The 1957 Southern Area League was the fourth season of the Southern Area League but the first as the regional second tier of speedway racing in the United Kingdom for Southern British teams.
Summary California Poppies were no longer competitors with the promotion and nickname moving to Aldershot. The Southern Rovers team who had been without a track in the previous season had found a new home at Rayleigh and were also referred to as Rayleigh II.
Southern Rovers were the champions.
Final table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Rayleigh II/Southern Rovers 12 8 0 4 162 Eastbourne Eagles 12 6 0 6 123 Rye House Roosters 12 5 0 7 104 Aldershot Poppies 12 5 0 7 10
Fixtures & results A fixtures
B fixtures
Leading Averages
Rider Team C.M.A. 1 Gerry King Rye House 10.30 2 Jim Heard Eastbourne 10.27 3 Frank Bettis Eastbourne 9.50 4Colin Gooddy Rayleigh/Southern Rovers 9.33 5 Ross Gilbertson Aldershot 9.30
Riders' Championship Leo McAuliffe won the Riders' Championship for the second successive season. The final was held at Arlington Stadium on 29 September. Remarkably McAuliffe and Maury Conway dead heated in the run off to decide the champion after both riders finished on 13 points. A second run off was required in which McAuliffe won by a wheel. The winning trophy was presented by Barry Briggs.
Pos. Rider Club Pts1 Leo McAuliffe Rayleigh/Southern Rovers 13+32 Maury Conway Eastbourne13+23 Jim Heard Eastbourne124 Ross Gilbertson Aldershot11 5 Noel Conway Eastbourne106 Pat Flanagan Aldershot 97 Ron Walton Aldershot88 Tommy Sweetman Rayleigh/Southern Rovers 89 Bobby Croombs Rye House 8 10 Bryan MeredithRayleigh/Southern Rovers 611 Alan Brett Rye House512 Ronnie Rolfe Rye House5 13 Alan Lunn Rye House414 Dave Still Rye House415 Pete Mould Aldershot316 Les Searle (res) Eastbourne117 Dave Slater (res)Rye House 1
Riders & final averages
Aldershot
Ross Gilbertson 8.57 Ron Walton 8.30 Pete Mold 8.00 Jimmy Gleed 7.00 Pat Flanagan 6.86 Ron Webb 5.91 Phil Sheppard 5.50 John Day 5.45 Ted Spittles 3.20
Eastbourne
Frank Bettis 10.67 Jimmy Heard 7.00 Leo McAuliffe 6.00 Reg Davies 5.71 Dave Collett 5.60 John Dugard 4.00 Jim Preddy 1.67 Les Searle 1.33 Bob Warner 1.00
Rye House
Gerry King 10.75 Bobby Croombs 10.00 Dave Still 8.33 Jim Chalkley 7.20 Dave Slater 4.60 Alan Lunn 4.33 Ronnie Rolfe 3.64 Brian Brett 3.29 Ernie Baker 3.20 Ivan Mauger 2.22 Colin Pratt 1.33
Rayleigh II/Southern Rovers
Colin Gooddy 9.00 Leo McAuliffe 9.00 Stan Clark 8.46 Vic Hall 8.40 Brian Meredith 7.50 Tommy Sweetman 7.17 Eric Ebbs 7.45 Eric Eadon 5.00 Alan Pearce 5.00 Mike Lawrence 5.00 Pat McKenzie 4.80 Neil Roberts 4.00 Tony Eadon 1.60
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References