Misplaced Pages

The 1975 New National League was contested as the second division/tier of Speedway in the United Kingdom when British League Division Two was renamed. It was subsequently named the National League. The change came about following unrest between some of the clubs and the speedway authorities in previous seasons.

Summary

The league increased by one team for the fourth season in a row, despite the loss of three teams; the Barrow Bombers, Long Eaton Archers and Sunderland Gladiators. Sunderland closed for good but in November 1974, Ian Thomas bought the defunct Sunderland licence and transferred it to re-form the Newcastle Diamonds. Three other new teams entered, in addition to the Newcastle Diamonds and they were Crayford Kestrels (returning for their first season since 1970), while Mildenhall Fen Tigers and Paisley Lions both competed in their inaugural seasons.

Birmingham Brummies, winners of the last British League Division Two, retained their title and were promoted to the British League for 1976. Birmingham won the league by 5 points despite losing their leading rider Phil Herne to Newport in division 1. Birmingham relied heavily on Arthur Browning, Alan Grahame and Keith White, improved performances by Ricky Day and Carl Askew and solid seasons once again from John Hart and George Major.

Newcastle finished runner-up on their return to league action, with the Owen brothers Joe Owen and Tom Owen topping the league averages.

Final table

Top Five Riders (League Averages)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Joe Owen		Newcastle	10.89
2	Tom Owen		Newcastle	10.78
3	Alan Molyneux		Stoke	10.10
4	Paul Gachet		Eastbourne	10.08
5	Les Rumsey		Canterbury	10.01

National League Knockout Cup

The 1975 National League Knockout Cup was the eighth edition (first under its new name) of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Eastbourne Eagles were the winners of the competition.

First round

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

First leg

Second leg

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

Riders' Championship

Laurie Etheridge won the Riders' Championship, held at Wimbledon Stadium on 27 September.

Pos.	Rider	Pts	Total
1	Laurie Etheridge	3 2 2 3 3	13+3
2	Brian Collins	3 3 3 3 1	13+2
3	Arthur Browning	2 2 3 1 2	10+3
4	Les Rumsey	2 3 0 2 3	10+2
5	Michael Lee	1 1 3 2 3	10+1
6	John Jackson	3 1 3 1 1	9
7	Tom Leadbitter	0 2 2 1 3	8
8	Joe Owen	2 0 1 3 2	8
9	Paul Gachet	3 3 fex 2 0	8
10	Bob Coles	2 2 2 0 1	7
11	Brian Clark	0 1 2 3 f	6
12	Alan Molyneux	1 1 1 0 2	5
13	Brian Foote	0 f 1 2 2	5
14	Colin Meredith	1 0 1 1	4
15	Lou Sansom	0 3 0 0 0	3
16	Tony Childs	1 0 0 0 0

• f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Pairs

The National League Pairs was held at Hyde Road on 17 May and was won by Newcastle Diamonds.

Semi finals

• Ellesmere Port bt Eastbourne
• Newcastle bt Crayford

Final

• Newcastle bt Eastbourne

Leading final averages

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Joe Owen		Newcastle	10.65
2	Tom Owen		Newcastle	10.65
3	Alan Molyneux		Stoke	10.14
4	Les Rumsey		Canterbury	9.90
5	Paul Gachet		Eastbourne	9.87

Riders & final averages

Berwick

• Dave Gifford 8.58
• Graham Jones 7.65
• Colin Farquharson 7.41
• Steve Finch 6.75
• Willie Templeton 6.34
• Denny Morter 4.89
• Dave Trownson 4.86
• Bernie Hornby 4.85

Birmingham

• Arthur Browning 9.35
• Alan Grahame 8.38
• Keith White 8.22
• John Hart 8.00
• Keith Anderson 7.58
• Ricky Day 7.34
• George Major 7.31
• Carl Askew 6.91

Boston

• Michael Lee 9.04
• Bruce Forrester 8.22
• David Gagen 7.83
• Rob Hollingworth 7.30
• Billy Burton 7.19
• Les Glover 6.95
• Dave Piddock 6.17
• Rob Mouncer 6.13
• Trevor Whiting 4.53

Bradford

• Tony Featherstone 8.34
• Colin Meredith 7.92
• Dave Baugh 7.42
• Tony Boyle 7.11
• Steve Wilcock 5.75
• Andy Cowan 5.55
• Alan Knapkin 5.48
• Mick Fielding 4.49
• Brenton Langlois 4.34
• Dave Parkin 3.06
• Barry Weaver 1.82

Canterbury

• Les Rumsey 9.90
• Dave Gooderham 8.63
• Barney Kennett 8.23
• Graham Clifton 5.31
• Bob Spelta 5.11
• Jimmy Squibb 5.00
• Gerald Purkiss 4.85
• Terry Casserley 3.77

Coatbridge

• Brian Collins 9.46
• Mitch Shirra 8.37
• Jimmy Gallacher 7.54
• Grahame Dawson 6.39
• Mick McKeon 5.64
• Doug Templeton 4.94
• John Wilson 4.73
• Paul Heller 4.00
• Eddie Argall 3.90
• Derek Richardson 3.71
• Barry Booth 1.68

Crayford

• Laurie Etheridge 9.74
• Alan Sage 8.51
• Trevor Barnwell 7.72
• Pete Wigley 6.26
• Bob Young 5.86
• Les Ott 5.78
• Alan Johns 5.68
• George Barclay 5.34
• Dave Shepherd 4.92
• Bill Archer 4.11

Crewe

• Graham Drury 8.70
• Chris Turner 8.13
• Nigel Wasley 7.75
• Chris Emery 6.3
• Ricky Day 6.06
• Stuart Cope 5.83
• Les Collins 5.25
• Max Brown 4.99
• Geoff Ambrose 4.96
• Cliff Anderson 4.90
• Ian Robertson 3.27

Eastbourne

• Paul Gachet 9.87
• Neil Middleditch 9.62
• Steve Weatherley 8.07
• Pete Jarman 7.32
• Mike Sampson 7.28
• Eric Dugard 5.49
• Colin Richardson 5.24
• Terry Barclay 3.78

Ellesmere Port

• John Jackson 9.78
• Colin Goad 7.13
• Wayne Hughes 6.76
• Nicky Allott 6.41
• Duncan Meredith 5.78
• Mick McKeon 4.86
• Steve Casey 4.52
• Gerald Smitherman 4.37
• Barry Booth 4.00
• Andy Reid 3.68

Mildenhall

• Bob Coles 8.82
• Chris Julian 6.74
• Stan Stevens 6.02
• John Gibbons 5.93
• Kevin Jolly 5.76
• John McNeill 4.77
• Paul Clipstone 3.59
• Paul Gilbert 3.43
• Fred Mills 2.97

Newcastle

• Joe Owen 10.65
• Tom Owen 10.65
• Brian Havelock 6.72
• Ron Henderson 5.81
• Mike Watkin 5.59
• Robbie Blackadder 5.45
• Tim Swales 5.23
• Phil Micheledies 5.05

Paisley

• Sid Sheldrick 8.00
• Mike Fullerton 7.20
• Alan Bridgett 7.12
• Chris Roynon 6.00
• Tom Davie 5.26
• Bernie Foot 5.20
• Stuart Mountford 4.47
• Mick Sheldrick 4.00
• Geoff Snider 4.00

Peterborough

• Brian Clark 9.00
• Russ Osborne 7.14
• Roy Carter 6.67
• Ken Matthews 6.66
• Mike Cake 5.53
• Jack Walker 4.70
• Ian Clark 4.36
• Roy Sizmore 4.33
• Steve Taylor 3.52
• Phil Cornwell 1.33

Rye House

• Brian Foote 8.39
• Hugh Saunders 7.46
• Bob Cooper 6.75
• Kelvin Mullarkey 6.25
• Tiger Beech 5.69
• John Gibbons 5.25
• Bob Young 4.73
• Dingle Brown 4.62
• Karl Fiala 4.58
• Barry Duke 4.33
• Steve Clarke 3.87

Scunthorpe

• Tony Childs 8.35
• Keith Evans 7.52
• Ken McKinlay 6.46
• Andy Hines 5.99
• Colin Cook 5.91
• Tony Gillias 5.55
• Andy Sims 5.38
• Ray Watkins 4.24
• Chris Emery 4.13
• Ian Silk 2.09

Stoke

• Alan Molyneux 10.14
• Steve Bastable 8.04
• Steve Holden 7.92
• Andy Cusworth 7.52
• Jack Millen 6.96
• Phil Bass 6.93
• Jim Wells 6.55
• Mick Handley 6.09
• Alan Bridgett 4.62

Teesside

• Tom Leadbitter 9.40
• Doug Underwood 8.34
• Alan Emerson 8.33
• Roger Wright 7.68
• Dave Durham 6.05
• Pete Reading 5.69
• Harry Maclean 5.25
• Trevor Stead 3.44
• David Levings 3.08
• Colin Pestell 2.83
• Ian Silk 2.29

Weymouth

• Martin Yeates 8.31
• Brian Woodward 7.77
• Vic Harding 6.82
• Chris Robins 5.15
• Geoff Swindells 4.77
• Nigel Couzens 4.73
• Melvin Soffe 4.24
• Tony Freegard 3.59
• Ricky Owen 3.09
• Roger Stratton 2.86

Workington

• Lou Sansom 8.81
• Taffy Owen 8.37
• Robbie Gardner 7.38
• Kym Amundson 6.94
• Mick Newton .6.63
• Roger Wright 6.24
• Terry Kelly 6.07
• Steve Watson 4.42
• Steve Lawson 3.64

See also

• List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
• Knockout Cup (speedway)

References

1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
2. "Eagles want speedway shake-up". Eastbourne Gazette. 13 November 1974. Retrieved 20 September 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
3. ^ "teams". wwosbackup. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
4. "Ian Thomas buys out Sunderland". Hull Daily Mail. 28 November 1974. Retrieved 4 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
5. "Sunderland Speedway". Defunct Speedway. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
6. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
7. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
8. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 101. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
9. "1975 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
10. ^ "1975 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
11. "Lee's title bid fails". Cambridge Daily News. 29 September 1975. Retrieved 17 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
12. "1975 season results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 20 May 2023.

v t e United Kingdom Speedway Seasons
Tier One League Top division	1929 1929 1930 1930 1931 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Tier Two League Second division	1934 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Tier Three League Third division	1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1994 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Champions	League champions Cup winners

v t e British League Division Two/National League seasons
1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994

• Speedway British League Division Two / National League