1980 National League season

The 1980 National League was contested as the second division of Speedway in the United Kingdom.[1]

1980 National League season
LeagueNational League
ChampionsRye House Rockets
No. of competitors20
Knockout CupBerwick Bandits
IndividualWayne Brown
PairsMiddlesbrough Tigers
FoursCrayford Kestrels
Highest averageDave Perks
Division/s above1980 British League

Summary

The league was increased from 19 teams to 20 from the previous season. Exeter Falcons dropped down from the British League to join the 19 incumbent sides.[2]

Rye House Rockets who had been pipped to the title in the previous season in the last meeting, won the title by just one point from Newcastle Diamonds to win their first National League title.[3][4] Rye House had managed to retain all of their top riders from the previous season and the solid performances of Bob Garrad, Karl Fiala, Kelvin Mullarkey and Kevin Smith for the second year running made up for the disappointment of 1979. Newcastle's second place finish was remarkable bearing in mind that they had lost the league's leading rider Tom Owen to Hull Vikings in the highest division.[5] Despite signing 1979 Riders' champion Ian Gledhill, the defending champions Mildenhall suffered after losing Melvyn Taylor and Mick Hines to other teams.[5]

Final table
Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Rye House Rockets 38 31 0 7 62
2 Newcastle Diamonds 38 30 1 7 61
3 Middlesbrough Tigers 38 27 2 9 56
4 Berwick Bandits 38 24 1 13 49
5 Edinburgh Monarchs 38 23 2 13 48
6 Boston Barracudas 38 23 2 13 48
7 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 38 21 2 15 44
8 Peterborough Panthers 38 21 0 17 42
9 Crayford Kestrels 37 20 1 16 41
10 Ellesmere Port Gunners 38 20 1 17 41
11 Glasgow Tigers 38 19 2 17 40
12 Exeter Falcons 38 17 1 20 35
13 Scunthorpe Stags 38 15 1 22 31
14 Nottingham Outlaws 38 14 2 22 30
15 Oxford Cheetahs 38 14 1 23 29
16 Stoke Potters 38 14 0 24 28
17 Weymouth Wildcats 37 13 1 23 27
18 Canterbury Crusaders 38 10 4 24 24
19 Milton Keynes Knights 38 8 2 28 18
20 Workington Comets 38 2 0 36 4
  • Crayford v Weymouth fixture was never ridden.

Top Five Riders
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Dave Perks Oxford Cheetahs 10.82
2 Paul Woods Crayford Kestrels 10.53
3 Steve Wilcock Middlesbrough Tigers 10.29
4 Mike Ferreira Canterbury Crusaders 10.21
5 Steve Lawson Glasgow Tigers 10.07

National League Knockout Cup

The 1980 National League Knockout Cup was the 13th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Berwick Bandits were the winners of the competition for the first time, having been runners-up three times in the previous four seasons.[6]

First Round
Date Team One Score Team Two
03/05Berwick52-26Newcastle
28/04Newcastle41-37Berwick
25/05Mildenhall45-33Rye House
26/05Rye House44-34Mildenhall
04/05Boston54-24Stoke
05/05Stoke27-51Boston

Second Round
Date Team One Score Team Two
07/06Berwick46-32Ellesmere Port
13/06Ellesmere Port42-36Berwick
23/05Edinburgh42-34Glasgow
25/05Glasgow40-37Edinburgh
01/06Mildenhall46-32Nottingham
18/06Nottingham37-41Mildenhall
07/06Canterbury44-33Milton Keynes
10/06Milton Keynes40-38Canterbury
19/06Middlesbrough51-27Scunthorpe
29/06Scunthorpe37-40Middlesbrough
05/06Oxford40-37Weymouth
27/06Weymouth40-38Oxford
08/06Boston59-19Workington
11/07Workington26-52Boston
13/06Peterborough42-25Crayford
22/07Crayford41-37Peterborough

Quarter Finals
Date Team One Score Team Two
20/07Berwick47-31Edinburgh
18/07Edinburgh39-39Berwick
23/07Mildenhall51-27Canterbury
26/07Canterbury44-34Mildenhall
24/07Middlesbrough45-33Oxford
06/08Oxford32-46Middlesbrough
31/08Boston50-27Peterborough
12/09Peterborough39-39Boston

Semi Finals
Date Team One Score Team Two
06/09Berwick52-26Mildenhall
07/09Mildenhall41-37Berwick
18/09Middlesbrough54-24Boston
05/10Boston42-36Middlesbrough

Final

First leg

Middlesbrough Tigers
Brian Havelock 10
Mike Spink 10
Steve Wilcock 9
Mark Courtney 6
Geoff Pusey 4
Martin Dixon 3
John Clegg 0		42 – 36Berwick Bandits
Mike Fullerton 11
Steve McDermott 9
Brett Saunders 6
Mike Caroline 5
Rob Grant 3
Nigel Close 2
Wayne Brown R/R
[7]

Second leg

Berwick Bandits
Steve McDermott 15
Mike Fullerton 9
Nigel Close 8
Rob Grant 8
Brett Saunders 3
Mike Caroline 0
Wayne Brown R/R		43 – 34Middlesbrough Tigers
Mark Courtney 11
Steve Wilcock 9
Geoff Pusey 6
Martin Dixon 6
Mike Spink 2
John Clegg 0
Alan Armstrong 0
[7]

Berwick were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 79–76.

See also

References
  1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  3. Oakes, Peter (1981). Daily Mirror 1981 Speedway Yearbook, pages 101. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-10-23. Retrieved 2012-08-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Teams". wwosbackup. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  6. "1980 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  7. "1980 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
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