The 1976 National League was contested as the second division of Speedway in the United Kingdom having been renamed from the previous season's moniker of New National League.Oakes, P.(2006). Speedway Star Almanac.
Summary The league was reduced from 20 teams down to 18, following the loss of three teams and gain of one. Birmingham Brummies moved up to the British League and Bradford Barons and Crewe Kings both closed down. Sadly for Crewe the team would never return. The additional team was the Oxford Cheetahs, who had returned to their traditional name following a three year period known as the Oxford Rebels. The Rebels team and promoters had moved to White City during the winterLawson, K (2018) “Rebels 1975 – The Last Season”. but Oxford were saved by new promoters Harry Bastable and Tony Allsop after a committee of fans had created a "Save Our Stadium" campaign over the previous winter.Lawson, K (2018) “The Cheetahs – The Resurrection”.
Newcastle Diamonds comfortably won their first National League title, completing a cup double, and dropping only seven points. The Owen brothers Joe Owen and Tom Owen topped the averages for the second consecutive year. Joe finished with an 11+ average and won the British League Division Two Riders Championship and Newcastle completed the league and cup double.
Final table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Newcastle Diamonds 34 30 1 3 612 Ellesmere Port Gunners 34 24 1 9 493 Workington Comets 34 20 1 13 414 Canterbury Crusaders 34 20 0 14 405 Rye House Rockets 34 17 2 15 366 Crayford Kestrels 34 17 1 16 357 Coatbridge Tigers 34 17 1 16 358 Eastbourne Eagles 34 17 0 17 349 Peterborough Panthers 34 16 2 16 3410 Berwick Bandits 34 17 0 17 3411 Stoke Potters 34 15 1 18 3112 Boston Barracudas 34 15 1 18 3113 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 34 15 1 18 3114 Oxford Cheetahs 34 14 1 19 2915 Weymouth Wizards 34 11 2 21 2416 Paisley Lions 34 12 0 22 2417 Scunthorpe Saints 34 11 1 22 2318 Teesside Tigers 34 10 0 24 20
Fixtures and results
+Oxford/Scunthorpe refused to ride
Top five riders (league averages) Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Joe Owen Newcastle 11.55 2 Tom Owen Newcastle 10.28 3 Steve Weatherley Eastbourne 10.27 4 John Jackson Ellesmere Port 10.20 5 Laurie Etheridge Crayford 9.96
National League Knockout Cup The 1976 Speedway Star Knockout Cup was the ninth edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Newcastle Diamonds were the winners of the competition.
First round Date Team one Score Team two22/04 Oxford 48-30 Weymouth20/04 Weymouth 40-38 Oxford Second round Date Team one Score Team two01/06 Ellesmere Port 46-32 Paisley27/05 Stoke 37-41 Newcastle24/05 Newcastle 59-19 Stoke23/05 Mildenhall 38-40 Peterborough22/05 Paisley 36-42 Ellesmere Port21/05 Peterborough 42-36 Mildenhall17/05 Scunthorpe 43-35 Berwick16/05 Eastbourne 41-37 Oxford16/05 Workington 46-32 Coatbridge14/05 Coatbridge 33-45 Workington13/05 Oxford 47-31 Eastbourne11/05 Crayford 46-32 Boston09/05 Boston 48-30 Crayford02/05 Rye House 45-32 Canterbury01/05 Berwick 45-32 Scunthorpe01/05 Canterbury 44-34 Rye House23/04 Coatbridge 52-25 Teesside22/04 Teesside 46-32 Coatbridge Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two23/07 Workington 46-31 Boston20/07 Ellesmere Port 50-28 Rye House18/07 Rye House 38-39 Ellesmere Port17/07 Berwick 48-30 Oxford11/07 Boston 48-29 Workington08/07 Oxford 40-38 Berwick05/07 Newcastle 47-31 Peterborough25/06 Peterborough 39-39 Newcastle Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two05/09 Boston 42-35 Berwick28/08 Berwick 49-29 Boston17/08 Ellesmere Port 41-37 Newcastle16/08 Newcastle 46-31 Ellesmere Port
Final First leg
Second leg
Newcastle were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 83–72.
Riders' Championship Joe Owen won the Riders' Championship, sponsored by Gauloises and held at Wimbledon Stadium on 2 October.
Pos. Rider Pts Total1 Joe Owen 3 3 3 3 2 142 John Jackson 3 3 0 3 3 12+3 3 Ted Hubbard 1 2 3 3 3 12+2 4 Alan Emerson 2 2 3 2 2 115 Steve Weatherley 2 3 1 3 1 106 Brian Clark 2 2 2 1 3 107 Lou Sansom 3 0 2 2 2 98 Rob Hollingworth 1 1 1 2 3 89 Les Rumsey 3 0 2 1 1 710 Bob Coles 1 1 2 1 2 711 Brian Collins 2 3 0 0 1 612 Laurie Etheridge 1 2 3 0 0 613 Martin Yeates 0 1 0 1 1 314 Graham Jones 0 1 1 0 0 215 Carl Askew (res) 0 2 0 216 Keith Evans 0 0 1 117 Les Collins 0 018 Ian Williams (res) 0 0 0 0 f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure
Pairs The National League Pairs was held at Hyde Road on 5 June and was won by Ellesmere Port Gunners.
Group APosTeamPtsRiders1Ellesmere P11Jackson 7Turner 42Eastbourne 10Weatherley 9Jarman 13Peterborough10Clark 7Featherstone 34Teesside5Emerson 5Reading 0
Group BPosTeamPtsRiders1Newcastle 15Owen J 9Owen T 62Boston9Burton 5Hollingworth 43Scunthorpe8Featherstone 6Baugh 34Coatbridge4Dawson 3Collins 1
Group CPosTeamPtsRiders1Workington11Sansom 6Goad 52Paisley9Farquharson 9Sheldrick 03Berwick8Hiftle 5Adlington 34Rye House8Hubbard 7Foote 1
Group DPosTeamPtsRiders1Mildenhall12Coles 8Jolly 42Stoke10Collins L 8 Millen 23Weymouth9Yeates 8 Harding 14Crayford5Etheridge 4 Johns 1
Semi finals Ellesmere Port bt Workington Newcastle bt Mildenhall
Final Ellesmere Port bt Newcastle
Fours Newcastle won the fours championship final, held at King's Lynn Stadium on 17 July.
Semi finals SF1 = Ellesmere Port 17, Workington 15, Rye House 10, Peterborough 5 SF2 = Newcastle 17, Eastbourne 13, Coatbridge 9, Boston 9
Final Pos TeamPts Riders1 Newcastle 18 Owen T 6, Owen J 6, Cusworth 3, Michelides 32 Eastbourne 13Weatherley 5, Sampson 4, Richardson 4, Dugard 0, Jarman 03 Ellesmere Port 12Jackson 6, Gardner 3, Turner 2, Finch 1 4 Workington 5Lawson 4, Goad 1, Havelock 0, Kelly 0
Leading final averages Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Joe Owen Newcastle 11.54 2 Tom Owen Newcastle 10.43 3 Steve Weatherley Eastbourne 10.35 4 John Jackson Ellesmere Port 10.08 5 Laurie Etheridge Crayford 9.87
Riders & final averages Berwick
Graham Jones 8.12 Dave Gifford 7.91 Mike Hiftle 7.17 Robin Adlington 6.84 Willie Templeton 6.63 Eddie Argall 6.54 Keith Williams 2.00 Peter Waite 1.80 Wayne Brown 1.71
Boston
Rob Hollingworth 9.63 Billy Burton 8.26 Paul Gilbert 6.58 Stuart Cope 5.82 Trevor Whiting 5.57 Chris Emery 5.56 Steve Clarke 5.28 Ron Cooper 5.00 Dave Allen 3.46
Canterbury
Graham Banks 8.06 Steve Koppe 7.85 Les Rumsey 7.50 Barney Kennett 6.84 Graham Clifton 6.55 Reg Luckhurst 6.51 Bob Spelta 5.47 Terry Casserley 5.13
Coatbridge
Brian Collins 9.09 Grahame Dawson 7.91 Mick McKeon 6.79 Jimmy Gallacher 5.68 Derek Richardson 5.65 Max Brown 5.18 Doug Templeton 5.18 Rob Maxfield 5.02 Benny Rourke 4.83 John Wilson 2.93
Crayford
Laurie Etheridge 9.87 Alan Sage 8.78 Mike Broadbank 7.33 Pete Wigley 7.22 Alan Johns 6.54 Trevor Barnwell 5.71 Bill Archer 5.45 Richard Davey 4.71 Gary Spencer 4.10 John Hooper 3.09 Dave Shepherd 2.77
Eastbourne
Steve Weatherley 10.35 Eric Dugard 7.03 Pete Jarman 6.75 Colin Richardson 6.50 Mike Sampson 6.49 Ian Gledhill 6.43 Steve Naylor 5.45 Roger Abel 5.27 Ian Fletcher 4.32
Ellesmere Port
John Jackson 10.08 Chris Turner 9.35 Steve Finch 8.07 Robbie Gardner 7.45 Duncan Meredith 6.09 Gerald Smitherman 5.80 Phil Collins 4.33 Geoff Jones 3.71 Louis Carr 2.78
Mildenhall
Bob Coles 9.21 Kevin Jolly 8.41 Trevor Jones 7.88 Alan Cowland 6.24 Fred Mills 5.67 John Gibbons 5.54 Stan Stevens 5.13 Robert Henry 4.93 Mick Bates 4.81 Neil Leeks 3.54
Newcastle
Joe Owen 11.54 Tom Owen 10.43 Ron Henderson 8.33 Phil Micheledies 7.54 Brian Havelock 7.51 Andy Cusworth 7.40 Robbie Blackadder 6.20 Tim Swales 5.91
Oxford
Carl Askew 8.03 Brian Leonard 7.33 Phil Bass 7.14 Mick Handley 7.02 Malcolm Corradine 6.10 Roy Sizmore 5.91 Jim Wells 5.88 Kevin Young 5.47 Steve Holden 3.69
Paisley
Colin Farquharson 8.22 Mick Fishwick 6.99 Stuart Mountford 6.79 Mike Fullerton 5.37 Alan Bridgett 5.17 Sid Sheldrick 5.10 Malcolm Chambers 3.96 Chris Roynon 3.91 Mick Sheldrick 3.83 Colin Caffrey 3.16 Tom Davie 2.34
Peterborough
Brian Clark 9.37 Tony Featherstone 8.11 Ian Clark 6.93 Roy Carter 6.85 Ken Matthews 6.53 Steve Taylor 6.42 Kevin Hawkins 5.33 Nigel Couzens 5.11 Alan Cowland 4.24 Paul Cooper 4.19 Russ Osborne 4.15
Rye House
Ted Hubbard 9.17 Kelvin Mullarkey 7.55 Hugh Saunders 7.47 Brian Foote 7.03 Karl Fiala 6.73 Bobby Garrad 6.13 Bob Cooper 5.11 Ashley Pullen 4.91
Scunthorpe
Keith Evans 9.27 Andy Hines 6.77 Tony Boyle 5.97 Phil Kynman 5.72 Colin Cook 5.34 Sid Sheldrick 5.10 Ray Watkins 4.98 Tony Gillias 4.75
Stoke
Les Collins 9.31 Jack Millen 7.90 Malcolm Corradine 7.35 Ricky Day 6.07 Jim Brett 5.74 Mick Newton 5.69 Steve McDermott 5.33 Tim Nunan 5.01 Colin Meredith 4.82
Teesside
Alan Emerson 8.41 Tom Leadbitter 7.67 Steve Wilcock 5.85 Pete Reading 5.54 Andy Cowan 5.27 Pete Smith 4.92 Nigel Close 4.78 John Robson 2.95 Martyn Cusworth 2.50
Weymouth
Martin Yeates 8.69 Vic Harding 7.18 Chris Robins 7.07 Gerald Purkiss 6.25 Danny Kennedy 5.82 Billy Spiers 5.32 Garry May 3.51 Trevor Vincent/Charley 3.94 Jack Walker 3.54 Roger Stratton 3.47
Workington
Lou Sansom 8.77 Steve Lawson 8.72 Taffy Owen 8.07 Colin Goad 7.67 Brian Havelock 7.67 Roger Wright 6.54 Terry Kelly 5.57 Chris Bevan 3.80 Stewart Collin 3.16
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References