The 1946 National League was the 12th season of the highest tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain and the first post-war season.
The league had been abandoned seven years previously due to the outbreak of World War II. Record attendances were attracted with Wembley Lions attracting an average of 50,000 and the league as a whole a total of six and a half million.Dalling, P. (2011). The Golden Age Of Speedway. The History Press. From the abandoned 1939 season, Southampton Saints and Harringay Tigers were no longer racing whilst Odsal Boomerangs brought National League speedway to Bradford for the first time.
Wembley Lions won their second National League title.
On 6 July, a crowd of 34,0000 at Odsal Stadium witnessed Odsal Boomerangs lose to Belle Vue Aces. During the match Albert 'Aussie' Rosenfeld, son of Albert Rosenfeld hit the fence and was taken to St Luke's Hospital, Bradford, with a suspected fractured skull. He died 10 days later, on 16 July 1946.
National League Final table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Wembley Lions 20 18 0 2 362 Belle Vue Aces 20 12 1 7 253 Odsal Boomerangs 20 9 1 10 194 Wimbledon Dons 20 8 1 11 175 New Cross Rangers 20 6 1 13 136 West Ham Hammers 20 4 2 14 10
Fixtures & results A fixtures
B fixtures
A.C.U. Cup On account of the small number of teams in the league the ACU Cup was run in a league format. Belle Vue Aces came out on top.
Final table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Belle Vue Aces 10 8 0 2 162 Wembley Lions 10 6 1 3 133 New Cross Rangers 10 6 0 4 124 Odsal Boomerangs 10 4 1 5 95 Wimbledon Dons 10 4 0 6 86 West Ham Hammers 10 1 0 9 2
Such was the dearth of new riders caused by the war that all of the top ten riders were established pre-war riders and none were below the age of 32.
Top Ten Riders (League only) Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Eric Langton Belle Vue Aces 11.13 2 Jack Parker Belle Vue Aces 11.00 3 Bill Kitchen Wembley Lions 10.75 4 Ron Johnson New Cross Rangers 10.69 5 Eric Chitty West Ham Hammers 10.30 6 Norman Parker Wimbledon Dons 10.12 7 Tommy Price Wembley Lions 10.00 8 Alec Statham Odsal Boomerangs 9.72 9 Ron Clarke Odsal Boomerangs 9.50 10 Bill Longley Odsal Boomerangs 9.20
National Trophy The 1946 National Trophy was the tenth edition (if including the 1939 abandoned competition) or ninth edition (if not including) of the Knockout Cup. Teams from the lower 1946 Speedway Northern League competed in the event.
First round Date Team one Score Team two04/05 Birmingham 56–48 Norwich27/04 Norwich 53–51 Birmingham
Second round Date Team one Score Team two25/05 Birmingham 61–45 Middlesbrough16/05 Middlesbrough 58–50 Birmingham29/04 Newcastle 49–56 Middlesbrough25/04 Middlesbrough 55–51 Newcastle25/04 Sheffield 61–47 Glasgow White City24/04 Glasgow White City 61–47 Sheffield09/05replay Sheffield 63–44 Glasgow White City08/05replayGlasgow White City 62–45 Sheffield
Quarterfinals Date Team one Score Team two22/06 Birmingham 31–77 Wembley13/06 Wembley 80–27 Birmingham20/07 Bradford Odsal 72–36 Sheffield04/07 Sheffield 48–60 Bradford Odsal02/07 West Ham 55–52 Wimbledon01/07 Wimbledon 63–44 West Ham08/06 Belle Vue 58–49 New Cross12/06 New Cross 50–57 Belle Vue
Semifinals Date Team one Score Team two25/07 Wembley 50–57 Belle Vue13/07 Belle Vue 60–48 Wembley19/08 Wimbledon 62–46 Bradford Odsal03/08 Bradford Odsal 53–55 Wimbledon
Final
First leg
Second leg
Belle Vue were National Trophy Champions, winning on aggregate 109–106.
Riders' Championship Tommy Price won the British Riders' Championship final held at Empire Stadium on 12 September, in front of 85,000 spectators. There were no less than 23 qualifying rounds, where riders from National and Northern League tracks respectively, competed in six meetings each.
Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total1 Tommy Price 3 3 3 3 3 152 Bill Kitchen 3 3 2 2 3 13 3 Jack Parker 3 f 3 3 3 124 Eric Langton 2 1 3 3 2 11 5 Malcolm Craven 3 2 f 2 3 106 Norman Parker 2 3 1 2 2 107 Eric Chitty 2 1 3 1 2 9 8 Frank Hodgson 1 3 2 1 1 8 9 Ron Johnson f 2 3 2 f 710 Bert Spencer 1 1 1 0 2 511 Wally Lloyd 0 2 2 0 1 5 12 Jeff Lloyd 0 1 0 2 1 4 13 Bill Longley 2 2 0 0 0 414 Tommy Allott 0 0 0 1 1 215 Ernie Price 1 0 1 0 0 216 Ron Clarke (res) 1 1 0 2 16 Alec Statham 0 0 0 - - 0 f=fell
London Cup First round Team one Score Team twoNew Cross 59–49, 46–60 WimbledonWest Ham62–46, 43–65 Wembley
Final
First leg
Second leg
Wembley won on aggregate 121–95
Riders & final averages Belle Vue
11.13 11.00 8.46 6.91 5.00 4.92 3.90 4.67 1.45
New Cross
10.69 9.52 8.63 8.24 4.14 4.12 3.78 Keith Harvey 3.40 3.06 2.29 2.13 0.57
Odsal
9.72 9.50 9.20 8.39 6.90 2.93 2.86 2.00 1.33 1.25 1.24 0.80 0.60
Wembley
10.75 10.00 9.00 5.90 5.72 5.66 5.50 5.11 4.90
West Ham
Eric Chitty 10.30 9.03 8.40 7.89 4.73 4.14 3.47 3.39 3.23 3.23 3.00 2.45 2.29
Wimbledon
10.12 8.23 7.58 6.29 5.82 5.69 5.38 4.38 4.00 4.00
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References