1986 National League season

1986 National League season
LeagueNational League
No. of competitors20
ChampionsEastbourne Eagles
Knockout CupEastbourne Eagles
IndividualPaul Thorp
PairsEdinburgh Monarchs
FoursMiddlesbrough Tigers
London CupHackney Hawks
Highest averageDave Jessup
Division/s above1986 British League

The 1986 National League was contested as the second division of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom.[1]

Summary

The title was won by the Eastbourne Eagles.[2]

Final table

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Eastbourne Eagles 38 28 1 9 57
2 Poole Wildcats 38 25 1 12 51
3 Middlesbrough Tigers 38 25 1 12 51
4 Arena Essex Hammers 38 23 1 14 47
5 Stoke Potters 38 23 0 15 46
6 Wimbledon Dons 38 21 1 16 43
7 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 37 21 1 15 43
8 Milton Keynes Knights 37 20 1 16 41
9 Edinburgh Monarchs 38 19 0 19 38
10 Peterborough Panthers 38 18 2 18 38
11 Rye House Rockets 38 18 0 20 36
12 Boston Barracudas 38 17 1 20 35
13 Hackney Kestrels 38 16 0 22 32
14 Berwick Bandits 38 15 1 22 31
15 Canterbury Crusaders 38 15 1 22 31
16 Exeter Falcons 38 15 0 23 30
17 Birmingham Brummies 38 14 1 23 29
18 Glasgow Tigers 38 14 0 24 28
19 Newcastle Federation Specials 38 13 1 24 27
20 Long Eaton Invaders 38 11 2 25 24

National League Knockout Cup

The 1986 National League Knockout Cup was the 19th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Eastbourne Eagles were the winners of the competition for the second successive year.[3]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
12/05 Newcastle 43-35 Boston
10/05 Canterbury 53-25 Birmingham
02/05 Glasgow 37-41 Edinburgh
30/04 Edinburgh 53-25 Glasgow
27/04 Boston 37-41 Newcastle
27/04 Rye House 55-23 Exeter
25/04 Birmingham 48-30 Canterbury
21/04 Exeter 37-41 Rye House

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
08/07 Milton Keynes 43-35 Mildenhall
07/07 Newcastle 36-42 Berwick
06/07 Eastbourne 48-30 Wimbledon
06/07 Mildenhall 49-29 Milton Keynes
05/07 Canterbury 39-39 Peterborough
04/07 Peterborough 49-29 Canterbury
03/07 Middlesbrough 49-29 Stoke
02/07 Long Eaton 43-35 Edinburgh
02/07 Wimbledon 36-42 Eastbourne
29/06 Rye House 42-35 Hackney
28/06 Berwick 50-28 Newcastle
28/06 Stoke 40-37 Middlesbrough
27/06 Edinburgh 50-28 Long Eaton
27/06 Hackney 48-30 Rye House
15/05 Arena 45-33 Poole
29/04 Poole 36-42 Arena Essex

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
28/08 Middlesbrough 36-42 Mildenhall
22/08 Peterborough 45-33 Berwick
17/08 Mildenhall 43-35 Middlesbrough
09/08 Berwick 42-36 Peterborough
01/08 Edinburgh 38-40 Eastbourne
01/08 Hackney 39-39 Arena Essex
27/07 Eastbourne 48-28 Edinburgh
17/07 Arena Essex 43-35 Hackney

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
17/10 Peterborough 37-41 Eastbourne
28/09 Mildenhall 44-34 Arena Essex
21/09 Eastbourne 49.5-28.5 Peterborough
18/09 Arena Essex 43-35 Mildenhall

Final

First leg

Eastbourne Eagles51 – 25Mildenhall Fen Tigers
[4]

Second leg

Mildenhall Fen Tigers
Melvyn Taylor 12
Eric Monaghan 8		39 – 39Eastbourne Eagles
Martin Dugard 8
Dean Standing 8
[5]

Eastbourne were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 90–64.

Riders' Championship

Paul Thorp won the Riders' Championship. The final was held on 30 August at Brandon Stadium.[6]

Pos. Rider Pts Total
1 England Paul Thorp 3 3 3 3 3 15
2 England Steve Schofield 3 3 3 3 1 13
3 England Les Collins 2 2 3 2 3 12
4 England Andrew Silver 3 3 2 2 ret 10
5 England Malcolm Simmons 0 3 2 3 2 10
6 England Jamie Luckhurst 2 0 1 3 3 9
7 England Kevin Jolly 1 1 3 2 2 9
8 England Gordon Kennett 1 2 1 1 3 8
9 England Mark Courtney ef 1 2 2 1 6
10 Australia Mark Fiora 3 0 2 1 ex 6
11 England Steve McDermott 1 2 0 0 2 5
12 England Dave Mullett 2 1 0 0 2 5
13 England Dave Jessup 2 1 1 ef x 4
14 England Paul Woods ef 2 0 1 1 4
15 England Steve Lawson 1 0 1 0 0 2
16 England Kevin Hawkins 0 0 0 1 0 1
17 New Zealand Bruce Cribb (res) 1 1
  • f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Pairs

The National League Pairs was held at Hackney Wick Stadium on 13 July and was won by Edinburgh Monarchs.[7][8]

Final

  • Edinburgh (Collins & Wyer) bt Hackney (Thomas & Galvin) 6-3

Fours

Middlesbrough Tigers won the fours championship final, held at the East of England Arena on 10 August.[9]

Semi finals

  • SF1 = Arena Essex 18, Mildenhall 12, Edinburgh 11, Eastbourne 7
  • SF2 = Middlesbrough 15, Hackney 13, Stoke 11, Poole 9

Final

Pos Team Pts Riders
1 Middlesbrough Tigers 15 Burdfield 5, Courtney 4, Dixon 4, Wilcock 2
2 Arena Essex Hammers 14 Silver 6, Middleditch 4, Goodwin 3, Smart 1
3 Hackney Kestrels 11 Simmons 5, Galvin 4, Whittaker 1, Rolls 1
4 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 8 Monaghan 3, Henry 2, Taylor 2, Jessup 1

Leading averages

Rider Team Average
Dave Jessup Mildenhall 10.69
Paul Thorp Stoke 10.44
Andrew Silver Arena Essex 10.40
Steve Schofield Poole 10.36
Les Collins Edinburgh 10.14
Nigel Crabtree Stoke 9.98
Kevin Jolly Boston 9.90
Gordon Kennett Eastbourne 9.87
Jamie Luckhurst Wimbledon 9.83
Martin Dugard Eastbourne 9.75
Malcolm Simmons Hackney 9.70

London Cup

Hackney won the London Cup but the competition consisted of just Wimbledon and Hackney.[10]

Results

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

Riders & final averages

Arena Essex

Berwick

Birmingham

Boston

  • Kevin Jolly 9.90
  • Andy Hines 8.54
  • Paul Clarke 7.27
  • Rob Woffinden 6.19
  • Dave Jackson 5.66
  • Andy Fisher 4.88
  • Peter Framingham 4.67
  • Wayne Ross 3.89
  • Derrol Keats 3.64
  • Gary Clegg 3.36

Canterbury

  • Dave Mullett 8.69
  • Mike Spink 7.60
  • Alan Mogridge 7.34
  • Rob Tilbury 6.06
  • Alan Sage 4.88
  • Steve Bryenton 4.52
  • Tony Hansford 3.10
  • Paul Hilton 2.86
  • Gary Hopkins 1.60

Eastbourne

Edinburgh

Exeter

Glasgow

  • Steve Lawson 9.11
  • Bobby Beaton 8.16
  • Martin McKinna 6.12
  • Jacko Irving 4.81
  • Geoff Powell 4.50
  • Kym Mauger 4.38
  • Derek Cooper 4.15
  • Colin Caffrey 3.68
  • Jim Beaton 3.05
  • Kenny Brailsford 2.71

Hackney

Long Eaton

Middlesbrough

Mildenhall

Milton Keynes

  • Keith White 8.40
  • Trevor Banks 8.02
  • Kevin Smart 7.65
  • Ian Clark 6.48
  • Mark Carlson 5.32
  • Derek Richardson 5.31
  • Mark Chessell 4.64
  • Peter Lloyd 4.50

Newcastle

Peterborough

Poole

Rye House

Stoke

Wimbledon

See also

References

  1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  3. ^ "1986 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  4. ^ "1986 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  5. ^ "Speedway". Daily Mirror. 3 November 1986. Retrieved 27 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ^ "What a double". Cambridge Daily News. 1 September 1986. Retrieved 21 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ "1986 fixtures" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 25 May 2023.
  8. ^ "Speedway Pairs Out". Newcastle Journal. 14 July 1986. Retrieved 25 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ^ "Speedway". Cambridge Daily News. 11 August 1986. Retrieved 11 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ^ "1986 fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 1 October 2023.