1955 Speedway National League

21st British motorcycle speedway season

1955 Speedway National LeagueLeague| National League

|

No. of competitors| 7
Champions| Wimbledon Dons
National Trophy| Norwich Stars
Midland Cup| Birmingham Brummies
Highest average| Jack Young
Division/s below| National League (Div 2)
1955 Southern Area League

* <- 1954
* 1956 ->

The 1955 Speedway National League was the 21st season and tenth post-war season of the highest tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.[1]

## Summary[edit]

The league consisted of seven teams after the Harringay Racers ceased competitive speedway racing at the end of 1954. Match line-ups were reduced from eight riders to seven riders. Wimbledon won their second successive National League Championship. West Ham closed at the end of the season, blaming poor attendances.[2][3][4][5]

## Final table[edit]

Pos | Team | PL | W | D | L | Pts

|
|
|
|
|
|

1  | Wimbledon Dons | 24  | 16  | 2  | 6  | 34
2  | Belle Vue Aces | 24  | 15  | 0  | 9  | 30
3  | Wembley Lions | 24  | 11  | 1  | 12  | 23
4  | Bradford Tudors | 24  | 11  | 0  | 13  | 22
5  | Birmingham Brummies | 24  | 9  | 2  | 13  | 20
6  | Norwich Stars | 24  | 9  | 1  | 14  | 19
7  | West Ham Hammers | 24  | 8  | 2  | 14  | 18

## Top Ten Riders (League only)[edit]

| Rider | Nat | Team | C.M.A.

|
|
|
|

1  | Jack Young |  | West Ham  | 10.79
2  | Ronnie Moore |  | Wimbledon  | 10.77
3  | Ove Fundin |  | Norwich  | 10.00
4  | Barry Briggs |  | Wimbledon  | 9.79
5  | Brian Crutcher |  | Wembley  | 9.34
6  | Arthur Wright |  | Bradford  | 9.14
7  | Peter Craven |  | Belle Vue  | 8.96
8  | Arthur Forrest |  | Bradford  | 8.91
9  | Ron Johnston |  | Belle Vue  | 8.61
10  | Ken Sharples |  | Belle Vue  | 8.43

## National Trophy Stage Two[edit]

The 1955 National Trophy was the 18th edition of the Knockout Cup. The Trophy consisted of two stages; stage one was for the second tier clubs, stage two was for the top tier clubs. Norwich won the second and final stage and were therefore declared the 1955 National Trophy champions.[6]

* For Stage One - see Stage One

First round

Date  | Team one  | Score  | Team two

|
|
|

04/08 | Poole | 56-52 | Birmingham
16/07 | Birmingham | 56-52 | Poole
16/07 | Belle Vue | 61-47 | Wembley
16/07 | Bradford Odsal | 52-56 | Wimbledon
16/07 | Norwich | 69-39 | West Ham
14/07 | Wembley | 67-41 | Belle Vue
12/07 | West Ham | 49-58 | Norwich
11/07 | Wimbledon | 76-31 | Bradford Odsal
18/08
replay | Poole | 69-39 | Birmingham
17/08
replay | Birmingham | 67-41 | Poole

Semifinals

Date  | Team one  | Score  | Team two

|
|
|

29/08 | Poole | 58-50 | Norwich
27/08 | Norwich | 82-26 | Poole
15/08 | Wimbledon | 61-47 | Wembley
04/08 | Wembley | 63-45 | Wimbledon

### Final[edit]

First leg

8 September 1955

Wembley Lions
Brian Crutcher 15
Eric Williams 9
Freddie Williams 6
Ken Adams 4
Jimmy Gooch 4
Tommy Price 3
Trevor Redmond 2
Eric French 0| 43 – 64| Norwich Stars
Ove Fundin 16
Cyril Roger 11
Aub Lawson 10
Billy Bales 10
Harry Edwards 6
Phil Clarke 6
Fred Brand 4
Don Lawson 1

|
|

| [7] |

Wembley Stadium

Second leg

17 September 1955

Norwich Stars
Phil Clarke 15
Cyril Roger 9
Fred Brand 6
Harry Edwards 4
Reg Trott (guest) 5
Billy Bales 3
Don Lawson 2
Malcolm Flood 1| 45 – 63| Wembley Lions
Tommy Price 13
Brian Crutcher 11
Trevor Redmond 11
Eric French 8
Jimmy Gooch 8
Freddie Williams 5
Ken Adams 4
Eric Williams 3

|
|

| [7] |

The Firs Stadium

Norwich were National Trophy Champions, winning on aggregate 109–106.

## Midland Cup[edit]

Birmingham won the Midland Cup for a third consecutive year. It consisted of four teams, there was one team from division 1 and three teams from division 2.[8]

First round

Team one  | Team two  | Score

|
|

Oxford | Leicester | 49–53, 29–73

Semi final round

Team one  | Team two  | Score

|
|

Leicester | Coventry | 66–36, 51–51

### Final[edit]

First leg

17 September 1955

Birmingham
Ron Mountford 15
Alan Hunt 13
Eric Boothroyd 13
Jim Tolley 12
Dennis Newton 6
Harry Bastable 6
Derrick Tailby 1| 66–36| Leicester
Ken McKinlay 16
Len Williams 8
Charlie Barsby 4
Ron Phillips 4
Barry East 2
Derek Close 1
Gordon McGregor 1

|
|

|  |

Perry Barr Stadium

Second leg

30 September 1955

Leicester
Ken McKinlay 18
Len Williams 12
Gordon McGregor 12
Ron Phillips 6
Fred Brand 5
Barry East 4
Charlie Barsby 3| 60–42| Birmingham
Junior Bainbridge 14
Jim Tolley 6
Alan Hunt 6
Eric Boothroyd 6
Harry Bastable 5
Dennis Newton 2
Derrick Tailby 3

|
|

|  |

Leicester Stadium

Birmingham won on aggregate 108–96

## Riders & final averages[edit]

Belle Vue

*   * Peter Craven 8.96
*   * Ron Johnston 8.61
*   * Ken Sharples 8.43
*   * Bob Duckworth 6.69
*   * Harry Edwards 5.05
*   * Peter Williams 4.93
*   * Fred Rogers 4.76
*   * Dick Fisher 4.70
*   * Tink Maynard 4.47
*   * Don Cuppleditch 4.45
*   * Frank Johnson 1.60

Birmingham

*   * Alan Hunt 7.94
*   * Ron Mountford 7.87
* Doug Davies 7.08
*   * Graham Warren 5.31
*   * Eric Boothroyd 5.21
*   * Harry Bastable 5.11
*   * Jim Tolley 4.35
*   * Derrick Tailby 2.77

Bradford

*   * Arthur Wright 9.14
*   * Arthur Forrest 8.91
*   * Eddie Rigg 7.85
*   * Guy Allott 6.18
*   * Keith Milner 6.04
*   * Des Haswell 5.04
*   * Al Allison 4.28
*   * Ron Clarke 3.57
*   * Jack Hughes 3.27
*   * Nigel Boocock 2.24

Norwich

*   * Ove Fundin 10.00
*   * Billy Bales 8.33
*   * Aub Lawson 7.38
*   * Phil Clarke 7.32
*   * Cyril Roger 6.51
*   * Harry Edwards 4.80
*   * Fred Brand 4.58
*   * Don Lawson 2.49
*   * Malcolm Flood 1.52

Wembley

*   * Brian Crutcher 9.34
*   * Tommy Price 7.31
*   * Eric Williams 6.95
*   * Freddie Williams 6.91
*   * Trevor Redmond 6.13
*   * Eric French 5.88
*   * Ken Adams 4.35
*   * Jimmy Gooch 4.00

West Ham

*   * Jack Young 10.79
*   * Split Waterman 7.46
*   * Gerry Hussey 6.87
*   * Bert Roger 5.79
*   * Alan Smith 5.51
*   * Wally Green 5.44
*   * Jack Biggs 4.93
*   * Johnny Fitzpatrick 2.15
*   * Terry Courtnell 1.73
*   * Howdy Byford 0.73

Wimbledon

*   * Ronnie Moore 10.77
*   * Barry Briggs 9.79
*   * Peter Moore 7.76
*   * Ron How 7.63
*   * Cyril Maidment 5.54
*   * Les McGillivray 5.33
*   * Cyril Brine 5.16
*   * Alf Hagon 4.98
*   * Reg Trott 1.14

## See also[edit]

* List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
* Knockout Cup (speedway)

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
2. ^ "Speedway Archive: National League 1955".
3. ^ "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
4. ^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129\. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
5. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
6. ^ "1955 National Trophy". Speedway archive.
7. ^ a b "1955 National Trophy". Speedway Archive. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
8. ^ "Hunters triumph but trophy lost". Leicester Evening Mail. 1 October 1955. Retrieved 18 October 2023 - via British Newspaper Archive.

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