The 1984 National League was contested as the second division of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom.
Summary A new team called the Arena Essex Hammers, promoted by Wally Mawdsley joined the league. Crayford Kestrels moved to Hackney Wick Stadium to become the Hackney Kestrels.
The title was won by the Long Eaton Invaders who finished just one point clear of the Mildenhall Fen Tigers. Remarkably the Long Eaton Invaders had gone from finishing last in 1983 to first in 1984 under former rider Vic White. He had been brought in as the team manager and had signed Graham Drury and Chris Pidcock to support Dave Perks, Paul Stead and David Tyler.
Final table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Long Eaton Invaders 30 21 1 8 432 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 30 19 4 7 423 Stoke Potters 30 17 3 10 374 Hackney Kestrels 30 16 0 14 325 Berwick Bandits 30 15 1 14 316 Boston Barracudas 30 15 1 14 317 Milton Keynes Knights 30 14 1 15 298 Rye House Rockets 30 14 0 16 289 Middlesbrough Tigers 30 13 2 15 2810 Scunthorpe Stags 30 13 2 15 2811 Glasgow Tigers 30 13 2 15 2812 Canterbury Crusaders 30 13 1 16 2713 Weymouth Wildcats 30 13 0 17 2614 Arena Essex Hammers 30 11 3 16 2515 Peterborough Panthers 30 12 0 18 2416 Edinburgh Monarchs 30 10 1 19 21
Fixtures and results
Top five riders (league averages) Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Steve Lawson Glasgow 10.41 2 Martin Yeates Weymouth 10.35 3 Steve Wilcock Middlesbrough 9.89 4 Tom Owen Stoke 9.77 5 Steve McDermott Berwick 9.74
National League Knockout Cup The 1984 National League Knockout Cup was the 17th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Hackney Kestrels were the winners of the competition.
First round Date Team one Score Team two08/06 Peterborough 48-30 Arena Essex31/05 Arena Essex 41-37 Peterborough11/05 Peterborough 42-36 Arena Essex26/04 Arena Essex 42-36 Peterborough26/04 Middlesbrough 52-26 Scunthorpe22/04 Boston 40-38 Edinburgh21/04 Berwick 44-34 Glasgow21/04 Stoke 39-38 Long Eaton20/04 Edinburgh 46-32 Boston20/04 Glasgow 33-44 Berwick18/04 Long Eaton 45-33 Stoke17/04 Weymouth 34-44 Canterbury16/04 Scunthorpe 43-35 Middlesbrough15/04 Mildenhall 44-34 Milton Keynes15/04 Rye House 36-42 Hackney14/04 Canterbury 39-39 Weymouth13/04 Hackney 53-25 Rye House10/04 Milton Keynes 41-37 Mildenhall Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two28/07 Canterbury 44-34 Peterborough20/07 Edinburgh 35-43 Berwick20/07 Peterborough 47-30 Canterbury18/05 Hackney 51-27 Mildenhall17/05 Middlesbrough 55-23 Long Eaton13/05 Mildenhall 44-34 Hackney05/05 Berwick 43-35 Edinburgh02/05 Long Eaton 48-30 Middlesbrough Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two07/09 Peterborough 53-25 Hackney27/08 Hackney 54-24 Peterborough26/07 Middlesbrough 41-37 Berwick21/07 Berwick 46-31 Middlesbrough Final First leg
Second leg
Hackney were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 83–72.
Riders' Championship Ian Barney won the Riders' Championship. The final was originally held at Wimbledon Stadium on 23 September but was abandoned after eight heats due to rain. The Championship was restaged on 13 October at East of England Arena.
Pos. Rider Total1 Ian Barney 14+32 Dave Perks 14+ef3 Martin Yeates 12+34 Andy Buck 12+25 Steve Wilcock 106 Colin Cook 87 Tom Owen 8? Alan Sage ? Bob Garrad ? Mark Fiora ? Barry Thomas? Bruce Cribb 4 ? Keith White ? Jamie Luckhurst ? Steve Lawson ? Carl Baldwin
Pairs The National League Pairs was held at Hackney Wick Stadium on 30 June and was won by Stoke Potters.
Top 4 QualifyingPosTeamPtsRiders1Stoke 20Owen T 12, Crabtree 82Berwick18Cribb 11, McDermott 73Weymouth 18Yeates, Biles 64Mildenhall 18Blackbird, Bales 7
Semi finals Stoke bt Mildenhall Berwick bt Weymouth
Final Stoke bt Berwick
Fours Mildenhall won the fours championship final, held at the East of England Showground on 22 July.
Semi finals SF1 = Boston 16, Stoke 13, Canterbury 10, Berwick 9 SF2 = Mildenhall 23 Milton Keynes 10, Middlesbrough 8, Hackney 7
Final Pos TeamPts Riders1 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 19 Bales 6, Henry 5, Blackbird 5, Baldwin 32 Stoke Potters 15Crabtree 5, Thorp 4, Owen 4, Evitts 23 Milton Keynes Knights 11White 4, Blackburn 4, Payne 2, De'Ath 1, Framingham 0 4 Boston Barracudas 3Burton 2, Wilson 1, Cook 0, Hollingworth 0
Leading averages Rider Team Average Steve LawsonGlasgow10.38 Martin YeatesWeymouth10.35 Steve McDermottBerwick9.97 Tom Owen Stoke9.86 Steve WilcockMiddlesbrough9.71 Nigel Crabtree Stoke9.56 Bobby BeatonEdinburgh9.30 Bruce CribbBerwick9.24 Alun RossiterWeymouth9.23 Carl BaldwinMildenhall9.11 Mark FioraEdinburgh9.10
Riders & final averages Arena Essex
Bob Humphreys 7.19 Alan Sage 7.19 Martin Goodwin 7.10 David Smart 6.25 Bill Barrett 6.02 David Cheshire 5.61 Jeremy Luckhurst 4.81 Peter Johns 4.77 Steve Collins 1.33
Berwick
Steve McDermott 9.97 Bruce Cribb 9.24 Jimmy McMillan 8.73 Charlie McKinna 6.65 Phil Kynman 6.21 Craig Pendlebury 5.40 David Walsh 5.34 Rob Grant Sr. 5.10 Mike Caroline 3.64 Dennis Gallagher 3.64 Paul Cooper 3.58 Jacko Irving 2.50
Boston
Colin Cook 7.26 Rob Hollingworth 7.16 Guy Wilson 7.11 David Gagen 7.03 Dennis Mallett 6.67 Billy Burton 6.44 Paul Clarke 5.63 Steve Lomas 5.14 Pete Chapman 4.40
Canterbury
Jamie Luckhurst 8.11 Alan Mogridge 7.69 Dave Mullett 7.61 Barney Kennett 6.73 Rob Tilbury 5.72 Kevin Brice 5.59 Andy Fines 5.16 Keith Pritchard 5.13 Neville Tatum 4.79
Edinburgh
Bobby Beaton 9.30 Mark Fiora 9.10 Dave Trownson 7.67 Craig Pendlebury 6.39 Sean Courtney 6.00 Roger Lambert 5.85 Brett Saunders 5.40 Paul McHale 4.48 Phil Jeffrey 4.31 Martin Johnson 2.78
Glasgow
Steve Lawson 10.38 Andy Reid 7.64 Brian Collins 6.58 Colin Caffrey 6.11 Martin McKinna 5.44 Jim Beaton 4.55 David Cassels 3.26 Tam Baggley 2.75 Barry Ayres 2.67 Geoff Powell 2.59
Hackney
Trevor Banks 8.46 Barry Thomas 8.44 Kevin Teager 7.34 Andy Galvin 6.01 Mark Terry 5.22 Linden Warner 5.16 Paul Whittaker 4.98
Long Eaton
Dave Perks 8.99 Paul Stead 8.75 Graham Drury 8.50 David Tyler 7.37 Chris Pidcock 6.96 Miles Evans 5.83 Mark Stevenson 5.41 John Frankland 5.35
Middlesbrough
Steve Wilcock 9.71 Mike Spink 8.50 Geoff Pusey 7.26 Paul Price 5.70 Pete Smith 4.87 Mark Crang 4.75 Jim Burdfield 4.68 Ashley Norton 4.24 Rob Carter 3.22 John Place 2.06
Mildenhall
Carl Baldwin 9.11 Carl Blackbird 8.97 Robert Henry 8.42 Ray Bales 7.89 Dave Jackson 5.29 Wally Hill 4.64 Rob Parish 3.70 Ian Farnham 2.67
Milton Keynes
Keith White 8.84 Kevin Smart 8.39 David Blackburn 7.36 Paul Clarke 6.75 Nigel De'ath 6.38 Steve Payne 5.89 Peter Framingham 5.18 Rob Wall 4.94 Chris Hunt 2.93
Peterborough
Mick Hines 7.51 Dave Allen 6.98 Ian Barney 6.96 Andy Fisher 6.36 Keith Millard 6.25 Adrian Hume 5.86 Mike Spinks 4.65 Neil Cotton 4.32 Lawrie Bloomfield 3.90 Mike Smart 2.56
Rye House
Bobby Garrad 8.69 Andrew Silver 7.79 Steve Naylor 7.69 Kelvin Mullarkey 7.10 Kerry Gray 5.71 Steve Bryenton 5.46 Chris Chaplin 4.93 Michael Keepe 3.86 Mark Chessell 3.70 Gary Rolls 3.31
Scunthorpe
Julian Parr 8.11 Andy Buck 7.80 Rob Woffinden 7.65 Derek Richardson 7.5 Paul Evitts 6.64 Mike Wilding 6.06 Kevin Armitage 5.54 Ian Gibson 4.73 Mark Burrows 3.94 Richie Owen 2.43
Stoke
Tom Owen 9.86 Nigel Crabtree 9.56 Paul Thorp 7.26 Paul Evitts 6.47 Steve Bishop 5.47 Ashley Pullen 5.46 Graham Jones 5.09 Phil Alderman 5.00 Ian Stead 4.25
Weymouth
Martin Yeates 10.35 Alun Rossiter 9.23 David Biles 7.06 John Barker 6.84 Kevin Price 5.21 Gordon Humphreys 4.28 Mike Semmonds 4.10 Michael Coles 3.78 Ian Humphreys 3.62 Dave Gibbs 3.55 Terry Mussett 2.92 Wayne Barrett 1.09
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References
Oakes, Peter (1991) The Complete History of the British League, Front Page Books, , p. 17 (Division Two section)