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1961 Provincial Speedway League

British motorcycle speedway season

Field	Value
competition	Provincial League
competitors	11
domesticcup1	Champions
domesticcup1 winners	Poole Pirates
domesticcup2	Knockout Cup
domesticcup2 winners	Cradley Heathens
domesticcup3	Individual
domesticcup3 winners	Reg Reeves
highestaverage	Reg Reeves
league above	1961 National League
prevseason	1960
nextseason	1962

The 1961 Provincial Speedway League was the second season of the Provincial League.

Summary

Eleven speedway teams took part. Liverpool, Yarmouth and Bristol had all folded at the end of the previous season and Bradford were unable to take their place in the league after the construction of their new track was delayed.

Exeter, Plymouth, Wolverhampton, Middlesbrough and Newcastle all re-opened their tracks and joined the league for the start of the season. Plymouth took on Bristol's riders and Bulldog nickname. Poole were champions, finishing seven points ahead of runners up Plymouth. After a couple of challenge meetings held throughout 1960 Exeter returned following a five-year league absence under the promotion of Wally Mawdsley and Pete Lansdale.

Final table

Pos	Team	M	W	D	L	Pts
1	Poole Pirates	20	15	1	4	31
2	Plymouth Bulldogs	20	12	0	8	24
3	Stoke Potters	20	12	0	8	24
4	Cradley Heath Heathens	20	11	1	8	23
5	Rayleigh Rockets	20	11	0	9	22
6	Edinburgh Monarchs	20	10	1	9	21
7	Sheffield Tigers	20	10	0	10	20
8	Exeter Falcons	20	9	0	11	18
9	Wolverhampton Wolves	20	7	0	13	14
10	Middlesbrough Bears	20	6	1	13	13
11	Newcastle Diamonds	20	5	0	15	10

M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points

Fixtures and results

Top Five Riders (League only)

Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Reg Reeves	ENG	Rayleigh
2	Jack Scott	AUS	Plymouth
3	Ken Middleditch	ENG	Poole
4	Ross Gilbertson	SCO	Poole
5	Tony Lewis	ENG	Poole

Provincial League Knockout Cup

The 1961 Provincial League Knockout Cup was the second edition of the Knockout Cup for the Provincial League teams. Cradley Heathens were the winners.

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
13/05	Stoke	53–41	Middlesbrough
19/05	Rayleigh	50–46	Exeter

Second round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
18/05	Sheffield	43–53	Plymouth
21/06	Poole	71–25	Wolverhampton
24/06	Stoke	46–50	Cradley Heath
17/07	Edinburgh	49–47	Rayleigh

Semifinals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
29/07	Cradley Heath	55–41	Poole
12/08	Edinburgh	55–40	Plymouth

Final

First leg Ivor Brown 15 Harry Bastable 13 Derek Timms 13 Ivor Davies 10 John Hart 8 Tony Eadon 7 Vic White 2 Doug Templeton 9 Willie Templeton 8 Jimmy Tannock 4 Wayne Briggs 4 Alf Wells 2 George Hunter 1 Dick Campbell 0 Second leg Dick Campbell 14 Jimmy Tannock 10 Wayne Briggs 9 Doug Templeton 9 Willie Templeton 8 George Hunter 5 Alf Wells 4 Derek Timms 7 Ivor Brown 6 Harry Bastable 6 Tony Eadon 6 John Hart 4 Vic White 3 Ivor Davies 2

Riders' Championship

Reg Reeves won the Riders' Championship. The final was held at Harringay Stadium on 16 September in front of 20,000 spectators. Defending champion Trevor Redmond suffered a broken chain in his last race when leading Reeves, which prevented him from winning the title again.

Pos.		width=180px	Rider		width=100px	Pts		width=50px	Total
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

f=fell, r-retired, exc=excluded, ef=engine failure

Riders & final averages

Cradley Heath

10.14
8.88
7.54
7.14
6.15
5.97
5.29
5.04
4.44
4.00
2.97

Edinburgh

9.65
8.42
7.41
6.55
5.83
5.72
4.20

Exeter

9.33
8.81
8.12
8.00
7.66
6.75
4.90
3.84
3.60
2.25

Middlesbrough

9.05
8.50
7.50
7.00
6.49
6.18
5.65
5.56
4.42
4.00
3.83
(Jack Thorp) 3.78

Newcastle

8.65
7.05
(Jack Thorp) 5.85
5.67
5.55
RSA George Glen 4.85
4.65
2.61

Plymouth

11.08
9.38
8.92
6.86
6.03
4.41
CAN Chris Blewett 4.14
3.36
1.23

Poole

10.55
10.51
10.32
7.80
6.32
5.88
4.68

Rayleigh

11.43
8.53
8.44
6.68
5.12
4.89
4.39
4.36

Sheffield

9.64
9.59
8.80
7.20
6.97
6.86
6.27
6.21
3.64
3.40

Stoke

9.60
9.50
8.64
8.59
8.44
7.63
6.97
6.92
5.23
5.22
3.86
3.00
2.32

Wolverhampton

10.00
8.33
6.92
6.45
6.24
5.39
4.97
4.73
4.67
(Kid Bodie) 4.62
2.53
2.46

References

(2008). "Championship History". Poole Speedway.
(31 December 1960). "Bristol loses speedway, dog track".
"Year by Year".
Rogers, Martin. (1978). "The Illustrated History of Speedway". Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd.
"BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964)".
(4 October 1960). "Speedway like this will pull league crowds".
(10 August 1960). "League Again at Exeter". Express and Echo.
"1961 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher.
"1961 Provincial League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
(10 September 1961). "Cradley Heath to take cup now?". Birmingham Weekly Mercury.
(24 September 1961). "Cradley Heath's Trophy". Birmingham Weekly Mercury.
(18 September 1961). "One Long Yawn for Trevor". Daily Mirror.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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