1989 National League season

1989 National League season
LeagueNational League
No. of competitors18
ChampionsPoole Pirates
Knockout CupBerwick Bandits
IndividualMark Loram
PairsStoke Potters
FoursPeterborough Panthers
London CupHackney Hawks
Highest averageSteve Schofield
Division/s above1989 British League

The National League was the second tier of British speedway racing in 1989.[1]

Team changes

Promoter Terry Cheney moved the Milton Keynes Knights out of the Groveway and into the Elfield Park.[2][3][4]

Summary

The champions that year were Poole Pirates.[5][6]

Paul Muchene lost his life in the fixture between Arena Essex and Hackney at the Hackney Wick Stadium on 30 June 1989.[7]

Final table

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Poole Pirates 34 26 1 7 53
2 Wimbledon Dons 34 23 2 9 48
3 Berwick Bandits 34 23 0 11 46
4 Ipswich Witches 34 23 0 11 46
5 Exeter Falcons 34 19 1 14 39
6 Hackney Kestrels 34 19 1 14 39
7 Eastbourne Eagles 34 19 0 15 38
8 Edinburgh Monarchs 34 19 0 15 38
9 Glasgow Tigers 34 17 0 17 34
10 Stoke Potters 34 16 1 17 33
11 Peterborough Panthers 34 16 0 18 32
12 Arena Essex Hammers 34 14 2 18 30
13 Middlesbrough Tigers 34 14 0 20 28
14 Rye House Rockets 34 13 0 21 26
15 Newcastle Diamonds 34 11 2 21 24
16 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 34 10 1 23 21
17 Long Eaton Invaders 34 10 1 23 21
18 Milton Keynes Knights 34 7 2 25 16

National League Knockout Cup

The 1989 National League Knockout Cup was the 22nd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Berwick Bandits were the winners of the competition.[8]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
10/04 Exeter 62-34 Rye House
09/04 Rye House 57-39 Exeter
09/04 Newcastle 43-52 Berwick
08/04 Berwick 65-30 Newcastle

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
26/05 Hackney 42-54 Poole
17/05 Wimbledon 59-37 Milton Keynes
16/05 Milton Keynes 43-53 Wimbledon
16/05 Poole 66-33 Hackney
15/05 Exeter 52-44 Stoke
14/05 Eastbourne 64-32 Glasgow
14/05 Mildenhall 45-51 Peterborough
13/05 Berwick 69-27 Long Eaton
13/05 Stoke 51-45 Exeter
12/05 Glasgow 48-48 Eastbourne
12/05 Peterborough 63-33 Mildenhall
10/05 Long Eaton 43-53 Berwick
06/05 Arena Essex 57-39 Edinburgh
05/05 Edinburgh 60-36 Arena Essex
04/05 Middlesbrough 47-49 Ipswich
24/03 Ipswich 60-36 Middlesbrough

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
05/07 Wimbledon 52-44 Ipswich
04/07 Poole 60-36 Eastbourne
03/07 Exeter 58-38 Berwick
02/07 Eastbourne 43-53 Poole
02/07 Edinburgh 63-33 Peterborough
01/07 Berwick 58-38 Exeter
30/06 Peterborough 64-32 Edinburgh
22/06 Ipswich 48-48 Wimbledon
24/07
replay		 Exeter 52-43 Berwick
22/07
replay		 Berwick 58-38 Exeter

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
15/08 Poole 62-33 Wimbledon
13/08 Peterborough 59-37 Berwick
09/08 Wimbledon 48-48 Poole
05/08 Berwick 61-35 Peterborough

Final

First leg

Poole Pirates
Leigh Adams 14
Alun Rossiter 11
Ali Stevens 8
Tony Langdon 6
Craig Boyce 5
Gary Allan 4
Mike Lewthwaite 2		50 – 46Berwick Bandits
Mark Courtney 14
David Blackburn 14
Andy Campbell 5
David Walsh 4
Rob Grant 4
Scott Robson 3
Sean Courtney 2
[9]

Second leg

Berwick Bandits
David Blackburn 14
Mark Courtney 13
David Walsh 9
Rob Grant 9
Andy Campbell 8
Scott Robson 6
Sean Courtney 4		63 – 33Poole Pirates
Leigh Adams 12
Alun Rossiter 9
Craig Boyce 6
Gary Allan 3
Tony Langdon 3
Ali Stevens 0
Mike Lewthwaite 0
[9][10]

Berwick were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 109–83.

Riders' Championship

Mark Loram won the Riders' Championship. The final sponsored by Jawa Moto & Barum was held on 9 September 1989 at Brandon Stadium.[11]

Pos. Rider Pts Total
1 England Mark Loram 2 3 3 3 3 14
2 Scotland Kenny McKinna 3 1 2 3 3 12
3 England David Blackburn 1 3 3 3 1 11
4 England Martin Goodwin 0 2 3 3 3 10
5 England Steve Schofield 2 3 0 3 2 10
6 Sweden Richard Hellsen 3 2 1 2 2 10
7 Australia Mick Poole 3 0 3 1 2 9
8 Australia Todd Wiltshire 0 1 2 2 3 8
9 England Les Collins 2 2 2 2 0 8
10 England Nigel Crabtree 3 2 1 1 0 7
11 Denmark Jens Rasmussen 0 3 0 0 2 5
12 England Gordon Kennett 2 0 1 1 1 5
13 Australia Steve Regeling 1 1 2 1 0 5
14 Denmark Preben Eriksen 1 1 1 0 1 4
15 Australia Rod Hunter 1 0 0 0 1 2
16 Australia Leigh Adams 0 - - - - 0

Pairs

The National League Pairs was held at Hackney Wick Stadium on 19 August. The event was won by Stoke Potters for the second consecutive season.[12]

Semi finals

  • Stoke bt Edinburgh 6-3
  • Mildenhall bt Hackney 6-3

Final

  • Stoke bt Mildenhall 6-3

Fours

Peterborough Panthers won the fours championship final for the second successive year, held at the East of England Arena on 23 July.[13]

Semi finals

  • SF1 = Stoke 22, Eastbourne 11, Edinburgh 10, Hackney 5
  • SF2 = Peterborough 21, Exeter 12, Berwick 12, Arena Essex 3

Final

Pos Team Pts Riders
1 Peterborough 15 Barney 5, Jolly 5, Poole 3, Hodgson 2
2 Stoke 14 Monaghan 5, Crabtree 4, Carr L 3, Cobby 2
3 Exeter 12 Andersen 6, Cook 4, Regeling 1, Green 1
4 Eastbourne 7 Buck 3, Norris 2, Kennett 1, Barker 1

Leading averages

Rider Team Average
Steve Schofield Hackney 10.50
Andy Galvin Hackney 9.95
Todd Wiltshire Wimbledon 9.94
David Blackburn Berwick 9.78
Nigel Crabtree Stoke 9.77
Steve Regeling Exeter 9.74
Kenny McKinna Glasgow 9.71
Mark Loram Ipswich 9.65
Chris Louis Ipswich 9.65
Gordon Kennett Eastbourne 9.60
Mark Courtney Berwick 9.52

London Cup

Hackney won the London Cup but the competition consisted of just Wimbledon and Hackney.[14]

Results

Team Score Team
Wimbledon 49–47 Hackney
Hackney 54–42 Wimbledon

Riders & final averages

Arena Essex

  • Martin Goodwin 8.47
  • Rob Tilbury 8.11
  • Malcolm Simmons 7.68
  • Wayne Garratt 5.83
  • Simon Wolstenholme 5.09
  • Troy Pratt 4.53
  • Ian Humphreys 3.56
  • Nick Floyd 2.89

Berwick

Eastbourne

Edinburgh

Exeter

Glasgow

Hackney

Ipswich

Long Eaton

Middlesbrough

Mildenhall

Milton Keynes

  • Andy Hines 6.75
  • Trevor Banks 6.35
  • David Clarke 5.96
  • Tony Primmer 5.93
  • Nigel De'ath 5.88
  • Mark Lyndon 5.46
  • Paul Evitts 4.82
  • Paul Atkins 4.56
  • Rob Fortune 4.47
  • Carl Baldwin 4.09

Newcastle

  • Rod Hunter 9.15
  • Peter Carr 8.66
  • David Clarke 5.44
  • Mark Thorpe 5.17
  • Simon Green 4.55
  • Derek Richardson 4.37
  • Gordon Whitaker 3.39
  • Anthony Hulme 3.01
  • Steve Wicks 2.42

Peterborough

Poole

Rye House

Stoke

Wimbledon

See also

References

  1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ "Knights call it a day at Groveway". Buckinghamshire Examiner. 25 November 1988. Retrieved 29 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ "Primmer on form". Milton Keynes Citizen. 12 January 1989. Retrieved 29 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ "Welcome News". Milton Keynes Citizen. 16 February 1989. Retrieved 29 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ^ Oakes, P.(2006). Speedway Star Almanac. ISBN 0-9552376-1-0
  6. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  7. ^ "Paul Dominic Muchene". Motorsport Memorial. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  8. ^ "1989 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  9. ^ a b "1989 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  10. ^ "Speedway by Chris Hodgson". Newcastle Evening Chronicle. 18 September 1989. Retrieved 25 August 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. ^ "Speedway". Daily Record. 11 September 1989. Retrieved 22 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. ^ Oakes, Peter (1990). Speedway Yearbook 1990. Front Page Books. p. 59. ISBN 0-948882-15-8.
  13. ^ Oakes, Peter (1990). Speedway Yearbook 1990. Front Page Books. p. 46. ISBN 0-948882-15-8.
  14. ^ "1989 fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 1 October 2023.