The 1947 National League Division One was the 13th season of speedway in the United Kingdom and the second post-war season of the highest tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.
Summary Harringay Racers rejoined the league. Wembley Lions retained the title. Belle Vue retained the National Trophy.
Final Table Division One Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Wembley Lions 24 19 0 5 382 Belle Vue Aces 24 15 1 8 313 Wimbledon Dons 24 13 1 10 274 Odsal Boomerangs 24 10 1 13 215 New Cross Rangers 24 10 0 14 206 West Ham Hammers 24 8 0 16 167 Harringay Racers 24 7 1 16 15
Fixtures & results A fixtures
B fixtures
British Speedway Cup On account of the small number of teams in the league the British Speedway Cup was run in a league format. Wembley Lions won all their matches, home and away, to complete a double.
Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Wembley Lions 12 12 0 0 242 New Cross Rangers 12 8 0 4 163 Wimbledon Dons 12 5 1 6 114 Belle Vue Aces 12 5 0 7 105 Harringay Racers 12 5 0 7 106 West Ham Hammers 12 4 0 8 87 Odsal Boomerangs 12 2 1 9 5
Top ten riders (league only) Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Vic Duggan Harringay 11.54 2 Bill Kitchen Wembley 10.74 3 Norman Parker Wimbledon 10.35 4 Alec Statham Odsal 10.25 5 Tommy Price Wembley 10.00 6= Eric Chitty West Ham 9.54 6= Malcolm Craven New Cross 9.54 8 George Wilks Wembley 9.46 9 Eric Langton Belle Vue 9.44 10 Jack Parker Belle Vue 9.32
National Trophy The 1947 National Trophy was the tenth edition of the Knockout Cup.
During the National Trophy quarter final match between Wembley and Harringay (on 15 August) the 27-year-old Wembley rider Nelson 'Bronco' Wilson received fatal injuries in the fourth heat. He died in the Prince of Wales Hospital, Tottenham, the following day from a fractured skull. Remarkably another rider Cyril Anderson of the Norwich Stars was killed instantly on the same evening, during the Division Two Best Pairs.
Qualifying Middlesbrough and Norwich qualified for the quarter finals by virtue of finishing 1st & 2nd in the Second Division Cup.
Quarterfinals Date Team one Score Team two07/08 Wembley 61–45 Harringay07/08 Middlesbrough 40–68 Wimbledon09/08 Belle Vue 67–41 New Cross11/08 Wimbledon 77–31 Middlesbrough12/08 West Ham 54–54 Bradford Odsal13/08 New Cross 61–46 Belle Vue15/08 Harringay 47–58 Wembley16/08 Bradford Odsal 53–55 West Ham
Semifinals Date Team one Score Team two25/08 Wimbledon 59–49 Belle Vue02/09 West Ham 55–51 Wembley04/09 Wembley 68–40 West Ham06/09 Belle Vue 82–25Wimbledon
Final
First leg
Second leg
Belle Vue were National Trophy Champions, winning on aggregate 116–100.
Riders' Championship Jack Parker won the British Riders' Championship final held at Empire Stadium on 11 September. Parker won the title after a run off and also broke the halfway (2 laps) track record (37.6 secs) in heat 2. There were three qualifying rounds, with 28 riders progressing to the Championship round, held over seven meetings.
Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total1 Jack Parker 3 3 3 2 3 14+32 Bill Kitchen 3 3 2 3 3 14+23 Bill Longley 2 1 2 3 3 114 Eric Chitty 1 2 3 2 2 105 George Wilks 2 2 2 1 2 9 6 Vic Duggan 3 2 3 F - 8 7 Eric Langton 0 1 3 2 28 8 Frank Hodgson 1 3 2 1 1 8 9 Ernie Price 2 2 2 1 1 8 10 Norman Parker3 1 1 0 3 811 Ron Johnson 2 F 1 3 F 6 12 Lionel Van Praag 1 3 0 2 0 613 Tommy Price 0 3 1 1 1 6 14 Les Wotton 1 0 1 0 2 4 15 Geoff Pymar 0 F F 3 1 4 16 Bill Pitcher 1 0 0 1 F 216 Aub Lawson (res) 0 0 - - - 017 Dent Oliver (res) 0 0 - - - 018 Frank Dolan 0 0 0 0 0 0 f=fell
London Cup First round Team one Score Team two New Cross64–44, 55–52 Wimbledon
Semi final round Team one Score Team twoWembley69–38, 51–57West HamNew Cross74–34, 72–36 Harringay
Final
First leg
Second leg
New Cross won on aggregate 110–105
Riders & final averages Belle Vue
9.44 9.32 8.50 7.87 7.29 6.68 5.39 4.47 4.44 3.80 3.36
Harringay
11.54 8.00 7.32 6.53 4.78 4.16 3.49 4.20 3.18 3.00 2.11 1.48
New Cross
8.88 7.43 7.83 7.71 7.68 5.04 5.96 3.86 Keith Harvey 3.20 4.20
Odsal
10.25 8.64 8.51 7.07 6.90 6.29 4.90 4.00 3.48 3.24 3.00 2.40 2.29 1.18 1.00
Wembley
10.74 10.00 9.46 7.75 6.21 5.47 4.88 6.10 3.33
West Ham
Eric Chitty 9.54 9.54 6.09 5.78 5.67 5.60 5.06 4.46 3.83 3.35 2.58 Bill Matthews 2.55 0.92
Wimbledon
10.35 8.50 7.70 6.00 5.98 5.36 4.51 5.61 1.33
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References