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1975 New National League season

British motorcycle speedway season

Field	Value
competition	New National League
competitors	20
domesticcup1	Champions
domesticcup1 winners	Birmingham Brummies
domesticcup2	Knockout Cup
domesticcup2 winners	Eastbourne Eagles
domesticcup3	Individual
domesticcup3 winners	Laurie Etheridge
domesticcup4	Pairs
domesticcup4 winners	Newcastle Diamonds
highest average	Joe Owen
league above	1975 British League
prevseason	1974
nextseason	1976

The 1975 New National League was contested as the second division/tier of Speedway in the United Kingdom when British League Division Two was renamed. It was subsequently named the National League. The change came about following unrest between some of the clubs and the speedway authorities in previous seasons.

Summary

The league increased by one team for the fourth season in a row, despite the loss of three teams; the Barrow Bombers, Long Eaton Archers and Sunderland Gladiators. Sunderland closed for good but in November 1974, Ian Thomas bought the defunct Sunderland licence and transferred it to re-form the Newcastle Diamonds. Three other new teams entered, in addition to the Newcastle Diamonds and they were Crayford Kestrels (returning for their first season since 1970), while Mildenhall Fen Tigers and Paisley Lions both competed in their inaugural seasons.

Birmingham Brummies, winners of the last British League Division Two, retained their title and were promoted to the British League for 1976. Birmingham won the league by 5 points despite losing their leading rider Phil Herne to Newport in division 1. Birmingham relied heavily on Arthur Browning, Alan Grahame and Keith White, improved performances by Ricky Day and Carl Askew and solid seasons once again from John Hart and George Major.

Newcastle finished runner-up on their return to league action, with the Owen brothers Joe Owen and Tom Owen topping the league averages.

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Birmingham Brummies	38	29	1	8	59
2	Newcastle Diamonds	38	27	0	11	54
3	Stoke Potters	38	26	0	12	52
4	Eastbourne Eagles	38	25	0	13	50
5	Boston Barracudas	38	24	2	12	50
6	Workington Comets	38	23	2	13	48
7	Berwick Bandits	38	21	3	14	45
8	Crayford Kestrels	38	20	2	16	42
9	Ellesmere Port Gunners	38	19	1	18	39
10	Canterbury Crusaders	38	19	0	19	38
11	Bradford Barons	38	17	2	19	36
12	Coatbridge Tigers	38	17	1	20	35
13	Scunthorpe Saints	38	17	0	21	34
14	Rye House Rockets	38	13	2	23	28
15	Paisley Lions	38	14	0	24	28
16	Crewe Kings	37	13	1	23	27
17	Teesside Tigers	38	13	0	25	26
18	Peterborough Panthers	37	13	0	24	26
19	Mildenhall Fen Tigers	38	11	1	26	23
20	Weymouth Wizards	38	8	2	28	18

Fixtures and results

Top five riders (league averages)

Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Joe Owen	ENG	Newcastle
2	Tom Owen	ENG	Newcastle
3	Alan Molyneux	ENG	Stoke
4	Paul Gachet	ENG	Eastbourne
5	Les Rumsey	ENG	Canterbury

National League Knockout Cup

The 1975 National League Knockout Cup was the eighth edition (first under its new name) of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Eastbourne Eagles were the winners of the competition.

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
15/04	Ellesmere Port	43-35	Coatbridge
11/04	Coatbridge	50-28	Ellesmere Port
14/04	Newcastle	44-34	Berwick
05/04	Berwick	40-38	Newcastle
21/03	Peterborough	42-36	Boston
16/03	Boston	40-38	Peterborough
14/04	Birmingham	51-27	Crayford
15/04	Crayford	37-40	Birmingham

Second round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
05/05	Scunthorpe	38-40	Teesside
01/05	Teesside	45-32	Scunthorpe
30/05	Coatbridge	39-39	Newcastle
19/05	Newcastle	50-27	Coatbridge
10/05	Paisley	43-34	Workington
30/05	Workington	45-33	Paisley
05/05	Crewe	38-40	Bradford
14/05	Bradford	48-30	Crewe
09/05	Peterborough	49-29	Weymouth
29/04	Weymouth	50-28	Peterborough
11/05	Rye House	31-46	Birmingham
05/05	Birmingham	60-18	Rye House
10/05	Canterbury	40-37	Eastbourne
11/05	Eastbourne	49-29	Canterbury

Quarter-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
07/08	Teesside	32-46	Newcastle
28/07	Newcastle	54-24	Teesside
24/08	Workington	47-31	Stoke
21/08	Stoke	42-36	Workington
23/09	Weymouth	42-36	Eastbourne
09/07	Bradford	47-31	Weymouth
14/07	Birmingham	41-37	Eastbourne
06/07	Eastbourne	45-33	Birmingham

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
19/09	Workington	48-30	Newcastle
15/09	Newcastle	48-30	Workington
23/09	Weymouth	42-36	Eastbourne
21/09	Eastbourne	60-18	Weymouth
29/09
replay	Newcastle	37-41	Workington
26/09
replay	Workington	51-27	Newcastle

Final

First leg Mike Newton 11 Taffy Owen 11 Lou Sansom 10 Roger Wright 8 Robbie Gardner 5 Terry Kelly 1 Steve Lawson 1 Neil Middleditch 12 Paul Gachet 7 Mike Sampson 5 Eric Dugard 3 Pete Jarman 2 Colin Richardson 2 Mike Pither 0

Second leg Neil Middleditch 10 Mike Sampson 10 Pete Jarman 10 Paul Gachet 8 Eric Dugard 7 Mike Pither 4 Colin Richardson 3 Lou Sansom 13 Robbie Gardner 6 Taffy Owen 4 Terry Kelly 1 Steve Lawson 1 Mick Newton 0 Roger Wright 0

Eastbourne were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 83–72.

Riders' Championship

Laurie Etheridge won the Riders' Championship, held at Wimbledon Stadium on 27 September.

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, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Pairs

The National League Pairs was held at Hyde Road on 17 May and was won by Newcastle Diamonds.

Group A	Pos	Team
Eastbourne	14	Gachet 9
Middleditch 5
Scunthorpe	10	McKinlay 6
Childs 4
Workington	8	Sansom 7
Gardner 1
Paisley	4	Sheldrick 4
Roynon 0

Group B	Pos	Team
Crayford	14	Sage 8
Etheridge 6
Birmingham	10	Hart 8
Browning 2
Bradford	9	Featherstone 6
Baugh 3
Rye House	3	Foote 3
Clarke 0

Group C	Pos	Team
Ellesmere P	12	Jackson 9
Goad 3
Peterborough	11	Clark 6
Matthews 5
Coatbridge	7	Collins 6
Gallacher 1
Stoke	6	Molyneux 4
Millen 2

Group D	Pos	Team
Newcastle	13	Havelock 8
Owen T 5
Crewe	10	Drury 8
Wasley 2
Teesside	9	Reading 5
Durham 4
Berwick	4	Gifford 4
Templeton W 0

Semi finals

Ellesmere Port bt Eastbourne
Newcastle bt Crayford

Final

Newcastle bt Eastbourne

Leading final averages

Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Joe Owen	ENG	Newcastle
2	Tom Owen	ENG	Newcastle
3	Alan Molyneux	ENG	Stoke
4	Les Rumsey	ENG	Canterbury
5	Paul Gachet	ENG	Eastbourne

Riders & final averages

Berwick

Dave Gifford 8.58
Graham Jones 7.65
Colin Farquharson 7.41
Steve Finch 6.75
Willie Templeton 6.34
Denny Morter 4.89
Dave Trownson 4.86
Bernie Hornby 4.85

Birmingham

Arthur Browning 9.35
Alan Grahame 8.38
Keith White 8.22
John Hart 8.00
Keith Anderson 7.58
Ricky Day 7.34
George Major 7.31
Carl Askew 6.91

Boston

Michael Lee 9.04
Bruce Forrester 8.22
David Gagen 7.83
Rob Hollingworth 7.30
Billy Burton 7.19
Les Glover 6.95
Dave Piddock 6.17
Rob Mouncer 6.13
Trevor Whiting 4.53

Bradford

Tony Featherstone 8.34
Colin Meredith 7.92
Dave Baugh 7.42
Tony Boyle 7.11
Steve Wilcock 5.75
Andy Cowan 5.55
Alan Knapkin 5.48
Mick Fielding 4.49
Brenton Langlois 4.34
Dave Parkin 3.06
Barry Weaver 1.82

Canterbury

Les Rumsey 9.90
Dave Gooderham 8.63
Barney Kennett 8.23
Graham Clifton 5.31
Bob Spelta 5.11
Jimmy Squibb 5.00
Gerald Purkiss 4.85
Terry Casserley 3.77

Coatbridge

Brian Collins 9.46
Mitch Shirra 8.37
Jimmy Gallacher 7.54
Grahame Dawson 6.39
Mick McKeon 5.64
Doug Templeton 4.94
John Wilson 4.73
Paul Heller 4.00
Eddie Argall 3.90
Derek Richardson 3.71
Barry Booth 1.68

Crayford

Laurie Etheridge 9.74
Alan Sage 8.51
Trevor Barnwell 7.72
Pete Wigley 6.26
Bob Young 5.86
Les Ott 5.78
Alan Johns 5.68
George Barclay 5.34
Dave Shepherd 4.92
Bill Archer 4.11

Crewe

Graham Drury 8.70
Chris Turner 8.13
Nigel Wasley 7.75
Chris Emery 6.3
Ricky Day 6.06
Stuart Cope 5.83
Les Collins 5.25
Max Brown 4.99
Geoff Ambrose 4.96
Cliff Anderson 4.90
Ian Robertson 3.27

Eastbourne

Paul Gachet 9.87
Neil Middleditch 9.62
Steve Weatherley 8.07
Pete Jarman 7.32
Mike Sampson 7.28
Eric Dugard 5.49
Colin Richardson 5.24
Terry Barclay 3.78

Ellesmere Port

John Jackson 9.78
Colin Goad 7.13
Wayne Hughes 6.76
Nicky Allott 6.41
Duncan Meredith 5.78
Mick McKeon 4.86
Steve Casey 4.52
Gerald Smitherman 4.37
Barry Booth 4.00
Andy Reid 3.68

Mildenhall

Bob Coles 8.82
Chris Julian 6.74
Stan Stevens 6.02
John Gibbons 5.93
Kevin Jolly 5.76
John McNeill 4.77
Paul Clipstone 3.59
Paul Gilbert 3.43
Fred Mills 2.97

Newcastle

Joe Owen 10.65
Tom Owen 10.65
Brian Havelock 6.72
Ron Henderson 5.81
Mike Watkin 5.59
Robbie Blackadder 5.45
Tim Swales 5.23
Phil Micheledies 5.05

Paisley

Sid Sheldrick 8.00
Mike Fullerton 7.20
Alan Bridgett 7.12
Chris Roynon 6.00
Tom Davie 5.26
Bernie Foot 5.20
Stuart Mountford 4.47
Mick Sheldrick 4.00
Geoff Snider 4.00

Peterborough

Brian Clark 9.00
Russ Osborne 7.14
Roy Carter 6.67
Ken Matthews 6.66
Mike Cake 5.53
Jack Walker 4.70
Ian Clark 4.36
Roy Sizmore 4.33
Steve Taylor 3.52
Phil Cornwell 1.33

Rye House

Brian Foote 8.39
Hugh Saunders 7.46
Bob Cooper 6.75
Kelvin Mullarkey 6.25
Tiger Beech 5.69
John Gibbons 5.25
Bob Young 4.73
Dingle Brown 4.62
Karl Fiala 4.58
Barry Duke 4.33
Steve Clarke 3.87

Scunthorpe

Tony Childs 8.35
Keith Evans 7.52
Ken McKinlay 6.46
Andy Hines 5.99
Colin Cook 5.91
Tony Gillias 5.55
Andy Sims 5.38
Ray Watkins 4.24
Chris Emery 4.13
Ian Silk 2.09

Stoke

Alan Molyneux 10.14
Steve Bastable 8.04
Steve Holden 7.92
Andy Cusworth 7.52
Jack Millen 6.96
Phil Bass 6.93
Jim Wells 6.55
Mick Handley 6.09
Alan Bridgett 4.62

Teesside

Tom Leadbitter 9.40
Doug Underwood 8.34
Alan Emerson 8.33
Roger Wright 7.68
Dave Durham 6.05
Pete Reading 5.69
Harry Maclean 5.25
Trevor Stead 3.44
David Levings 3.08
Colin Pestell 2.83
Ian Silk 2.29

Weymouth

Martin Yeates 8.31
Brian Woodward 7.77
Vic Harding 6.82
Chris Robins 5.15
Geoff Swindells 4.77
Nigel Couzens 4.73
Melvin Soffe 4.24
Tony Freegard 3.59
Ricky Owen 3.09
Roger Stratton 2.86

Workington

Lou Sansom 8.81
Taffy Owen 8.37
Robbie Gardner 7.38
Kym Amundson 6.94
Mick Newton .6.63
Roger Wright 6.24
Terry Kelly 6.07
Steve Watson 4.42
Steve Lawson 3.64

References

(23 November 1974). "Second is now National".
"Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
(13 November 1974). "Eagles want speedway shake-up".
"teams".
(28 November 1974). "Ian Thomas buys out Sunderland". Hull Daily Mail.
"Sunderland Speedway".
(13 October 1974). "Speedway Team for Paisley".
Rogers, Martin. (1978). "The Illustrated History of Speedway". Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd.
"BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)".
Oakes, Peter. (1981). "1981 Speedway Yearbook". Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd.
"1975 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher.
"1975 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
"1975 KO cup final".
(29 September 1975). "Lee's title bid fails". Cambridge Daily News.
"1975 season results".

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