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1984 National League season

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1984 National League season
LeagueNational League
No. of competitors16
ChampionsLong Eaton Invaders
Knockout CupHackney Kestrels
IndividualIan Barney
PairsStoke Potters
FoursMildenhall Fen Tigers
Highest averageSteve Lawson
Division/s above1984 British League

The 1984 National League was contested as the second division of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom.

Summary

[edit]

A new team called the Arena Essex Hammers, promoted by Wally Mawdsley joined the league.[1] Crayford Kestrels moved to Hackney Wick Stadium to beome the Hackney Kestrels.[2][3]

The title was won by the Long Eaton Invaders who finished just one point clear of the Mildenhall Fen Tigers.[4][5] Remarkably the Long Eaton Invaders had gone from finishing last in 1983 to first in 1984 under former rider Vic White. He had been brought in as the team manager and had signed Graham Drury and Chris Pidcock to support Dave Perks, Paul Stead and David Tyler.[6]

Final table

[edit]
Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Long Eaton Invaders 30 21 1 8 43
2 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 30 19 4 7 42
3 Stoke Potters 30 17 3 10 37
4 Hackney Kestrels 30 16 0 14 32
5 Berwick Bandits 30 15 1 14 31
6 Boston Barracudas 30 15 1 14 31
7 Milton Keynes Knights 30 14 1 15 29
8 Rye House Rockets 30 14 0 16 28
9 Middlesbrough Tigers 30 13 2 15 28
10 Scunthorpe Stags 30 13 2 15 28
11 Glasgow Tigers 30 13 2 15 28
12 Canterbury Crusaders 30 13 1 16 27
13 Weymouth Wildcats 30 13 0 17 26
14 Arena Essex Hammers 30 11 3 16 25
15 Peterborough Panthers 30 12 0 18 24
16 Edinburgh Monarchs 30 10 1 19 21

Top Five Riders (League Averages)

[edit]
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Steve Lawson England Glasgow 10.41
2 Martin Yeates England Weymouth 10.35
3 Steve Wilcock England Middlesbrough 9.89
4 Tom Owen England Stoke 9.77
5 Steve McDermott England Berwick 9.74


National League Knockout Cup

[edit]

The 1984 National League Knockout Cup was the 17th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Hackney Kestrels were the winners of the competition.[7]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
08/06 Peterborough 48-30 Arena Essex
31/05 Arena Essex 41-37 Peterborough
11/05 Peterborough 42-36 Arena Essex
26/04 Arena Essex 42-36 Peterborough
26/04 Middlesbrough 52-26 Scunthorpe
22/04 Boston 40-38 Edinburgh
21/04 Berwick 44-34 Glasgow
21/04 Stoke 39-38 Long Eaton
20/04 Edinburgh 46-32 Boston
20/04 Glasgow 33-44 Berwick
18/04 Long Eaton 45-33 Stoke
17/04 Weymouth 34-44 Canterbury
16/04 Scunthorpe 43-35 Middlesbrough
15/04 Mildenhall 44-34 Milton Keynes
15/04 Rye House 36-42 Hackney
14/04 Canterbury 39-39 Weymouth
13/04 Hackney 53-25 Rye House
10/04 Milton Keynes 41-37 Mildenhall

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
28/07 Canterbury 44-34 Peterborough
20/07 Edinburgh 35-43 Berwick
20/07 Peterborough 47-30 Canterbury
18/05 Hackney 51-27 Mildenhall
17/05 Middlesbrough 55-23 Long Eaton
13/05 Mildenhall 44-34 Hackney
05/05 Berwick 43-35 Edinburgh
02/05 Long Eaton 48-30 Middlesbrough

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
07/09 Peterborough 53-25 Hackney
27/08 Hackney 54-24 Peterborough
26/07 Middlesbrough 41-37 Berwick
21/07 Berwick 46-31 Middlesbrough

Final

[edit]

First leg

Hackney Kestrels
Barry Thomas 11
Trevor Banks 11
Paul Bosley 7
Andy Galvin 6
Kevin Teager 5
Paul Whittaker 5
Linden Warner 1		46 – 32Berwick Bandits
Jim McMillan 13
Bruce Cribb 12
David Walsh 3
Dennis Gallagher 3
Eric Broadbelt 1
Mick Caroline 0
Steve McDermott R/R
[8][9]

Second leg

Berwick Bandits
Jim McMillan 12
Bruce Cribb 12
David Walsh 10
Dennis Gallagher 3
Craig Pendlebury 3
Mick Caroline 0
Steve McDermott R/R		40 – 37Hackney Kestrels
Barry Thomas 11
Trevor Banks 7
Kevin Teager 6
Paul Bosley 5
Andy Galvin 5
Paul Whittaker 3
Linden Warner 0
[8][9]

Hackney were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 83–72.

Riders' Championship

[edit]

Ian Barney won the Riders' Championship. The final was originally held at Wimbledon Stadium on 23 September but was abandoned after eight heats due to rain. The Championship was restaged on 13 October at East of England Arena.[10]

Pos. Rider Total
1 England Ian Barney 14 3
2 England Dave Perks 14 ef
3 England Martin Yeates 12 3
4 England Andy Buck 12 2
5 England Steve Wilcock 10
6 England Colin Cook 8
7 England Tom Owen 8
? England Alan Sage
? England Bob Garrard
? Australia Mark Fiora
? England Barry Thomas
? New Zealand Bruce Cribb 4
? England Keith White
? England Jamie Luckhurst
? England Steve Lawson
? England Carl Baldwin

Pairs

[edit]

The National League Pairs was held at Hackney Wick Stadium on 30 June and was won by Stoke Potters.[11][12]

Top 4 Qualifying
Pos Team Pts Riders
1 Stoke 20 Owen T 12, Crabtree 8
2 Berwick 18 Cribb 11, McDermott 7
3 Weymouth 18 Yeates, Biles 6
4 Mildenhall 18 Blackbird, Bales 7

Semi finals

  • Stoke bt Mildenhall
  • Berwick bt Weymouth

Final

  • Stoke bt Berwick

Fours

[edit]

Mildenhall won the fours championship final, held at the East of England Showground on 22 July.[13]

Semi finals

  • SF1 = Boston 16, Stoke 13, Canterbury 10, Berwick 9
  • SF2 = Mildenhall 23 Milton Keynes 10, Middlesbrough 8, Hackney 7

Final

Pos Team Pts Riders
1 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 19 Bales 6, Henry 5, Blackbird 5, Baldwin 3
2 Stoke Potters 15 Crabtree 5, Thorp 4, Owen 4, Evitts 2
3 Milton Keynes Knights 11 White 4, Blackburn 4, Payne 2, De'Ath 1, Framingham 0
4 Boston Barracudas 3 Burton 2, Wilson 1, Cook 0, Hollingworth 0

Leading averages

[edit]
Rider Team Average
Steve Lawson Glasgow 10.38
Martin Yeates Weymouth 10.35
Steve McDermott Berwick 9.97
Tom Owen Stoke 9.86
Steve Wilcock Middlesbrough 9.71
Nigel Crabtree Stoke 9.56
Bobby Beaton Edinburgh 9.30
Bruce Cribb Berwick 9.24
Alun Rossiter Weymouth 9.23
Carl Baldwin Mildenhall 9.11
Mark Fiora Edinburgh 9.10

Riders & final averages

[edit]

Arena Essex

Berwick

Boston

Canterbury

Edinburgh

Glasgow

  • Steve Lawson 10.38
  • Andy Reid 7.64
  • Brian Collins 6.58
  • Colin Caffrey 6.11
  • Martin McKinna 5.44
  • Jim Beaton 4.55
  • David Cassels 3.26
  • Tam Baggley 2.75
  • Barry Ayres 2.67
  • Geoff Powell 2.59

Hackney

Long Eaton

  • Dave Perks 8.99
  • Paul Stead 8.75
  • Graham Drury 8.50
  • David Tyler 7.37
  • Chris Pidcock 6.96
  • Miles Evans 5.83
  • Mark Stevenson 5.41
  • John Frankland 5.35

Middlesbrough

  • Steve Wilcock 9.71
  • Mike Spink 8.50
  • Geoff Pusey 7.26
  • Paul Price 5.70
  • Pete Smith 4.87
  • Mark Crang 4.75
  • Jim Burdfield 4.68
  • Ashley Norton 4.24
  • Rob Carter 3.22
  • John Place 2.06

Mildenhall

Milton Keynes

Peterborough

  • Mick Hines 7.51
  • Dave Allen 6.98
  • Ian Barney 6.96
  • Andy Fisher 6.36
  • Keith Millard 6.25
  • Adrian Hume 5.86
  • Mike Spinks 4.65
  • Neil Cotton 4.32
  • Lawrie Bloomfield 3.90
  • Mike Smart 2.56

Rye House

Scunthorpe

  • Julian Parr 8.11
  • Andy Buck 7.80
  • Rob Woffinden 7.65
  • Derek Richardson 7.5
  • Paul Evitts 6.64
  • Mike Wilding 6.06
  • Kevin Armitage 5.54
  • Ian Gibson 4.73
  • Mark Burrows 3.94
  • Richie Owen 2.43

Stoke

Weymouth

  • Martin Yeates 10.35
  • Alun Rossiter 9.23
  • David Biles 7.06
  • John Barker 6.84
  • Kevin Price 5.21
  • Gordon Humphreys 4.28
  • Mike Semmonds 4.10
  • Michael Coles 3.78
  • Ian Humphreys 3.62
  • Dave Gibbs 3.55
  • Terry Mussett 2.92
  • Wayne Barrett 1.09

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "New Speed track for Essex". Harlow Star. 13 October 1983. Retrieved 16 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. ^ "Goodbye Marvyn". Hoddesdon and Broxbourne Mercury. 18 November 1983. Retrieved 28 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ^ "West Row Opener". Newmarket Journal. 9 February 1984. Retrieved 28 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  5. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  6. ^ "Expect new faces on the track". Long Eaton Advertiser. 5 January 1984. Retrieved 22 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ "1984 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  8. ^ a b "1984 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Berwick 1984 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  10. ^ "Barney wins title". Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 14 October 1984. Retrieved 21 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. ^ "1984 fixture list" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  12. ^ "Stoke stars take title". Sunday Sun (Newcastle). 1 July 1984. Retrieved 24 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. ^ "Red hot Tigers takes fours crown at last". Cambridge Daily News. 23 July 1984. Retrieved 8 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  • Oakes, Peter (1991) The Complete History of the British League, Front Page Books, ISBN 0-948882-07-7, p. 17 (Division Two section)
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