The 1956 National League Division One was the 22nd season and eleventh post-war season of the highest tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.
Summary The league consisted of seven teams after the West Ham Hammers ceased competitive speedway racing at the end of 1955. Poole Pirates came up from the second tier to replace them. Match line-ups were increased to eight riders after a single season with seven riders. Wimbledon won their third successive National League Championship.
Norwich Stars rider Malcolm Flood died on 2 April, at Poole. The 25-year-old rider suffered fatal injuries despite an earlier warning from the race steward that he was riding too erratically into the bends.
Final table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Wimbledon Dons 24 17 1 6 352 Wembley Lions 24 14 1 9 293 Birmingham Brummies 24 12 1 11 254 Norwich Stars 24 10 4 10 245 Belle Vue Aces 24 11 1 12 236 Poole Pirates 24 9 2 13 207 Bradford Tudors 24 6 0 18 12
Fixtures & results A fixtures
B fixtures
Top Ten Riders (League only) Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Barry Briggs Wimbledon 10.53 2 Ove Fundin Norwich 10.34 3 Ronnie Moore Wimbledon 10.32 4 Brian Crutcher Wembley 10.16 5 Alan Hunt Birmingham 9.53 6 Peter Moore Wimbledon 9.20 7 Peter Craven Belle Vue 9.07 8 Jack Biggs Poole 8.71 9 Dick Fisher Belle Vue 8.40 10 Ron Johnston Belle Vue 8.38
National Trophy Stage Two The 1956 National Trophy was the 19th edition of the Knockout Cup. The Trophy consisted of two stages; stage one was for the second-tier clubs, stage two was for the top-tier clubs. Wimbledon won the second and final stage and were therefore declared the 1956 National Trophy champions.
For Stage One - see Stage One
First round Date Team one Score Team two26/07 Wembley 60-47 Birmingham24/07 Southampton 64-44 Norwich21/07 Belle Vue 72-36 Poole21/07 Birmingham 61-47 Wembley21/07 Bradford Odsal 38-70 Wimbledon21/07 Norwich 77-31 Southampton16/07 Poole 54-54 Belle Vue16/07 Wimbledon 79-29 Bradford Odsal
Semifinals Date Team one Score Team two01/09 Belle Vue 83-25 Birmingham17/08 Birmingham 64-44 Belle Vue13/08 Wimbledon 68-40 Norwich04/08 Norwich 56-52 Wimbledon
Final
First leg
Second leg
Wimbledon were National Trophy Champions, winning on aggregate 108–107.
Riders & final averages Belle Vue
9.07 8.38 8.40 7.39 6.74 6.29 5.48 5.47 5.26 3.90 4.13 3.60
Birmingham
9.53 Doug Davies 8.22 7.74 7.48 5.16 Neil Mortimer 5.15 4.63 Arthur Duncan 3.90 2.89
Bradford
7.64 6.31 5.98 5.68 5.60 5.49 4.96 4.90 4.00 3.06
Norwich
10.34 7.83 7.60 6.43 6.30 5.91 5.78 5.03 4.88 4.36 1.50
Poole
8.71 7.76 7.60 6.00 5.95 5.33 5.31 5.05 4.67 3.83
Wembley
10.16 7.54 7.43 7.36 6.86 6.43 6.29 5.88 5.14 2.67
Wimbledon
10.53 10.32 9.20 7.88 6.47 5.38 4.94 2.56
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References