In 1987 the National League, also known as British League Division Two, was the second tier of speedway racing in the United Kingdom.
Team changes Glasgow Tigers were without a home so they joined the 1987 season based at Workington's Derwent Park.
Mid-season withdrawals On 31 July, Glasgow Tigers (now called Workington Tigers held their last fixture against Stoke. The following day on 1 August, Boston Barracudas withdrew after a heavy home defeat to Eastbourne. Both Glasgow-Workington and Boston had their results expunged.
Summary The league champions that year were Eastbourne Eagles.Oakes, P.(2006). Speedway Star Almanac.
Final table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Eastbourne Eagles 30 22 0 8 442 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 30 20 1 9 413 Milton Keynes Knights 30 19 1 10 394 Stoke Potters 30 18 1 11 375 Peterborough Panthers 30 18 0 12 366 Berwick Bandits 30 17 1 22 357 Wimbledon Dons 30 14 2 14 308 Poole Pirates 30 15 0 15 309 Middlesbrough Tigers 30 13 3 14 2910 Edinburgh Monarchs 30 13 2 15 2811 Newcastle Diamonds 30 12 2 16 2612 Arena Essex Hammers 30 12 1 17 2513 Canterbury Crusaders 30 11 1 18 2314 Exeter Falcons 30 11 1 18 2315 Long Eaton Invaders 30 8 1 21 1716 Rye House Rockets 30 8 1 21 17
Fixtures and results
National League Knockout Cup The 1987 National League Knockout Cup was the 20th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Eastbourne Eagles were the winners of the competition for the third successive year.
First round Date Team one Score Team two24/05 Mildenhall 66-30 Rye House17/05 Rye House 24-24a Mildenhall25/04 Berwick 64-32 Newcastle20/04 Newcastle 51-44 Berwick a=Abandoned
Second round Date Team one Score Team two10/07 Peterborough 57-39 Middlesbrough21/06 Glasgow 47-49 Edinburgh21/06 Peterborough 34-32a Middlesbrough20/06 Berwick 65-31 Long Eaton19/06 Edinburgh 65-31 Glasgow18/06 Middlesbrough 56-40 Peterborough17/06 Long Eaton 51-45 Berwick17/06 Mildenhall 64-31 Exeter16/06 Poole 51-45 Eastbourne15/06Exeter 51-45 Mildenhall14/06 Eastbourne 62-33 Poole01/06 Arena Essex 52-44 Wimbledon30/05 Canterbury 61-35 Boston25/05 Rye House 47-48 Mildenhall20/05 Wimbledon 48-48 Arena Essex16/05 Stoke 60-36 Milton Keynes12/05 Milton Keynes 50-46 Stoke10/05 Boston 50-46 Canterbury a=Abandoned
Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two01/08 Stoke 49-29 Peterborough31/07 Edinburgh 45-50 Eastbourne25/07 Berwick 46-50 Mildenhall25/07 Canterbury 54-42 Arena Essex25/07 Eastbourne 56-40 Edinburgh24/07 Peterborough 50-46 Stoke09/07 Arena Essex 60-36 Canterbury01/07 Mildenhall 61-35 Berwick Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two31/08 Mildenhall 60-36 Arena Essex23/08 Eastbourne 57-39 Stoke20/08 Arena Essex 51-45 Mildenhall15/08 Stoke53-42 Eastbourne Final
First leg
Second leg
Eastbourne were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 100–91.
Riders' Championship Andrew Silver won the Riders' Championship. The final sponsored by Jawa Moto & Barum was held on 12 September 1987 at Brandon Stadium.
Pos. Rider Pts Total1 Andrew Silver 3 3 3 3 3 152 Nigel Crabtree 3 3 3 3 2 143 David Blackburn 2 2 1 3 2 10+3 4 Les Collins 1 3 3 2 1 10+2 5 David Biles 1 2 2 2 3 10+16 Dave Mullett 2 1 2 2 2 9 7 Martin Dixon 3 2 2 1 0 8 8 Dave Jessup ef 3 3 2 0 8 9 Kevin Jolly 2 0 1 1 3 7 10 Martin Dugard 3 2 0 fr 2 7 11 Trevor Banks 0 1 2 3 0 6 12 Paul Woods 1 1 1 0 3 6 13 Steve Lawson 2 0 0 1 1 4 14 Nigel Sparshott 0 0 1 0 1 2 15 Ian Barney 0 1 0 0 1 2 16 Rob Woffinden 1 tex ef 1 0 2 17 Wayne Broadhurst r 0 f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure t-touched tapes
Pairs The National League Pairs was held at Wimborne Road on 26 July and was won by Mildenhall Fen Tigers.
Semi finals Peterborough (Hawkins & Barney) bt Stoke (Crabtree & Stead) 6-3 Mildenhall (Jessup & Taylor) bt Eastbourne (Kennett & Dugard) 6-3
Final Mildenhall bt Peterborough 6-3
Fours Mildenhall won the fours championship final. The first semi final was held at Peterborough on 9 August but the remaining semi final and final were cancelled due to heavy rain. The re-run was not held until 16 October at Hackney.
Semi finals SF1 = Mildenhall 18, Arena Essex 16, Berwick 8, Poole 6 SF2 = 1 Eastbourne, 2 Wimbledon, 3 Middlesbrough 4 Peterborough
Final Pos TeamPts Riders1 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 31 Taylor 10, Monaghan 9, Jackson 6, Jessup 62 Arena Essex Hammers 30Silver 12, Goodwin 10, G Chessell 5 M Chessell 33 Eastbourne Eagles 27Buck 8, Kennett 8, Dean Standing 4, Pritchard 4 Dugard 34 Wimbledon Dons 7Tatum 5, Johns 1 Simpson 1, Jolly 0, Mussett 0
Leading averages Rider Team Average Andrew SilverArena Essex10.66 Martin DugardEastbourne10.40 Melvyn TaylorMildenhall10.38 Nigel Crabtree Stoke10.20 Martin DixonMiddlesbrough10.01 Les CollinsEdinburgh9.96 Dave JessupMildenhall9.92 Steve SchofieldPoole9.54 Kevin JollyWimbledon9.48 Gordon KennettEastbourne9.40
Riders & final averages Arena Essex
Andrew Silver 10.66 Martin Goodwin 8.91 Nigel Leaver 6.76 Gary Chessell 6.18 Ian Humphreys 4.55 Steve Bishop 4.06 Mark Chessell 2.98 Lawrie Bloomfield 2.73 Simon Wolstenholme 2.00
Berwick
Charlie McKinna 8.08 Steve McDermott 8.00 Phil White 7.88 Rob Woffinden 7.68 Rob Grant Sr. 6.93 Ian Stead 6.85 Wayne Ross 6.45 Sean Courtney 6.06 Paul McHale 4.57
Boston (withdrew from league)
Andy Hines 8.17 Carl Baldwin 6.35 Phil White 5.81 Andy Fisher 4.96 Wally Hill 3.60 Jonathan Cooper 3.32 Gary Clegg 3.29 Jamie Young 3.27 Chris Mulvihill 1.75
Canterbury
Dave Mullett 8.62 Mike Spink 7.51 Rob Tilbury 7.15 Paul Whittaker 6.93 Paul Evitts 6.33 Mark Lyndon 5.63 Richard Pettman 3.95 Carl Chalcraft 3.76 Jimmy Goodsell 2.00
Eastbourne
Martin Dugard 10.40 Gordon Kennett 9.40 Andy Buck 8.66 Dean Standing 7.33 Keith Pritchard 7.02 Dean Barker 5.16 Darren Standing 4.30 Steve Chambers 4.00
Edinburgh
Les Collins 9.96 Doug Wyer 8.40 Brett Saunders 7.77 Dave Trownson 6.90 Chris Cobby 6.15 Scott Lamb 5.55 Phil Jeffrey 4.73 Jamie Young 2.87 Ray Taaffe 2.82 Colin Smith 1.00 Shaun Bickley 0.71
Exeter
Alan Rivett 7.59 Colin Cook 7.44 David Smart 7.43 Kevin Price 6.81 Michael Coles 5.09 Andy Sell 4.66 Dave Gibbs 4.46 Tony Mattingley 3.77
Glasgow/Workington (withdrew from league)
Steve Lawson 8.48 Gordon Whitaker 7.16 Martin McKinna 5.35 Jacko Irving 4.63 Derek Cooper 3.35 Geoff Powell 3.10 Jim Graham 2.59
Long Eaton
Glenn Doyle 8.50 Nigel Sparshott 7.72 Keith White 7.33 Gerald Short 7.02 Glyn Taylor 6.14 Miles Evans 6.00 Richie Owen 4.78 Ian Stead 4.00 Rob Carter 3.52 Kevin Price 3.31 Mark Ferry 2.30 Mark Hepworth 1.84
Middlesbrough
Martin Dixon 10.01 Mark Fiora 8.89 Steve Wilcock 7.56 Peter McNamara 5.40 Ashley Norton 5.18 Andy Buck 4.97 Mark Burrows 4.38 Geoff Pusey 4.06
Mildenhall
Melvyn Taylor 10.38 Dave Jessup 9.92 Eric Monaghan 7.90 Dave Jackson 6.42 Richard Green 5.91 Glen Baxter 5.28 Lee Farthing 4.08 Rob Parish 3.40
Milton Keynes
Kevin Smart 8.51 Trevor Banks 8.48 Keith White 8.19 Andy Hines 7.27 Mark Carlson 6.96 Troy Butler 6.83 Peter Lloyd 6.46 Ian Clark 5.09
Newcastle
David Blackburn 8.90 Tom Owen 7.31 Dave Morton 7.22 Mark Courtney 7.18 Gary O'Hare 5.42 Shane Bowes 4.69 Bernie Collier 4.67 Paul Cooper 1.69
Peterborough
Ian Barney 9.16 Kevin Hawkins 8.69 Nigel Flatman 7.63 Carl Baldwin 7.35 Craig Hodgson 6.23 Jamie Habbin 6.17 Pete Chapman 6.09 Rob Fortune 5.08
Poole
Steve Schofield 9.54 David Biles 9.16 Martin Yeates 7.66 Kevin Smith 7.33 Wayne Barrett 4.08 Peter Read 3.53 Will James 3.39 Nigel Newman 2.90
Rye House
Paul Woods 8.11 Barry Thomas 6.93 Jamie Luckhurst 6.40 Kevin Brice 5.10 Linden Warner 4.99 Kevin Teager 4.81 Gary Rolls 4.44 Rob Parish 4.15 Steve Bryenton 4.00 Julian Parr 3.51
Stoke
Nigel Crabtree 10.20 Darren Sumner 8.03 Graham Jones 7.94 Paul Stead 7.38 Mike Wilding 6.34 Derek Richardson 5.16 Bobby Duncan 3.71
Wimbledon
Kevin Jolly 9.48 Roger Johns 9.02 Neville Tatum 8.56 Jeremy Luckhurst 6.06 Alan Farmer 5.27 Terry Mussett 5.00 Nathan Simpson 4.36 Mark Fordham 3.79 Mark Lyndon 3.46
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References