, Garrad 0, Bryenton 0

Leading final averages

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Joe Owen England Newcastle 11.01
2 Steve Lawson England Glasgow 10.40
3 Simon Wigg England Weymouth 10.36
4 Rod Hunter Australia Newcastle 10.12
5 Bob Garrad England Rye House 9.85

Riders & final averages

Berwick

Boston

Canterbury

Crayford

Edinburgh

Ellesmere Port

Exeter

Glasgow

Long Eaton

Middlesbrough

Mildenhall

Milton Keynes

  • Keith White 8.09
  • Andy Hibbs 8.00
  • Craig Featherby 7.25
  • Nigel Sparshott 7.03
  • Steve Payne 6.29
  • Tony Featherstone 5.60
  • Paul Clarke 4.08

Newcastle

Oxford

Peterborough

  • Andy Hines 8.64
  • Dave Allen 8.26
  • Mick Hines 7.33
  • Andy Buck 6.38
  • Andy Fisher 5.49
  • Ian Barney 5.38
  • Neil Cotton 3.06

Rye House

Scunthorpe

  • Mike Wilding 7.88
  • Kevin Teager 7.18
  • Nigel Crabtree 7.07
  • Rob Woffinden 5.97
  • Derek Richardson 5.74
  • Julian Parr 5.45
  • Terry Kelly 5.11
  • Ian Gibson 4.13
  • Mark DeKok 4.09

Stoke

Weymouth

See also

References

  1. ^ "Sports Lines". Birmingham Mail. 27 February 1982. Retrieved 3 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. ^ "Parker is back - now he needs a team". Birmingham Mail. 10 December 1981. Retrieved 8 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  4. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  5. ^ "Craig Featherby". Cradley Speedway. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Speedway Star Cover Men". wwosbackup. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  7. ^ "About - Exeter Speedway 1982". Myweb.tiscali.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
  8. ^ Oakes, P.(2006). Speedway Star Almanac. ISBN 0-9552376-1-0
  9. ^ "1982 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  10. ^ a b "1982 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  11. ^ "Owen is the king". Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 19 September 1982. Retrieved 20 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. ^ "1982 season results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  13. ^ "Bruce snubs star event". Sunday Mirror. 29 August 1982. Retrieved 23 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. ^ "Gunners fail to qualify". Liverpool Daily Post. 26 July 1982. Retrieved 10 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. ^ "Heartbreak puncture robs Tigers of national Fours title". Cambridge Daily News. 26 July 1982. Retrieved 10 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  16. ^ "1982 full season results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 11 May 2023.