1985 National League season

1985 National League season
LeagueNational League
No. of competitors19
ChampionsEllesmere Port Gunners
Knockout CupEastbourne Eagles
IndividualNeil Middleditch
PairsEllesmere Port Gunners
FoursMiddlesbrough Tigers
London CupWimbledon Dons
Highest averageGordon Kennett
Division/s above1985 British League

The 1985 National League was contested as the second division of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom.[1]

Team changes

A new team called the Barrow Blackhawks entered the league but only staged a handful of fixtures. The team failed to meet the minimum points limit resulting in the league authorities stopping their participation.[2][3] Scunthorpe Stags withdrew from the league in May.[4][5]

Weymouth Wildcats promoters Peter Ansell and Mervyn Stewkesbury, moved their team to Poole for the start of the 1985 season, following the closure of the Poole Pirates due to financial debts. The team raced as the Poole Wildcats.[6]

Boston Barracudas promoter Cyril Crane withdrew the team from the league just days before the start of the season when Crane relinquished his interests.[7][8]

Summary

The league title became a dramatic three horse race between Poole Wildcats, Middlesbrough Tigers and Ellesmere Port Gunners. All three teams entered October with only away matches left. Poole were two points ahead of Middlesbrough but had one meeting left, with Middlesbrough having two matches in hand. Ellesmere Port were two points behind Middlesbrough but had four meetings left. The Gunners won away at strugglers Long Eaton and Edinburgh to draw level with Poole, and Middlesbrough won at Stoke to leave all three level. Ellesmere Port drew their penultimate fixture at Peterborough who had previously won every home match whilst Poole lost heavily at Berwick to rule them out of the running. Then tragedy struck Ellesmere Port at Birmingham, having lost the KO Cup final only two days previous. With Middlesbrough losing at Eastbourne on the same night, a victory would have given the Thornton Road outfit the title. Leading by 6 points after 8 heats, top scorer Joe Owen crashed and suffered a severe back injury which was to leave him paralysed. The subsequent 0-5 and loss of their best rider saw Birmingham fight back to win leaving Middlesbrough needing a win at Glasgow to snatch the title. It wasn't until November in the last meeting of the year that the showdown took place. Glasgow were second bottom due to their dreadful away record, but were not a bad outfit at home and kept the scores level after 10 heats. Disaster struck for the away side as Steve Wilcock crashed out and Glasgow took the 5-1. Trailing by four points going into the last heat, Martin Dixon bit the dust and the title was lost. Ellesmere Port Gunners were champions.

Barrow Blackhawks and Scunthorpe Stags withdrew in May and had their results expunged.[9][10] Ellesmere Port Gunners closed after the fateful night in Birmingham, never to return.

Final table

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Ellesmere Port Gunners 36 25 2 19 52
2 Poole Wildcats 36 25 1 10 51
3 Middlesbrough Tigers 36 25 1 10 51
4 Wimbledon Dons 36 23 1 12 47
5 Hackney Kestrels 36 22 0 14 44
6 Arena Essex Hammers 36 20 2 14 42
7 Peterborough Panthers 36 19 2 15 40
8 Stoke Potters 36 20 0 16 40
9 Berwick Bandits 36 19 1 16 39
10 Eastbourne Eagles 36 18 2 16 38
11 Milton Keynes Knights 36 16 1 19 33
12 Exeter Falcons 36 16 0 20 32
13 Rye House Rockets 36 15 0 21 30
14 Birmingham Brummies 36 14 1 21 29
15 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 36 14 0 22 28
16 Canterbury Crusaders 36 14 0 22 28
17 Glasgow Tigers 36 10 2 24 22
18 Long Eaton Invaders 36 9 2 25 20
19 Edinburgh Monarchs 36 9 0 27 18

Top Five Riders (League Averages)

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Gordon Kennett England Eastbourne Eagles 10.46
2 Joe Owen England Ellesmere Port Gunners 10.46
3 Mike Ferreira Zimbabwe Wimbledon Dons 10.03
4 Stan Bear Australia Poole Wildcats 9.89
5 Carl Blackbird England Mildenhall Fen Tigers 9.82


National League Knockout Cup

The 1985 National League Knockout Cup was the 18th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Eastbourne Eagles were the winners of the competition.[11]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
24/04 Wimbledon 62-16 Poole
23/04 Poole 38-40 Wimbledon
06/05 Canterbury 45-33 Eastbourne
03/05 Peterborough 45-33 Arena Essex
28/04 Eastbourne 47-31 Canterbury
26/04 Edinburgh 38.5-38.5 Ellesmere Port
25/04 Ellesmere Port 43-35 Edinburgh
23/04 Barrow 18-24a Exeter
22/04 Exeter 58-20 Barrow
21/04 Birmingham 50-28 Glasgow
19/04 Glasgow 42-36 Birmingham
18/04 Arena Essex 55-23 Peterborough

a=Abandoned (power failure, result stood)

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
26/06 Wimbledon 43-35 Arena Essex
24/06 Exeter 50.5-27.5 Berwick
20/06 Arena Essex 40-38 Wimbledon
08/06 Berwick 57-21 Exeter
26/05 Eastbourne 50-28 Milton Keynes
21/05 Milton Keynes 36-42 Eastbourne
06/05 Birmingham 38-39 Ellesmere Port
05/05 Mildenhall 42-35 Hackney
04/05 Stoke 33-45 Middlesbrough
03/05 Hackney 44-34 Mildenhall
02/05 Middlesbrough 48-30 Stoke

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
18/08 Berwick 33-45 Ellesmere Port
16/08 Ellesmere Port 56-22 Berwick
11/08 Eastbourne 44-33 Wimbledon
07/08 Wimbledon 39-39 Eastbourne
14/07 Middlesbrough 45-33 Rye House
12/07 Hackney 47-31 Long Eaton
05/06 Long Eaton 33-45 Hackney
02/06 Rye House 37-41 Middlesbrough

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
27/09 Hackney 49-29 Ellesmere Port
26/09 Ellesmere Port 50-28 Hackney
12/09 Middlesbrough 48-30 Eastbourne
25/08 Eastbourne 49-29 Middlesbrough

Final

First leg

Eastbourne Eagles
Gordon Kennett 10
Colin Richardson 10
Martin Dugard 8
Andy Buck 7
Paul Clarke 6
Chris Mulvihill 4
Keith Pritchard 1		46 – 32Ellesmere Port Gunners
Joe Owen 9
Louis Carr 9
Dave Morton 8
David Walsh 4
Miles Evans 1
Phil Alderman 1
Richie Owen 0
[12][13]

Second leg

Ellesmere Port Gunners
Louis Carr 13
Joe Owen 9
Dave Morton 9
David Walsh 4
Gary O'Hare 2
Phil Alderman 2
Richie Owen 2		41 – 37Eastbourne Eagles
Gordon Kennett 12
Andy Buck 9
Colin Richardson 7
Martin Dugard 4
Paul Clarke 2
Chris Mulvihill 2
Keith Pritchard 1
[12][13]

Eastbourne were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 83–73.

Riders' Championship

Neil Middleditch won the Riders' Championship. The final was held on 10 August at Brandon Stadium.[14]

Pos. Rider Pts Total
1 England Neil Middleditch 3 3 2 3 3 14
2 England Kevin Hawkins 2 3 2 3 3 13
3 England Trevor Banks 3 2 3 2 2 12
4 Australia Stan Bear 3 fx 2 2 3 10
5 England Doug Wyer 3 3 0 0 3 9
6 England Gordon Kennett 2 3 3 ef 0 8
7 England Dave Mullett 0 1 3 2 2 8
8 England Nigel De'ath 0 2 0 3 2 7
9 England Louis Carr 2 ex 1 3 1 7
10 England Dave Perks 1 1 3 0 1 6
11 England Steve McDermott 2 2 0 1 0 5
12 Zimbabwe Mike Ferreira 0 0 1 2 2 5
13 England Carl Baldwin 1 0 2 1 1 5
14 England Tom Owen 1 1 1 1 1 5
15 England Steve Lawson 1 2 0 1 t 4
16 England Steve Wilcock 0 1 1 0 0 2
17 England Mike Bacon (res) 0 0
  • f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Pairs

The National League Pairs was held at Hackney Wick Stadium on 15 September and was won by Ellesmere Port Gunners.[15]

Semi finals

  • Poole bt Wimbledon
  • Ellesmere Port bt Peterborough

Final

  • Ellesmere Port bt Poole

Fours

Middlesbrough Tigers won the fours championship final, held at the East of England Arena on 21 July.[16][17]

Semi finals

  • SF1 = Hackney 18, Stoke 12, Berwick 10, Wimbledon 8
  • SF2 = Middlesbrough 17, Peterborough 12, Poole 11, Arena Essex 8

Final

Pos Team Pts Riders
1 Middlesbrough Tigers 17 Havelock 7, Fiora, Pusey, Wilcock, Dixon
2 Peterborough Panthers 12 Barney 8
3 Hackney Kestrels 10 Banks 5
4 Stoke Potters 9 Crabtree 5, Thorp 2, Owen 1, Wilding 0, Sumner 0

Leading averages

Rider Team Average
Gordon Kennett Eastbourne 10.47
Joe Owen Ellesmere Port 10.47
Mike Ferreira Wimbledon 9.82
Stan Bear Poole 9.79
Carl Blackbird Mildenhall 9.64
Roger Johns Wimbledon 9.64
Neil Middleditch Arena Essex 9.47
Steve Lawson Glasgow 9.39
Louis Carr Ellesmere Port 9.37
Kevin Smith Poole 9.32

London Cup

Wimbledon won the London Cup but the competition consisted of just Wimbledon and Hackney. It was also the first time that the competition had been competed for by second tier teams.[18]

Results

Team Score Team
Hackney 42–35 Wimbledon
Wimbledon 43–35 Hackney


Riders & final averages

Arena Essex

Barrow (withrew from the league)

  • Paul Price 4.40
  • Kevin Armitage 4.00
  • Gary O'Hare 3.76
  • Eric Broadbelt 3.37
  • Terry Kelly 1.87
  • Bob Coles 1.71
  • Gary Clegg 1.33
  • Wayne Jackson 1.00

Berwick

Birmingham

  • Doug Wyer 8.57
  • Reg Wilson 7.50
  • Phil White 7.39
  • Paul Evitts 6.03
  • Paul Stead 5.90
  • Linden Warner 4.50
  • Mark Stevenson 4.43
  • Ian M Stead 3.45
  • Julian Parr 2.80

Canterbury

  • Dave Mullett 8.78
  • Mike Spink 7.97
  • Rob Tilbury 6.44
  • Neville Tatum 5.72
  • Bill Barrett 5.64
  • Steve Bryenton 5.16
  • Lawrie Bloomfield 4.26
  • Mark Terry 2.13

Eastbourne

Edinburgh

Ellesmere Port

Exeter

Glasgow

  • Steve Lawson 9.39
  • Martin McKinna 6.60
  • Andy Reid 5.99
  • Kenny Brailsford 4.50
  • David Cassels 4.23
  • Jim Beaton 4.21
  • Brian Collins 4.05
  • Geoff Powell 4.00
  • Colin Caffrey 3.65

Hackney

Long Eaton

  • Chris Pidcock 8.14
  • Dave Perks 8.09
  • David Tyler 7.06
  • Paul Stead 6.54
  • Graham Drury 5.97
  • Alan Molyneux 5.91
  • Gerald Short 5.85
  • Pete Smith 4.78
  • John Proctor 4.54
  • John Frankland 4.44
  • Mark Stevenson 4.00
  • Derek Cooper 2.70

Middlesbrough

Mildenhall

Milton Keynes

Peterborough

Poole

Rye House

Scunthorpe

  • Andy Buck 9.64
  • Rob Woffinden 7.54
  • Steve Finch 7.50
  • Derek Richardson 5.78
  • Julian Parr 4.57
  • Mark Burrows 4.40
  • Peter McNamara 1.93

Stoke

Wimbledon

See also

References

  1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ "A Short History". Defunct Speedway. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  3. ^ "Dve leads charge on Army line-up". Kentish Express. 10 May 1985. Retrieved 26 October 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ "1985 fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  5. ^ "British League Tables - British League Era (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  6. ^ "Sports briefs". Leicester Daily Mercury. 14 March 1985. Retrieved 2 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ "Speedway boss plans takeover talks". Lincolnshire Standard and Boston Guardian. 20 December 1984. Retrieved 29 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ^ "Cudas' future hangs in balance". Lincolnshire Standard and Boston Guardian. 28 February 1985. Retrieved 29 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ^ "1985 fixtures" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  10. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  11. ^ "1985 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  12. ^ a b "1985 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  13. ^ a b "Ellesmere Port KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  14. ^ "Great, Neil". Sunday Mirror. 11 August 1985. Retrieved 21 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. ^ "1985 Ellesmere Port results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  16. ^ "Speedway". Daily Mirror. 22 July 1985. Retrieved 11 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  17. ^ Oakes, Peter (1990). Speedway Yearbook 1990. Front Page Books. p. 46. ISBN 0-948882-15-8.
  18. ^ "1985 fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 1 October 2023.