The 1978 National League was contested as the second division of Speedway in the United Kingdom.
Summary Newport Dragons dropped out of the league after just one season of second tier racing following a dispute over rent at Somerton Park.
Ttwo new entrants – Milton Keynes Knights and Barrow Furness Flyers – saw the league expanded to twenty teams. Weymouth changed their nickname from Wizards to Wildcats.
Former Leicester and Teesside promoter Ron Wilson brought speedway to Milton Keynes with a team called the Knights who would race at the Milton Keynes Greyhound Stadium (known in speedway circles as the Groveway).
Canterbury Crusaders won the National League title. Although equal on points with Newcastle Diamonds they won by virtue of the fact that their race points difference was greater than their rival. It was Canterbury's second title win in eight years, previously winning in 1970. The Crusaders were led by heavy scoring from Les Rumsey and Riders' Champion Steve Koppe, while Newcastle's Tom Owen topped the averages for the second consecutive year.
Earlier in the season 18 year-old junior rider Chris Prime was representing Newcastle when he was killed in the National League match against Mildenhall on 3 April.
Final table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Canterbury Crusaders 38 30 0 8 602 Newcastle Diamonds 38 29 2 7 603 Rye House Rockets 38 27 0 11 544 Eastbourne Eagles 38 25 1 12 515 Ellesmere Port Gunners 38 24 0 14 486 Peterborough Panthers 38 22 1 15 457 Oxford Cheetahs 38 20 4 14 448 Stoke Potters 38 21 1 16 439 Glasgow Tigers 38 19 1 18 3910 Crayford Kestrels 38 16 2 20 3411 Berwick Bandits 38 17 0 21 3412 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 38 16 1 21 3313 Weymouth Wildcats 38 16 0 22 3214 Workington Comets 38 16 0 22 3215 Edinburgh Monarchs 38 15 1 22 3116 Milton Keynes Knights 38 12 6 20 3017 Boston Barracudas 38 13 2 23 2818 Teesside Tigers 38 12 0 26 2419 Scunthorpe Saints 38 9 2 27 2020 Barrow Furness Flyers 38 8 2 28 18
Fixtures and results
National League Knockout Cup The 1978 National League Knockout Cup was the 11th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Eastbourne Eagles were the winners of the competition for the second successive year.
First round Date Team one Score Team two13/05Stoke 51–27 Workington12/05 Workington 40–38 Stoke29/05 Newcastle 43–33 Teesside01/06 Teesside 39–39 Newcastle21/05 Rye House 58–20 Milton Keynes23/05 Milton Keynes 26–52 Rye House19/05 Ellesmere Port 47–31 Berwick21/05 Berwick 35–42 Ellesmere Port Second round Date Team one Score Team two11/06 Eastbourne 57–21 Scunthorpe12/06 Scunthorpe 28–47 Eastbourne23/06 Peterborough 43–35 Barrow20/06 Barrow 33–45 Peterborough08/06 Oxford 47–31 Stoke10/06 Stoke 43–35 Oxford25/06 Mildenhall 56–21 Newcastle26/06Newcastle 40–38 Mildenhall11/06 Rye House 52–26 Glasgow16/06Glasgow 39–39 Rye House04/07 Crayford 46–32 Edinburgh30/06 Edinburgh 40–38 Crayford17/06 Canterbury 48–27 Weymouth20/06 Weymouth 37–41 Canterbury07/07 Ellesmere Port 54–23 Boston25/06 Boston 36–42 Ellesmere Port Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two06/08 Eastbourne 45–30 Peterborough11/08 Peterborough 39–38 Eastbourne10/08 Oxford 43–34 Mildenhall09/07 Mildenhall 40–38 Oxford09/07Rye House 44–34 Crayford18/07 Crayford 39–39 Rye House12/08 Canterbury 55–23 Ellesmere28/07 Ellesmere 48–30 Canterbury Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two27/08 Eastbourne 56–22 Oxford07/09 Oxford 32–45 Eastbourne24/09 Rye House 57–20 Canterbury30/09 Canterbury 41–37 Rye House
Final First leg
Second leg
Eastbourne were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 83–73.
Riders' Championship Steve Koppe won the Riders' Championship, held at Wimbledon Stadium on 23 September 1978.
Pos. Rider Pts Total1 Steve Koppe 3 3 3 2 3 142 John Jackson 3 3 2 2 3 133 Ted Hubbard 3 2 2 3 2 12+3 4 Dave Gooderham 1 2 3 3 3 12+25 Ray Bales 2 0 3 3 3 116 Tom Owen 1 1 2 3 2 97 Arthur Price 3 2 2 1 1 98 Danny Kennedy 0 1 3 2 2 89 Laurie Etheridge 2 3 0 1 1 710 Tony Lomas 1 1 1 2 1 611 Graham Jones 1 3 1 0 0 512 Rob Hollingworth 0 2 1 1 0 413 George Hunter 2 1 314 Steve Wilcock (res) 1 1 0 1 315 Nicky Allott 0 0 0 0 2 216 Mike Sampson 2217 Steve Lawson 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pairs The National League Pairs was held at The Shay on 15 July and was won by Ellesmere Port.
Group APosTeamPtsRiders1Newcastle 15Owen T 9 Blackadder 62Stoke10Lomas 6Harrhy 43Crayford 6 Etheridge 3Sage 34Oxford5Hunter 3Hack 2
Group BPosTeamPtsRiders1Eastbourne11Sampson 9Naylor 22Peterborough10Gooderham 8Hines A 23Workington9Price 6Maxfield 34Berwick6Jones 4Hiftle 2
Group CPosTeamPtsRiders1Canterbury13Rumsey 7Koppe 62Edinburgh8Hollingworth 4Lomas 43Mildenhall8Coles 4Taylor 44Scunthorpe7White 4Allott 3
Group DPosTeamPtsRiders1Ellesmere P15Jackson 9Finch 62Rye House8Fiala 5Hubbard 33Glasgow7Lawson 5Janke 24Weymouth5Kennedy 4Shakespeare 1
Semi finals Newcastle bt Canterbury Ellesmere Port bt Eastbourne
Final Ellesmere Port bt Newcastle
Fours Peterborough won the fours championship final for the second successive year, held at the East of England Arena on 30 July.
Semi finals SF1 = Stoke 13, Peterborough 12, Newcastle 12, Edinburgh 10 SF2 = Canterbury 16, Weymouth 12, Ellesmere Port 12, Eastbourne 8
Final Pos TeamPts Riders1 Peterborough Panthers 18 Couzens 6, Flatman 5, Hunt 4, Gooderham 32 Stoke Potters 12 Robertson 4, Lomas 3, Harrhy 3, Mountford 23 Canterbury Crusaders 9 Koppe 4, Clifton 3, Ferreira 2, Rumsey 04 Ellesmere Port Gunners 9 Ellams 4, Collins 3, Carr L 2, Finch 0, Jackson 0
Top Five Riders Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Tom Owen Newcastle 10.82 2 Bob Humphreys Milton Keynes 10.59 3 John Jackson Ellesmere Port 10.36 4 Les Rumsey Canterbury 9.81 5 Mike Sampson Eastbourne 9.74
Riders & final averages Barrow
Charlie Monk 8.20 Geoff Pusey 7.22 Chris Bevan 6.82 Andy Reid 5.53 Chris Roynon 5.01 Ken Murray 4.23 Mark Courtney 3.61 Chris Robins 3.13 Malcolm Chambers 2.29 Gary Pottenger 2.29 Les Race 1.74 Dave Butt 1.73 Des Wilson 1.25
Berwick
Graham Jones 8.79 Roger Wright 7.66 Mike Hiftle 6.40 Willie Templeton 6.12 Mike Fullerton 6.02 Dave Gifford 5.62 Colin Caffrey 4.25 Wayne Brown 3.94 Ian Darling 2.72
Boston
Gary Guglielmi 8.38 Tony Boyle 7.95 Steve Clarke 7.11 Dave Allen 7.02 Paul Gilbert 6.50 Stuart Cope 5.36 Andy Fisher 5.33 Craig Featherby 5.26 Dave Mortiboys 4.94 Ron Cooper 4.13 Roger Lambert 4.00 Keith Bloxsome 3.79 Dennis Mallett 2.93
Canterbury
Les Rumsey 9.81 Steve Koppe 9.68 Graham Banks 8.11 Mike Ferreira 7.65 Bob Spelta 7.54 Graham Clifton 7.48 Brendan Shiletto 6.58 Barney Kennett 6.48 Dave Piddock 5.65 Derek Hole 3.71
Crayford
Laurie Etheridge 9.34 Alan Sage 8.63 Alan Johns 6.28 Pete Wigley 5.19 Richard Davey 5.18 Tony Featherstone 5.02 John Hooper 4.36
Eastbourne
Mike Sampson 9.74 Dave Kennett 8.93 Eric Dugard 8.88 Roger Abel 7.40 Steve Naylor 7.31 Paul Woods 6.64 Colin Ackroyd 5.94 John Barker 5.78
Edinburgh
Rob Hollingworth 7.39 Bert Harkins 7.17 Steve Lomas 6.93 Dave Trownson 6.55 Brian Collins 6.04 Steve McDermott 6.00 Ivan Blacka 5.11 Alan Morrison 4.67 Alan Bridgett 4.75 Mark Stokes 2.00
Ellesmere Port
John Jackson 10.36 Steve Finch 9.28 Phil Collins 8.70 John Williams 5.77 Louis Carr 5.73 Paul Tyrer 5.13 Pete Ellams 4.39 Steve Taylor 4.06 Neil Collins 2.87
Glasgow
Steve Lawson 7.93 Derek Richardson 7.52 Merv Janke 7.51 Benny Rourke 6.68 Colin Farquharson 4.64 Jim Beaton 4.49 Charlie McKinna 3.54 Keith Bloxsome 3.50 Terry Kelly 3.48 Mick Newton 2.97
Mildenhall
Ray Bales 9.12 Bob Coles 8.35 Melvyn Taylor 8.35 Robert Henry 6.47 Neil Leeks 6.31 Mike Spink 6.26 Mick Bates 5.43 Richard Knight 4.31
Milton Keynes
Bob Humphreys 10.59 Derek Harrison 6.87 Chris Robins 6.52 Andy Grahame 6.17 Malcolm Holloway 5.39 Cliff Anderson 4.93 Phil Bass 4.82 Harry Maclean 4.57 Richard Evans 3.04
Newcastle
Tom Owen 10.82 Robbie Blackadder 9.10 Kenny Carter 7.58 Robbie Gardner 7.40 Graeme Stapleton 6.55 Rod Hunter 6.54 Neil Coddington 4.16 Nigel Crabtree 3.56
Oxford
George Hunter 9.53 David Shields 8.75 John Hack 7.37 Carl Askew 7.08 Colin Meredith 6.87 Pip Lamb 6.39 James Moore 5.81 Mick Handley 5.47 Les Sawyer 3.26
Peterborough
Dave Gooderham 8.36 Ian Clark 8.03 Andy Hines 7.97 Nigel Flatman 7.48 Kevin Hawkins 6.67 Tim Hunt 6.54 Brian Clark 6.38 Nigel Couzens 6.07 Peter Spink 4.74
Rye House
Ted Hubbard 9.32 Kelvin Mullarkey 9.11 Karl Fiala 7.81 Hugh Saunders 7.74 Bobby Garrad 7.52 Ashley Pullen 6.86 Peter Tarrant 4.85 Bob Cooper 4.84 Kevin Smith 4.82
Scunthorpe
Nicky Allott 9.03 John McNeill 7.96 Arthur Browning 6.03 Phil White 5.63 Mick Handley 4.29 Danny Boyle 4.00 Trevor Whiting 4.00 Danny Young 3.47 Paul Cooper 2.77 John Priest 2.24
Stoke
Tony Lomas 9.07 Ian Gledhill 7.45 John Harrhy 6.98 Stuart Mountford 6.93 Ian Robertson 6.89 Tim Nunan 6.20 Frank Smith 6.05 Ian Jeffcoate 4.20
Teesside
Steve Wilcock 7.94 Nigel Close 7.39 Pete Smith 7.23 Pete Reading 6.13 Martyn Cusworth 4.75 Peter Spink 4.46 Martin Dixon 4.09 Bob Watts 3.79 John Robson 3.14 Dave Gatenby 2.90
Weymouth
Danny Kennedy 9.16 Malcolm Shakespeare 7.49 Sean Willmott 6.96 Malcolm Corradine 6.76 Geoff Swindells 6.56 Gary Ford 5.46 Mick Conroy 3.77 Nigel Davis 2.83
Workington
Arthur Price 8.63 Brian Havelock 8.39 Rob Maxfield 7.66 Ian Hindle 6.40 Mark Dickinson 5.14 David Coles 4.82 Andy Margarson 4.79 Des Wilson 4.43 Tony Childs 3.27
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References