1985 National League season

The 1985 National League was contested as the second division of motorcycle speedway in the United Kingdom.[1]

1985 National League season
LeagueNational League
No. of competitors19
ChampionsEllesmere Port Gunners
Knockout CupEastbourne Eagles
IndividualNeil Middleditch
PairsEllesmere Port Gunners
FoursMiddlesbrough Tigers
London CupWimbledon Dons
Highest averageGordon Kennett
Division/s above1985 British League

Team changes

A new team called the Barrow Blackhawks entered the league but only staged a handful of fixtures. The team failed to meet the minimum points limit resulting in the league authorities stopping their participation.[2] Scunthorpe Stags withdrew from the league in May.[3][4]

Weymouth Wildcats promoters Peter Ansell and Mervyn Stewkesbury, moved their team to Poole for the start of the 1985 season, following the closure of the Poole Pirates due to financial debts. Th eteam raced as the Poole Wildcats.[5]

Summary

The league title became a dramatic three horse race between Poole Wildcats, Middlesbrough Tigers and Ellesmere Port Gunners. All three teams entered October with only away matches left. Poole were two points ahead of Middlesbrough but had one meeting left, with Middlesbrough having two matches in hand. Ellesmere Port were two points behind Middlesbrough but had four meetings left. The Gunners won away at strugglers Long Eaton and Edinburgh to draw level with Poole, and Middlesbrough won at Stoke to leave all three level. Ellesmere Port drew their penultimate fixture at Peterborough who had previously won every home match whilst Poole lost heavily at Berwick to rule them out of the running. Then tragedy struck Ellesmere Port at Birmingham, having lost the KO Cup final only two days previous. With Middlesbrough losing at Eastbourne on the same night, a victory would have given the Thornton Road outfit the title. Leading by 6 points after 8 heats, top scorer Joe Owen crashed and suffered a severe back injury which was to leave him paralysed. The subsequent 0-5 and loss of their best rider saw Birmingham fight back to win leaving Middlesbrough needing a win at Glasgow to snatch the title. It wasn't until November in the last meeting of the year that the showdown took place. Glasgow were second bottom due to their dreadful away record, but were not a bad outfit at home and kept the scores level after 10 heats. Disaster struck for the away side as Steve Wilcock crashed out and Glasgow took the 5-1. Trailing by four points going into the last heat, Martin Dixon bit the dust and the title was lost. Ellesmere Port Gunners were champions.

Barrow Blackhawks and Scunthorpe Stags withdrew in May and had their results expunged.[6][7] Ellesmere Port Gunners closed after the fateful night in Birmingham, never to return.

Final table
Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Ellesmere Port Gunners 36 25 2 19 52
2 Poole Wildcats 36 25 1 10 51
3 Middlesbrough Tigers 36 25 1 10 51
4 Wimbledon Dons 36 23 1 12 47
5 Hackney Kestrels 36 22 0 14 44
6 Arena Essex Hammers 36 20 2 14 42
7 Peterborough Panthers 36 19 2 15 40
8 Stoke Potters 36 20 0 16 40
9 Berwick Bandits 36 19 1 16 39
10 Eastbourne Eagles 36 18 2 16 38
11 Milton Keynes Knights 36 16 1 19 33
12 Exeter Falcons 36 16 0 20 32
13 Rye House Rockets 36 15 0 21 30
14 Birmingham Brummies 36 14 1 21 29
15 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 36 14 0 22 28
16 Canterbury Crusaders 36 14 0 22 28
17 Glasgow Tigers 36 10 2 24 22
18 Long Eaton Invaders 36 9 2 25 20
19 Edinburgh Monarchs 36 9 0 27 18

Top Five Riders (League Averages)
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Gordon Kennett Eastbourne Eagles 10.46
2 Joe Owen Ellesmere Port Gunners 10.46
3 Mike Ferreira Wimbledon Dons 10.03
4 Stan Bear Poole Wildcats 9.89
5 Carl Blackbird Mildenhall Fen Tigers 9.82


National League Knockout Cup

The 1985 National League Knockout Cup was the 18th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Eastbourne Eagles were the winners of the competition.[8]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
24/04Wimbledon62-16Poole
23/04Poole38-40Wimbledon
06/05Canterbury45-33Eastbourne
03/05Peterborough45-33Arena Essex
28/04Eastbourne47-31Canterbury
26/04Edinburgh38.5-38.5Ellesmere Port
25/04Ellesmere Port43-35Edinburgh
23/04Barrow18-24aExeter
22/04Exeter58-20Barrow
21/04Birmingham50-28Glasgow
19/04Glasgow42-36Birmingham
18/04Arena Essex55-23Peterborough

a=Abandoned (power failure, result stood)

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
26/06Wimbledon43-35Arena Essex
24/06Exeter50.5-27.5Berwick
20/06Arena Essex40-38Wimbledon
08/06Berwick57-21Exeter
26/05Eastbourne50-28Milton Keynes
21/05Milton Keynes36-42Eastbourne
06/05Birmingham38-39Ellesmere Port
05/05Mildenhall42-35Hackney
04/05Stoke33-45Middlesbrough
03/05Hackney44-34Mildenhall
02/05Middlesbrough48-30Stoke

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
18/08Berwick33-45Ellesmere Port
16/08Ellesmere Port56-22Berwick
11/08Eastbourne44-33Wimbledon
07/08Wimbledon39-39Eastbourne
14/07Middlesbrough45-33Rye House
12/07Hackney47-31Long Eaton
05/06Long Eaton33-45Hackney
02/06Rye House37-41Middlesbrough

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
27/09Hackney49-29Ellesmere Port
26/09Ellesmere Port50-28Hackney
12/09Middlesbrough48-30Eastbourne
25/08Eastbourne49-29Middlesbrough

Final

First leg

Eastbourne Eagles
Gordon Kennett 10
Colin Richardson 10
Martin Dugard 8
Andy Buck 7
Paul Clarke 6
Chris Mulvihill 4
Keith Pritchard 1		46 – 32Ellesmere Port Gunners
Joe Owen 9
Louis Carr 9
Dave Morton 8
David Walsh 4
Miles Evans 1
Phil Alderman 1
Richie Owen 0
[9][10]

Second leg

Ellesmere Port Gunners
Louis Carr 13
Joe Owen 9
Dave Morton 9
David Walsh 4
Gary O'Hare 2
Phil Alderman 2
Richie Owen 2		41 – 37Eastbourne Eagles
Gordon Kennett 12
Andy Buck 9
Colin Richardson 7
Martin Dugard 4
Paul Clarke 2
Chris Mulvihill 2
Keith Pritchard 1
[9][10]

Eastbourne were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 83–73.

Riders' Championship

Neil Middleditch won the Riders' Championship. The final was held on 10 August at Brandon Stadium.[11]

Pos.RiderPtsTotal
1 Neil Middleditch3 3 2 3 314
2 Kevin Hawkins2 3 2 3 313
3 Trevor Banks3 2 3 2 212
4 Stan Bear3 fx 2 2 310
5 Doug Wyer3 3 0 0 39
6 Gordon Kennett2 3 3 ef 08
7 Dave Mullett0 1 3 2 28
8 Nigel De'ath0 2 0 3 27
9 Louis Carr2 ex 1 3 17
10 Dave Perks1 1 3 0 16
11 Steve McDermott2 2 0 1 05
12 Mike Ferreira0 0 1 2 25
13 Carl Baldwin1 0 2 1 15
14 Tom Owen1 1 1 1 15
15 Steve Lawson1 2 0 1 t4
16 Steve Wilcock0 1 1 0 02
17 Mike Bacon (res)00
  • f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Pairs

The National League Pairs was held at Hackney Wick Stadium on 15 September and was won by Ellesmere Port Gunners.[12]

Semi finals

  • Poole bt Wimbledon
  • Ellesmere Port bt Peterborough

Final

  • Ellesmere Port bt Poole

Fours

Middlesbrough Tigers won the fours championship final, held at the East of England Arena on 21 July.[13][14]

Semi finals

  • SF1 = Hackney 18, Stoke 12, Berwick 10, Wimbledon 8
  • SF2 = Middlesbrough 17, Peterborough 12, Poole 11, Arena Essex 8

Final

PosTeamPtsRiders
1Middlesbrough Tigers17Havelock 7, Fiora, Pusey, Wilcock, Dixon
2Peterborough Panthers12Barney 8
3Hackney Kestrels10Banks 5
4Stoke Potters9Crabtree 5, Thorp 2, Owen 1, Wilding 0, Sumner 0

Leading averages
Rider Team Average
Gordon KennettEastbourne10.47
Joe OwenEllesmere Port10.47
Mike FerreiraWimbledon9.82
Stan BearPoole9.79
Carl BlackbirdMildenhall9.64
Roger JohnsWimbledon9.64
Neil MiddleditchArena Essex9.47
Steve LawsonGlasgow9.39
Louis CarrEllesmere Port9.37
Kevin SmithPoole9.32

London Cup

Wimbledon won the London Cup but the competition consisted of just Wimbledon and Hackney. It was also the first time that the competition had been competed for by second tier teams.[15]

Results

Team Score Team
Hackney42–35Wimbledon
Wimbledon43–35Hackney


Riders & final averages

Arena Essex

Barrow (withrew from the league)

  • Paul Price 4.40
  • Kevin Armitage 4.00
  • Gary O'Hare 3.76
  • Eric Broadbelt 3.37
  • Terry Kelly 1.87
  • Bob Coles 1.71
  • Gary Clegg 1.33
  • Wayne Jackson 1.00

Berwick

Birmingham

  • Doug Wyer 8.57
  • Reg Wilson 7.50
  • Phil White 7.39
  • Paul Evitts 6.03
  • Paul Stead 5.90
  • Linden Warner 4.50
  • Mark Stevenson 4.43
  • Ian M Stead 3.45
  • Julian Parr 2.80

Canterbury

  • Dave Mullett 8.78
  • Mike Spink 7.97
  • Rob Tilbury 6.44
  • Neville Tatum 5.72
  • Bill Barrett 5.64
  • Steve Bryenton 5.16
  • Lawrie Bloomfield 4.26
  • Mark Terry 2.13

Eastbourne

Edinburgh

Ellesmere Port

Exeter

Glasgow

  • Steve Lawson 9.39
  • Martin McKinna 6.60
  • Andy Reid 5.99
  • Kenny Brailsford 4.50
  • David Cassels 4.23
  • Jim Beaton 4.21
  • Brian Collins 4.05
  • Geoff Powell 4.00
  • Colin Caffrey 3.65

Hackney

Long Eaton

  • Chris Pidcock 8.14
  • Dave Perks 8.09
  • David Tyler 7.06
  • Paul Stead 6.54
  • Graham Drury 5.97
  • Alan Molyneux 5.91
  • Gerald Short 5.85
  • Pete Smith 4.78
  • John Proctor 4.54
  • John Frankland 4.44
  • Mark Stevenson 4.00
  • Derek Cooper 2.70

Middlesbrough

Mildenhall

Milton Keynes

Peterborough

Poole

  • Stan Bear 9.79
  • Kevin Smith 9.32
  • Martin Yeates 8.40
  • David Biles 6.39
  • Marcus Bisson 6.09
  • Guy Wilson 5.98
  • Ray Dole 5.96
  • Dave Gibbs 3.95

Rye House

Scunthorpe

  • Andy Buck 9.64
  • Rob Woffinden 7.54
  • Steve Finch 7.50
  • Derek Richardson 5.78
  • Julian Parr 4.57
  • Mark Burrows 4.40
  • Peter McNamara 1.93

Stoke

Wimbledon

  • Mike Ferreira 9.82
  • Roger Johns 9.64
  • Jamie Luckhurst 8.34
  • Kevin Teager 6.45
  • Peter Johns 5.09
  • Jeremy Luckhurst 4.94
  • Mark Baldwin 4.73

See also

References
  1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. "A Short History". Defunct Speedway. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  3. "1985 fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  4. "British League Tables - British League Era (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  5. "Sports briefs". Leicester Daily Mercury. 14 March 1985. Retrieved 2 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. "1985 fixtures" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  7. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  8. "1985 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  9. "1985 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  10. "Ellesmere Port KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  11. "Great, Neil". Sunday Mirror. 11 August 1985. Retrieved 21 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. "1985 Ellesmere Port results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  13. "Speedway". Daily Mirror. 22 July 1985. Retrieved 11 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. Oakes, Peter (1990). Speedway Yearbook 1990. Front Page Books. p. 46. ISBN 0-948882-15-8.
  15. "1985 fixtures and results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
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