1951 Speedway National League

1951 Speedway National League
League	National League Division One
No. of competitors	9
Champions	Wembley Lions
National Trophy	Wimbledon Dons
London Cup	Wembley Lions
Highest average	Aub Lawson
Division/s below	National League (Div 2); National League (Div 3)
	← 1950; 1952 →;

The 1951 National League Division One was the 17th season of speedway in the United Kingdom and the sixth post-war season of the highest tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain. ^[1]

Summary

The entrants were the same as the previous season as were the top three positions at the end of the season. Wembley Lions won the National League for the sixth time.^[2]^[3]^[4]

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Wembley Lions	32	25	0	7	50
2	Belle Vue Aces	32	19	1	12	39
3	Wimbledon Dons	32	17	1	14	35
4	West Ham Hammers	32	16	1	15	33
5	Birmingham Brummies	32	16	0	16	32
6	Bristol Bulldogs	32	15	1	16	31
7	Harringay Racers	32	15	1	16	31
8	New Cross Rangers	32	9	1	22	19
9	Bradford Tudors	32	9	0	23	18

Top Ten Riders (League only)

	Rider	Team	C.M.A.
1	Aub Lawson	West Ham	10.31
2	Ronnie Moore	Wimbledon	9.91
3	Freddie Williams	Wembley	9.76
4	Alan Hunt	Birmingham	9.75
5	Norman Parker	Wimbledon	9.56
6	Eddie Rigg	Bradford	9.29
7	Malcolm Craven	West Ham	9.25
8	Split Waterman	Harringay	9.07
9	Jack Parker	Belle Vue	9.03
10	Geoff Pymar	Bristol	8.95

National Trophy Stage Three

The 1951 National Trophy was the 14th edition of the Knockout Cup. The Trophy consisted of three stages; stage one was for the third division clubs, stage two was for the second division clubs and stage three was for the top tier clubs. The winner of stage one would qualify for stage two and the winner of stage two would qualify for the third and final stage. Wimbledon won the third and final stage and were therefore declared the 1951 National Trophy champions.^[5]

For Stage One - see Stage One
For Stage Two - see Stage Two

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
10/08	Bristol	74-34	Norwich
20/08	Norwich	75-33	Bristol
07/08	West Ham	72-35	Bradford Odsal
25/08	Bradford Odsal	43-65	West Ham

Second round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
05/09	Belle Vue	46-62	Wembley
09/08	Wembley	52-55	Belle Vue
11/08	Birmingham	55-53	Wimbledon
20/08	Wimbledon	64-44	Birmingham
25/08	Norwich	63-45	Harringay
24/08	Harringay	65-42	Norwich
04/09	West Ham	62-46	New Cross
29/08	New Cross	65-43	West Ham

Semifinals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
04/10	Wembley	78-29	New Cross
26/09	New Cross	53-55	Wembley
03/09	Wimbledon	65-43	Harringay
07/09	Harringay	40-68	Wimbledon

Final

First leg

8 October 1951

Wimbledon Dons Ronnie Moore 15 Dennis Gray 15 Norman Parker 9 Cyril Brine 6 Ernie Roccio 3 Mike Erskine 3 Reg Trott 3 Jimmy Gibb 1	58 – 50	Wembley Lions Eric Williams 11 Tommy Price 8 Bob Oakley 7 Freddie Williams 7 Bruce Abernethy 5 George Wilks 6 Bill Kitchen 3 Jimmy Gooch 3
	^[6]

Wimbledon Stadium

Second leg

11 October 1951

Wembley Lions Eric Williams 8 Bill Kitchen 6 Bob Oakley 6 Freddie Williams 5 George Wilks 5 Jimmy Gooch 5 Bruce Abernethy 4 Tommy Price 2	41 – 67	Wimbledon Dons Dennis Gray 18 Ronnie Moore 14 Ernie Roccio 13 Cyril Brine 11 Norman Parker 7 Jimmy Gibb 2 Reg Trott 1 Mike Erskine 1
	^[6]

Wembley Stadium

Wimbledon were National Trophy Champions, winning on aggregate 125–91.

London Cup

First round

Team one	Score	Team two
Wimbledon	55–51, 44–64	Wembley
Walthamstow	53–55, 29–78	West Ham

Semi final round

Team one	Score	Team two
West Ham	57–51, 42–65	Harringay
New Cross	45–63, 38–70	Wembley

Final

First leg

13 September 1951

Wembley Eric Williams 12 Bruce Abernethy 9 Tommy Price 9 Bob Oakley 8 Freddie Williams 6 George Wilks 6 Bill Kitchen 5 Jimmy Gooch 3	59–49	Harringay Olle Nygren 17 Jack Biggs 15 Jeff Lloyd 6 Ron How 4 Maurice McDermott 2 Jimmy Squibb 2 Danny Dunton 2 Nobby Stock 1

Wembley Stadium

Second leg

14 September 1951

Harringay Olle Nygren 16 Split Waterman 15 Jack Biggs 6 Ron How 4 Nobby Stock 3 Cliff Watson 3 Jeff Lloyd 2 Jimmy Squibb 0	49–59	Wembley Eric Williams 11 Bruce Abernethy 10 Freddie Williams 9 Tommy Price 8 Bob Oakley 7 Jimmy Gooch 6 George Wilks 4 Bill Kitchen 4
	^[7]

Harringay Stadium

Wembley won on aggregate 118–98

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Jack Parker 9.03
Ken Sharples 7.84
Louis Lawson 7.66
Ron Johnston 7.46
Henry Long 7.23
George Smith 6.03
Dennis Parker 5.61
Ron Mason 4.54
Angus McKenzie 3.48
Val Morton 2.89
Bob Serrurier 1.60

Birmingham

Alan Hunt 9.75
Ron Mountford 8.17
Graham Warren 7.92
Arthur Payne 7.33
Eric Boothroyd 6.20
Cyril Page 6.00
Jim Tolley 4.95
Ivor Davies 4.52
Lionel Watling (James Goldingay) 4.04
Fred Perkins 4.50
Bill Jemison 2.12
Geoff Bennett inj

Bradford

Eddie Rigg 9.29
Dent Oliver 7.04
Oliver Hart 6.00
Arthur Bush 4.88
Arthur Wright 4.74
Lloyd Goffe 4.59
Ron Peace 4.15
Eric Smith 3.92
Ken Brown 3.69
Alec Burrows 3.65

Bristol

Geoff Pymar 8.94
Dick Bradley 8.80
Jack Mountford 7.05
Billy Hole 6.80
Johnny Hole 5.90
Chris Boss 5.28
Eric Salmon 5.51
Mike Beddoe 5.07
Jack Summers 2.22

Harringay

Split Waterman 9.07
Olle Nygren 8.31
Jeff Lloyd 8.13
Jack Biggs 8.29
Nobby Stock 6.39
Danny Dunton 5.91
Cliff Watson 5.45
Maury McDermott 5.09
Ron How 4.75
Jimmy Squibb 4.10
Ron Barrett 4.00

New Cross

Cyril Roger 8.82
Eric French 8.38
Bert Roger 8.05
Frank Lawrence 6.45
Tom Oakley 6.27
Bill Longley 4.90
Ron Johnson 3.76
Don Gray 3.73
Ray Moore 3.64
Harold McNaughton 3.62
Ronnie Genz 2.18
Dick Shepherd 1.67
Bernie Aldridge 1.50
Eric Minall 0.67

Wembley

Freddie Williams 9.76
Bob Oakley 8.36
Bruce Abernethy 8.27
Tommy Price 8.11
Eric Williams 7.62
George Wilks 7.53
Bill Kitchen 7.06
Jimmy Gooch 5.74
Bob Wells 2.94
Den Cosby 2.67

West Ham

Aub Lawson 10.31
Malcolm Craven 9.25
Wally Green 7.92
Eric Chitty 7.05
Arthur Atkinson 5.30
Howdy Byford 5.27
Kid Curtis 5.00
Reg Fearman 3.41
Lloyd Goffe 2.86
Geoff Woodger 1.43
Johnny Guilfoyle 1.40

Wimbledon

Ronnie Moore 9.95
Norman Parker 9.56
Cyril Brine 8.31
Dennis Gray 6.97
Ernie Roccio 6.74
Jimmie Gibb 5.18
Jim Gregory 3.79
Reg Trott 3.65
Mike Erskine 3.00
Craig Jones 1.44

References

^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
^ "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
^ "1951 National Trophy". Speedway archive.
^ ^a ^b "1951 National Trophy". Speedway Archive. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
^ "Wembley's Cup Final Win". Daily Herald. 15 September 1951. Retrieved 26 September 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[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] "1951 National Trophy". Speedway archive.

[SR-6] "1951 National Trophy". Speedway Archive. Retrieved 11 August 2021.

[7] "Wembley's Cup Final Win". Daily Herald. 15 September 1951. Retrieved 26 September 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.

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v t e Speedway in the United Kingdom
Current leagues	SGB Premiership SGB Championship National Development League List of champions
Former leagues	Elite League Premier League National League (1932–1964) Provincial League (1960–1964) British League British League Division Two/National League Conference League National League Division Two National League Division Three English Dirt Track League/Northern League Southern League (1929–1931) Southern League (1952–1953) Provincial League (1936–1937) Southern Area League
Current team competitions	Knockout Cup League Pairs champions League Fours champions
Former team competitions	London Cup Midland Cup Craven and Young Shields Premiership Shield
Current individual competitions	British Speedway Championship League Riders' champions British U-21 British U-19 Scottish Open
Former individual competitions	London Riders' Midland Riders' Northern Riders' Southern Riders' Olympique Internationale
See also	Speedway British Speedway Promoters' Association Speedway Control Bureau

v t e United Kingdom Speedway Seasons
Tier One League Top division	1929 1929 1930 1930 1931 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Tier Two League Second division	1934 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Tier Three League Third division	1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1994 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Champions	League champions Cup winners

1951 Speedway National League

Summary

Final table

Top Ten Riders (League only)

National Trophy Stage Three

Final

London Cup

Final

Riders & final averages

See also

References