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. Paisley would race at a new track constructed around Love Street, home of St Mirren F.C..
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 Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Birmingham Brummies 38 29 1 8 592 Newcastle Diamonds 38 27 0 11 543 Stoke Potters 38 26 0 12 524 Eastbourne Eagles 38 25 0 13 505 Boston Barracudas 38 24 2 12 506 Workington Comets 38 23 2 13 487 Berwick Bandits 38 21 3 14 458 Crayford Kestrels 38 20 2 16 429 Ellesmere Port Gunners 38 19 1 18 3910 Canterbury Crusaders 38 19 0 19 3811 Bradford Barons 38 17 2 19 3612 Coatbridge Tigers 38 17 1 20 3513 Scunthorpe Saints 38 17 0 21 3414 Rye House Rockets 38 13 2 23 2815 Paisley Lions 38 14 0 24 2816 Crewe Kings 37 13 1 23 2717 Teesside Tigers 38 13 0 25 2618 Peterborough Panthers 37 13 0 24 2619 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 38 11 1 26 2320 Weymouth Wizards 38 8 2 28 18
Fixtures and results
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 Date Team one Score Team two15/04 Ellesmere Port 43-35 Coatbridge11/04 Coatbridge 50-28 Ellesmere Port14/04 Newcastle 44-34 Berwick05/04 Berwick 40-38 Newcastle21/03 Peterborough 42-36 Boston16/03 Boston 40-38 Peterborough14/04 Birmingham 51-27 Crayford15/04 Crayford 37-40 Birmingham Second round Date Team one Score Team two05/05 Scunthorpe 38-40 Teesside01/05 Teesside 45-32 Scunthorpe30/05 Coatbridge 39-39 Newcastle19/05 Newcastle 50-27 Coatbridge10/05 Paisley 43-34 Workington30/05 Workington 45-33 Paisley05/05 Crewe 38-40 Bradford14/05 Bradford 48-30 Crewe09/05 Peterborough 49-29 Weymouth29/04 Weymouth 50-28 Peterborough11/05 Rye House 31-46 Birmingham05/05 Birmingham 60-18 Rye House10/05 Canterbury 40-37 Eastbourne11/05 Eastbourne 49-29 Canterbury Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two07/08 Teesside 32-46 Newcastle28/07 Newcastle 54-24 Teesside24/08 Workington 47-31 Stoke21/08 Stoke 42-36 Workington23/09 Weymouth 42-36 Eastbourne09/07 Bradford 47-31 Weymouth14/07 Birmingham 41-37 Eastbourne06/07 Eastbourne 45-33 Birmingham Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two19/09 Workington 48-30 Newcastle15/09 Newcastle 48-30 Workington23/09 Weymouth 42-36 Eastbourne21/09 Eastbourne 60-18 Weymouth29/09replay Newcastle 37-41 Workington26/09replay Workington 51-27Newcastle
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 Total1 Laurie Etheridge 3 2 2 3 3 13+32 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 97 Tom Leadbitter 0 2 2 1 3 88 Joe Owen 2 0 1 3 2 89 Paul Gachet 3 3 fex 2 0 810 Bob Coles 2 2 2 0 1 7 11 Brian Clark 0 1 2 3 f 612 Alan Molyneux 1 1 1 0 2 513 Brian Foote 0 f 1 2 2 5 14 Colin Meredith 1 0 1 1 415 Lou Sansom 0 3 0 0 0 316 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.
Group APosTeamPtsRiders1Eastbourne14Gachet 9Middleditch 52Scunthorpe 10McKinlay 6Childs 43Workington8Sansom 7Gardner 14Paisley4Sheldrick 4Roynon 0
Group BPosTeamPtsRiders1Crayford14Sage 8Etheridge 62Birmingham10Hart 8 Browning 23Bradford9Featherstone 6Baugh 34Rye House3Foote 3 Clarke 0
Group CPosTeamPtsRiders1Ellesmere P12Jackson 9Goad 32Peterborough11Clark 6Matthews 53Coatbridge7Collins 6Gallacher 14Stoke6Molyneux 4Millen 2
Group DPosTeamPtsRiders1Newcastle13Havelock 8 Owen T 52Crewe10Drury 8 Wasley 23Teesside9Reading 5 Durham 44Berwick4Gifford 4 Templeton W 0
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