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[edit]

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[edit]

[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)[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

References[edit]

  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.
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