The 1979 National League was contested as the second division/tier of Speedway in the United Kingdom.
Summary The league was reduced from 20 teams to 19 from the previous season. White City Rebels closure saw their riders move to Eastbourne Eagles, who moved up to the British League and Barrow Furness Flyers dropped out. Teesside Tigers changed their name to Middlesbrough Tigers and Scunthorpe Saints changed their name to Scunthorpe Stags and left the Quibell Park Stadium for Ashby Ville Stadium. Long Eaton Stadium saw the return of speedway under the promotion of Dan McCormick but his decision to call the team the "Nottingham Outlaws" upset the supporters club.
Tom Owen of Newcastle topped the averages for the third consecutive year and Ian Gledhill, riding for Stoke won the Riders' Championship but both Newcastle and Stoke finished well behind Mildenhall Fen Tigers and Rye House Rockets in the league table. In a season that would go down to the last match, Mildenhall won their first title in their history. The consistency of four riders, Ray Bales, Mick Hines, Melvyn Taylor and Robert Henry was the crucial factor to their success.
There was a controversial end to the season when Rye House visited Mildenhall, needing a draw to win the title. Needing a 5-1 in the last heat to tie the match, Rocket Karl Fiala's exclusion prompted team-mate Bob Garrad to withdraw from the re-run in protest. Mildenhall went on to win at bottom club Scunthorpe Saints in the last match of the season to win the title by one point.
Final table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 36 30 0 6 602 Rye House Rockets 36 29 1 6 593 Oxford Cheetahs 36 24 1 11 494 Berwick Bandits 36 21 3 12 455 Milton Keynes Knights 36 21 0 15 426 Newcastle Diamonds 36 20 0 16 407 Glasgow Tigers 36 19 0 17 388 Peterborough Panthers 36 18 2 16 389 Ellesmere Port Gunners 36 18 1 17 3710 Canterbury Crusaders 36 17 2 17 3611 Middlesbrough Tigers 36 17 1 18 3512 Crayford Kestrels 36 16 0 20 3213 Stoke Potters 36 15 2 19 3214 Nottingham Outlaws 36 14 1 21 2915 Workington Comets 36 14 1 21 2916 Boston Barracudas 36 13 2 21 2817 Edinburgh Monarchs 36 13 1 22 2718 Weymouth Wildcats 36 9 1 26 1919 Scunthorpe Stags 36 4 1 31 9
Fixtures and results
National League Knockout Cup The 1979 National League Knockout Cup was the 12th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Rye House Rockets were the winners of the competition.
First round Date Team one Score Team two29/04 Rye House 56-22 Weymouth22/05 Weymouth 34-44 Rye House20/04 Edinburgh 46-32 Boston10/06 Boston 44-34 Edinburgh
Second round Date Team one Score Team two03/06 Rye House 54-24 Glasgow08/06 Glasgow 47-31 Rye House15/06 Workington 46-30 Middlesbrough14/06 Middlesbrough 45-32 Workington10/06 Mildenhall 53-25 Ellesmere Port08/06 Ellesmere Port 41-37 Mildenhall19/06 Crayford 44-34 Edinburgh06/07 Edinburgh 39-39 Crayford09/06 Berwick 60-18 Scunthorpe04/06 Scunthorpe 38-40 Berwick14/06 Oxford 45-33 Peterborough08/06 Peterborough 34-44 Oxford18/06 Newcastle 57-21 Canterbury26/05 Canterbury 39-39 Newcastle12/06 Milton Keynes 50-28 Stoke09/06 Stoke 42-36 Milton Keynes
Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two15/07 Rye House 59-19 Workington29/06 Workington 49-29 Rye House25/07 Mildenhall 56-22 Crayford10/07 Crayford 39-39 Mildenhall? Berwick 51-27 Oxford05/07 Oxford 44-34 Berwick09/07 Newcastle 53-25 Milton Keynes10/07 Milton Keynes 35-42 Newcastle
Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two27/08 Rye House 44-34 Mildenhall26/08 Mildenhall 38-40 Rye House22/09 Berwick 47-31 Newcastle19/08 Newcastle 46-32 Berwick
Final First leg
Second leg
Rye House were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 92–64.
Riders' Championship Ian Gledhill won the Riders' Championship, sponsored by Gauloises and held at Wimbledon Stadium on 29 September 1979.
Pos. Rider Pts Total1 Ian Gledhill 3 3 3 3 214 2 Steve Wilcock 2 2 3 3 2 12 3 Andy Grahame 1 3 2 3 2 11+34 Nigel Boocock 2 2 3 1 3 11+25 Alan Emerson 1 1 1 3 3 9 6 Karl Fiala 3 1 2 2 1 9 7 Rob Hollingworth 0 3 3 1 1 8 8 John Jackson 3 2 1 2 0 8 9 Les Rumsey 1 2 2 0 3 8 10 Ray Bales 3 0 0 2 3 8 11 Nigel Flatman 2 1 2 1 2 812 Dave Perks 2 3 1 ret 1 7 13 Steve Lawson 0 0 1 2 0 3 14 Steve Naylor 0 1 0 1 1 3 15 Brian Woodward 1 f 0 0 0 1 16 Graham Jones0 0 0 0 0 0 17 Dave Brewer (res) 0 0 f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure
Pairs The National League Pairs was held at The Shay on 21 July and was won by Milton Keynes Knights.
Group APosTeamPtsRiders1Milton Keynes 13Humphreys 9Grahame 42Mildenhall13Hines 8Taylor 53Crayford 7 Naylor 5Etheridge 24Edinburgh5Mouncer 2Stansfield 1
Group BPosTeamPtsRiders1Nottingham15Perks 8Sampson 72Boston9Allen 6Featherstone 33Rye House6Pullen 4Fiala 24Workington6Havelock 6Dickinson 0
Group CPosTeamPtsRiders1Newcastle 12Owen T 7Blackadder 52Middlesbrough11Wilcock 9Courtney 23Glasgow9Richardson 6Lawson 34Berwick4Fullerton 3Jones 1
Group DPosTeamPtsRiders1Ellesmere P11Finch 6Jackson 52Stoke11Burton 6Gledhill 53Canterbury11Boocock 9Sheard (G) 24Oxford1Rumsey 1Hunter 0
Semi finals Milton Keynes bt Newcastle Ellesmere Port bt Nottingham
Final Milton Keynes bt Ellesmere Port
Fours Ellesmere Port Gunners won the fours championship final, held at the East of England Arena on 29 July.
Semi finals SF1 = Peterborough 18, Ellesmere Port 14, Rye House 12, Oxford 4 SF2 = Mildenhall 18, Berwick 11, Newcastle 10, Boston 9
Final Pos TeamPts Riders1 Ellesmere Port Gunners 17 Jackson 6, Carr L 6, Finch 5, Ellams 0, Monaghan 02 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 15 Hines 5, Bales 4, Taylor 3, Henry 33 Peterborough Panthers 9 Gooderham 4, Flatman 2, Hines 1, Spink 1, Clark B 14 Berwick Bandits 7 Brown 5, Close 2, Kynman 0, Jones 0, Matthews 0
Final leading averages The top ten averages of the National League. Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Tom Owen Newcastle Diamonds 11.18 2 George Hunter Oxford Cheetahs 10.86 3 Dave Perks Nottingham Outlaws 10.13 4 Les Rumsey Oxford Cheetahs 9.78 5 Mike Sampson Nottingham Outlaws 9.62 6 Andy Grahame Milton Keynes Knights 9.57 7 Steve Finch Ellesmere Port Gunners 9.52 8 Ray Bales Mildenhall Fen Tigers 9.51 9 Mick Hines Mildenhall Fen Tigers 9.31 10 John Jackson Ellesmere Port Gunners 9.27
Riders & final averages Berwick
Steve McDermott 9.13 Wayne Brown 9.00 Mike Fullerton 7.71 Graham Jones 7.58 Nigel Close 7.24 Phil Kynman 6.20 Roger Wright 6.16 Mike Caroline 4.36 Rob Grant Sr. 4.00
Boston
David Gagen 9.27 Rob Hollingworth 8.91 Dave Allen 8.23 Tony Featherstone 6.12 Dennis Mallett 4.85 Andy Fisher 4.48 Dave Mortiboys 3.80 Andy Hibbs 3.67 Colin Ackroyd 2.60
Canterbury
Mike Ferreira 8.35 Nigel Boocock 8.32 Barney Kennett 7.17 Dave Piddock 7.00 Tim Hunt 6.93 Roger Abel 5.08 Mick Wilde 4.13 Graham Clifton 4.11 Peter Christopher 4.00 Neil Farnish 3.92 Tony Reynolds 2.67
Crayford
Steve Naylor 9.03 Alan Sage 8.14 Laurie Etheridge 8.00 Paul Woods 7.63 Les Rumsey 4.76 Richard Davey 4.26 Paul Gilbert 3.53 Paul Hollingsbee 3.37 John Hooper 3.31 Jack Bibby 0.94
Edinburgh
Dave Trownson 7.78 Steve Lomas 7.18 Bert Harkins 6.72 Brian Collins 6.56 Alan Bridgett 5.51 Ivan Blacka 5.30 Benny Rourke 5.25 Rob Mouncer 5.21 Roger Lambert 3.03
Ellesmere Port
Steve Finch 9.52 John Jackson 9.27 Louis Carr 6.95 John Williams 5.98 Pete Ellams 5.23 Eric Monaghan 4.69 Robert Craven 4.00 Paul Tyrer 3.83 Paul Embley 3.80 Peter Carr 2.44
Glasgow
Merv Janke 9.06 Steve Lawson 9.06 Derek Richardson 8.05 Andy Reid 6.25 Colin Caffrey 6.12 Charlie McKinna 5.89 Jim Beaton 5.76 Keith Bloxsome 5.23
Middlesbrough
Steve Wilcock 8.97 Malcolm Corradine 7.88 Geoff Pusey 6.96 Mark Courtney 6.92 Martin Dixon 5.02 Martyn Cusworth 4.76 Paul Stead 3.77 Mike Sanderson 1.90
Mildenhall
Ray Bales 9.51 Mick Hines 9.31 Melvyn Taylor 9.06 Robert Henry 8.87 Mike Spink 6.58 Mick Bates 6.52 Richard Knight 5.66 Mark Baldwin 4.96
Milton Keynes
Andy Grahame 9.57 Bob Humphreys 9.29 Derek Harrison 8.04 Malcolm Holloway 5.96 David Ashby 5.43 Harry Maclean 4.41 Greg McNeill 3.93 Chris Robins 3.59
Newcastle
Tom Owen 11.18 Robbie Blackadder 7.93 Rod Hunter 7.86 Graeme Stapleton 6.57 David Bargh 5.91 Neil Coddington 5.75 Nigel Crabtree 4.72 Paul Brown 1.90 Mick Easton 1.60
Nottingham
Dave Perks 10.13 Mike Sampson 9.62 Kevin Hawkins 8.03 Glenn MacDonald 5.28 Les Sawyer 5.07 Nigel Wasley 4.83 Craig Featherby 4.82 John Homer 3.19 Mark Williams 1.07
Oxford
George Hunter 10.86 Les Rumsey 9.78 Pip Lamb 9.27 John Hack 6.81 Carl Askew 6.62 John Barker 6.47 Mick Handley 5.32 Colin Ackroyd 3.15 Rob Dole 2.60
Peterborough
Nigel Flatman 8.52 Richard Greer 7.50 Dave Gooderham 7.33 Andy Hines 7.26 Ian Clark 6.71 Nigel Couzens 6.06 Brian Clark 5.77 Peter Spink 5.70 Steve Popely 4.41 Paul Tapp 4.00 Ken Matthews 3.69
Rye House
Karl Fiala 9.20 Bobby Garrad 9.11 Kelvin Mullarkey 8.71 Kevin Smith 8.19 Ted Hubbard 8.16 Ashley Pullen 7.34 Hugh Saunders 6.57 Peter Tarrant 5.23
Scunthorpe
Phil White 7.59 Arthur Browning 7.28 Rob Maxfield 6.77 Arthur Price 4.73 Kevin Teager 4.18 Trevor Whiting 3.78 Stuart Cope 3.25 Ian Jeffcoate 3.19 Phil Cain 2.78 Rob Woffinden 2.50
Stoke
Ian Gledhill 8.21 Billy Burton 7.06 Tony Lomas 6.76 Chris Turner 6.42 Ian Robertson 6.19 Stuart Mountford 6.17 Nicky Allott 5.57 Frank Smith 5.53 Alan MacLean 3.33 Ian Jeffcoate 2.94 Paul Evitts 2.31
Weymouth
Brian Woodward 8.01 Doug Underwood 7.19 Bob Coles 7.09 Malcolm Shakespeare 6.23 Terry Tulloch 4.74 Garry May 4.20 Kevin Bowen 3.70 Nigel Davis 3.24 Mark DeKok 2.15
Workington
Alan Emerson 8.99 Brian Havelock 7.58 Arnold Haley 6.87 Ian Hindle 6.7 Mark Dickinson 6.54 Neil Collins 6.13 Andy Margarson Mick Blaynee 3.88 Des Wilson 3.60 Tim Nichol 1.91
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References