Categories
  • Speedway National League
  • 1959 in speedway
  • 1959 in British motorsport
    •   Encyclosphere.org ENCYCLOREADER
      supported by EncyclosphereKSF

    1959 Speedway National League

    From Wikipedia - Reading time: 7 min

    1959 Speedway National League
    LeagueNational League
    No. of competitors9
    ChampionsWimbledon Dons
    National TrophyWimbledon Dons
    Highest averageOve Fundin
    Division/s below1959 Southern Area League
    • ← 1958
    • 1960 →

    The 1959 National League was the 25th season and the fourteenth post-war season of the highest tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.[1]

    Summary

    [edit]

    With Ipswich Witches dropping down to the Southern Area League, only 9 teams competed with Wimbledon Dons continuing their domination of British speedway with their fifth title in six years.[2][3][4]

    Final table

    [edit]
    Pos Team PL W D L Pts
    1 Wimbledon Dons 16 13 0 3 26
    2 Leicester Hunters 16 8 1 7 17
    3 Coventry Bees 16 8 1 7 17
    4 Norwich Stars 16 8 0 8 16
    5 Southampton Saints 16 8 0 8 16
    6 Poole Pirates 16 8 0 8 16
    7 Oxford Cheetahs 16 7 0 9 14
    8 Swindon Robins 16 6 0 10 12
    9 Belle Vue Aces 16 5 0 11 10

    Fixtures and results

    [edit]
    Home \ Away BV COV LEI NOR OX PP SOT SWI WIM
    Belle Vue 55–35 50–39 44–46 44–46 65–43 69–38 51–57 52–56
    Coventry 51–39 45–45 64–44 51–39 69–39 48–42 51–39 43–47
    Leicester 50–40 57–33 66–42 45–43 60–30 43–47 46–44 49–41
    Norwich 47–43 60–30 62–46 65–42 54–36 72–36 48–42 44–46
    Oxford 62–28 61–29 49–41 58–49 44–45 49–41 52–38 34–56
    Poole 48–60 60–48 58–50 63–27 52–38 53–37 46–44 47–43
    Southampton 59–31 53–54 50–58 47–43 74–34 58–32 54–36 41–49
    Swindon 51–39 50–58 59–31 49–41 45–44 63–27 43–47 39–68
    Wimbledon 65–25 67–41 75–33 50–40 70–38 53–37 44–45 63–27
    Source: [5]
    Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

    Top Ten Riders (League only)

    [edit]
    Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
    1 Ove Fundin Sweden Norwich 11.00
    2 Peter Craven England Belle Vue 10.84
    3 Ken McKinlay Scotland Leicester 10.75
    4 Brian Crutcher England Southampton 10.65
    5 Ronnie Moore New Zealand Wimbledon 10.52
    6 Peter Moore Australia Wimbledon 10.08
    7 Ron How England Wimbledon 9.92
    8 Mike Broadbank England Swindon 9.40
    9 Ron Johnston New Zealand Belle Vue 9.05
    10 Arne Pander Denmark Oxford 8.90

    National Trophy

    [edit]

    The 1959 National Trophy was the 21st edition of the Knockout Cup. Wimbledon were the winners.[6]

    First round

    Date Team one Score Team two
    30/05 Swindon 55-52 Oxford
    28/05 Oxford 59-49 Swindon

    Second round

    Date Team one Score Team two
    16/07 Oxford 57-51 Southampton
    14/07 Southampton 61-47 Oxford
    27/06 Belle Vue 67-41 Leicester
    27/06 Coventry 69-39 Wimbledon
    26/06 Leicester 59-49 Belle Vue
    22/06 Wimbledon 71-37 Coventry
    20/06 Norwich 65-43 Poole
    19/06 Poole 46-62 Norwich

    Semifinals

    Date Team one Score Team two
    08/08 Norwich 53-55 Southampton
    04/08 Southampton 73-35 Norwich
    03/08 Wimbledon 75-33 Belle Vue
    01/08 Belle Vue 54-54 Wimbledon

    Final

    [edit]

    First leg

    Wimbledon Dons
    Barry Briggs 18
    Ronnie Moore 13
    Bob Andrews 12
    Ron How 11
    Jim Tebby 8
    Cyril Maidment 4
    Cyril Brine 2
    Gil Goldfinch 0    		67 – 41Southampton Saints
    Geoff Mardon 11
    Brian Crutcher 9
    Björn Knutson 7
    Alby Golden 5
    Chum Taylor 4
    Jack Scott 2
    Brian Hanham 1
    Dick Bradley 0
    [7]
    Wimbledon Stadium

    Second leg

    Southampton Saints
    Geoff Mardon 11
    Björn Knutson 9
    Chum Taylor 8
    Alby Golden 8
    Brian Brett 8
    Brian Crutcher 4
    Dick Bradley 2
    Brian Hanham 2    		52 – 56Wimbledon Dons
    Barry Briggs 17
    Ron How 16
    Ronnie Moore 10
    Bob Andrews 6
    Gil Goldfinch 3
    Jim Tebby 3
    Cyril Brine 1
    Cyril Maidment 0
    [7]
    Banister Court Stadium

    Wimbledon were National Trophy Champions, winning on aggregate 123–93.

    Riders & final averages

    [edit]

    Belle Vue

    • England Peter Craven 10.84
    • New Zealand Ron Johnston 9.05
    • New Zealand Bob Duckworth 7.24
    • England Dick Fisher 6.57
    • England Peter Williams 5.54
    • England Arthur Wright 5.33
    • England Slant Payling 4.21
    • England Tink Maynard 3.64
    • England Jack Kitchen 3.00
    • England Danny Dunton 2.73
    • England Graham Beattie 2.50
    • England Tony Robinson 1.20
    • England Graham Coombes 0.29

    Coventry

    • England Nigel Boocock 8.65
    • England Ron Mountford 7.61
    • England Arthur Forrest 7.28
    • England Nick Nicholls 5.51
    • England Maury Mattingley 5.44
    • England Brian Meredith 5.33
    • England Jim Lightfoot 4.98
    • England Les Owen 4.94
    • Finland Antti Pajari 4.32
    • Australia Graham Warren 2.00

    Leicester

    • Scotland Ken McKinlay 10.75
    • Australia Jack Geran 8.50
    • Poland Marian Kaiser 7.80
    • England Eric Boothroyd 5.95
    • England Charlie Barsby 4.10
    • England Bryan Elliott 4.00
    • England Guy Allott 3.80
    • England Alf Hagon 3.70
    • England Harry Bastable 2.67
    • England Dave Hankins 2.10

    Norwich

    • Sweden Ove Fundin 11.00
    • Australia Aub Lawson 8.56
    • England Billy Bales 7.78
    • England Cyril Roger 6.25
    • England Reg Trott 5.76
    • England Phil Clarke 5.63
    • Australia Johnny Chamberlain 5.58
    • England Derek Strutt 4.55
    • England Harry Edwards 4.76
    • England Clive Featherby 4.00

    Oxford

    • Denmark Arne Pander 8.90
    • Scotland Gordon McGregor 8.32
    • England Ronnie Genz 7.07
    • England Nick Nicholls 7.00
    • England Roy Bowers 5.96
    • England Arthur Wright 5.70
    • England Ken Adams 5.37
    • England Colin Gooddy 5.02
    • England Howdy Byford 3.52
    • England Dave Still 0.00

    Poole

    • Australia Ray Cresp 7.37
    • England Les McGillivray 7.14
    • England Jack Unstead 7.08
    • Sweden Birger Forsberg 6.85
    • Australia Jack Biggs 6.34
    • England Jimmy Squibb 5.70
    • South Africa Trevor Blokdyk 4.88
    • England Reg Duval 4.50
    • England Terry Small 4.34
    • England Norman Strachan 3.73

    Southampton

    • England Brian Crutcher 10.65
    • New Zealand Geoff Mardon 8.73
    • Sweden Björn Knutson 8.40
    • England Jimmy Squibb 6.67
    • Australia Chum Taylor 6.22
    • England Dick Bradley 6.22
    • England Alby Golden 5.33
    • Australia Jack Scott 4.86
    • England Johnny Hole 5.70
    • England Brian Hanham 4.09
    • England Brian Brett 4.85

    Swindon

    • England Mike Broadbank 9.40
    • England George White 7.89
    • Wales Ian Williams 7.22
    • Poland Tadeusz Teodorowicz 6.58
    • Australia Neil Street 6.57
    • New Zealand Trevor Redmond 3.71
    • Australia John Board 3.60
    • England Glyn Chandler 2.18
    • England Ray Harris 1.56
    • England Roy Moreton 0.94
    • Wales Leo McAuliffe 0.00

    Wimbledon

    • New Zealand Ronnie Moore 10.52
    • Australia Peter Moore 10.40
    • England Ron How 9.92
    • New Zealand Barry Briggs 8.80
    • England Gerald Jackson 7.14
    • England Jim Tebby 6.55
    • England Bob Andrews 6.49
    • England Cyril Maidment 6.35
    • England Gerry King 5.00
    • England Cyril Brine 4.07

    See also

    [edit]
    • List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
    • Knockout Cup (speedway)

    References

    [edit]
    1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
    2. ^ "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
    3. ^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
    4. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
    5. ^ "1959 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
    6. ^ "1959 National Trophy". Speedway archive.
    7. ^ a b "1959 National Trophy". Speedway Archive. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
    This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
    Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1959 Speedway National League
    Status: article is cached
    Encyclosphere.org EncycloReader is supported by the EncyclosphereKSF