1980 National League season

Summary

The league was increased from 19 teams to 20 from the previous season. Exeter Falcons dropped down from the British League to join the 19 incumbent sides.

Rye House Rockets who had been pipped to the title in the previous season in the last meeting, won the title by just one point from Newcastle Diamonds to win their first National League title. Rye House had managed to retain all of their top riders from the previous season and the solid performances of Bob Garrad, Karl Fiala, Kelvin Mullarkey and Kevin Smith for the second year running made up for the disappointment of 1979. Newcastle's second-place finish was remarkable bearing in mind that they had lost the league's leading rider Tom Owen to Hull Vikings in the highest division. Despite signing 1979 Riders' champion Ian Gledhill, the defending champions Mildenhall suffered after losing Melvyn Taylor and Mick Hines to other teams.

Final table

• Crayford v Weymouth fixture was never ridden.

Fixtures and results

nh = not held

National League Knockout Cup

The 1980 National League Knockout Cup was the 13th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Berwick Bandits were the winners of the competition for the first time, having been runners-up three times in the previous four seasons.

First round

Second round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

First leg Brian Havelock 10 Mike Spink 10 Steve Wilcock 9 Mark Courtney 6 Geoff Pusey 4 Martin Dixon 3 John Clegg 0 Mike Fullerton 11 Steve McDermott 9 Brett Saunders 6 Mike Caroline 5 Rob Grant 3 Nigel Close 2 Wayne Brown R/R Second leg Steve McDermott 15 Mike Fullerton 9 Nigel Close 8 Rob Grant 8 Brett Saunders 3 Mike Caroline 0 Wayne Brown R/R Mark Courtney 11 Steve Wilcock 9 Geoff Pusey 6 Martin Dixon 6 Mike Spink 2 John Clegg 0 Alan Armstrong 0

Berwick were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 79–76.

Riders' Championship

Wayne Brown won the Riders' Championship, sponsored by Toshiba and held at Wimbledon Stadium on 28 September 1980.

• f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure

Pairs

The National League Pairs was held at The Shay on 19 July and was won by Middlesbrough Tigers.

Semi finals

• Middlesbrough bt Crayford
• Boston bt Peterborough

Final

• Middlesbrough bt Boston

Fours

Crayford Kestrels won the fours championship final, held at the East of England Arena on 27 July.

Semi finals

• SF1 = Crayford 17, Ellesmere Port 16, Berwick 8, Boston 7
• SF2 = Rye House 18, Stoke 15, Glasgow 8, Oxford 7

Final

Leading final averages

Riders & final averages

Berwick

• Wayne Brown 9.49
• Steve McDermott 9.06
• Mike Fullerton 7.63
• Roger Wright 7.43
• Nigel Close 7.32
• Graham Jones 6.36
• Mike Caroline 5.71
• Brett Saunders 5.57
• Rob Grant Sr. 5.41

Boston

• David Gagen 9.80
• Gary Guglielmi 9.33
• Rob Hollingworth 8.57
• Steve Lomas 8.10
• Dennis Mallett 7.09
• Chris Turner 6.87
• Tony Featherstone 6.19
• Michael Holding 4.52
• Ian Turner 4.49
• Mike Spinks 4.04
• Chris Cole 2.24

Canterbury

• Mike Ferreira 10.32
• Barney Kennett 7.90
• Ted Hubbard 7.66
• Denzil Kent 6.64
• Dave Piddock 4.83
• Kevin Brice 3.65
• Rob Dolman 3.42
• Tony Reynolds 2.77
• Kevin Howland 2.22
• Simon Franks 1.25

Crayford

• Paul Woods 10.47
• Steve Naylor 8.02
• Les Rumsey 7.72
• Alan Sage 6.89
• Laurie Etheridge 6.00
• Mike Pither 5.30
• Alan Johns 5.12
• Paul Gilbert 3.68

Edinburgh

• George Hunter 8.88
• Dave Trownson 8.40
• Neil Collins 8.13
• Brian Collins 6.09
• Benny Rourke 5.97
• Harry Maclean 5.18
• Roger Lambert 5.13
• Arnold Haley 4.76

Ellesmere Port

• Steve Finch 9.92
• Louis Carr 8.57
• John Jackson 8.46
• Eric Monaghan 5.24
• John Williams 5.23
• Phil Alderman 5.16
• Pete Ellams 5.03
• Peter Carr 4.70
• Paul Embley 4.13

Exeter

• Rob Maxfield 9.09
• Nigel Boocock 8.64
• John Barker 8.50
• Martin Hewlett 6.39
• John Williams 6.26
• Arnold Haley 5.83
• Tony Garard 5.76
• Dave Brewer 4.17
• Tony Sanford 3.92
• Phil Vance 1.78

Glasgow

• Steve Lawson 10.17
• Alan Emerson 8.72
• Andy Reid 8.02
• Jim Beaton 5.84
• Charlie McKinna 5.61
• Kenny McKinna 5.36
• Colin Caffrey 5.08
• Ray Palmer 4.89
• Andy Campbell 2.83
• Steve Mildoon 1.75

Middlesbrough

• Steve Wilcock 10.28
• Mark Courtney 9.18
• Brian Havelock 7.71
• Mike Spink 7.48
• Geoff Pusey 6.98
• Martin Dixon 6.68
• Bernie Collier 4.35

Mildenhall

• Ray Bales 8.97
• Robert Henry 8.64
• Mick Bates 7.60
• Ian Gledhill 7.04
• Richard Knight 6.19
• Andy Warne 5.33
• Mark Bilner 5.24
• Carl Baldwin 4.47
• Mark Baldwin 4.47

Milton Keynes

• Bob Humphreys 8.81
• Graham Plant 6.34
• Nigel Sparshott 6.06
• Andy Hibbs 5.96
• Bert Harkins 5.86
• Mick Blaynee 5.66
• Barry Allaway 4.63
• Nigel Davis 4.39
• Graham Clifton 3.56
• Robbie Vigus 3.79
• Steve Payne 2.17

Newcastle

• Rod Hunter 9.28
• Robbie Blackadder 8.54
• David Bargh 8.32
• Derek Richardson 7.61
• Nigel Crabtree 6.50
• Keith Bloxsome 6.4
• Paul Brown 2.82

Nottingham

• Mike Sampson 9.88
• Ivan Blacka 7.85
• Glenn MacDonald 7.56
• Craig Featherby 7.45
• Mark Collins 5.37
• Arthur Price 4.84
• Steve Sant 3.62
• Mark Williams 3.60
• Pete Bacon 3.43
• John Homer 2.98

Oxford

• Dave Perks 10.82
• Derek Harrison 8.75
• Bruce Cribb 7.42
• John Hack 6.87
• Colin Ackroyd 5.62
• Steve Crockett 4.68
• Mick Fletcher 4.36
• Kevin Bowen 4.29
• Mick Handley 4.00
• John Grahame 3.91
• Andy Passey 1.52

Peterborough

• Andy Hines 8.81
• Nigel Flatman 8.73
• Richard Greer 8.19
• Mick Hines 7.66
• Adrian Pepper 4.59
• Andy Fisher 4.57
• Nigel Couzens 4.41
• Andy Buck 4.32
• Ian Barney 1.58

Rye House

• Bobby Garrad 9.85
• Karl Fiala 9.45
• Kelvin Mullarkey 9.29
• Kevin Smith 8.43
• Ashley Pullen 6.84
• Peter Tarrant 5.78
• Andy Fines 4.07
• Carl Squirrell 3.03
• Barry King 2.40

Scunthorpe

• Phil White 9.07
• Arthur Browning 8.59
• Nicky Allott 7.08
• Kevin Teager 5.31
• Rob Woffinden 4.03
• John Priest 4.00
• Ian Jeffcoate 3.94
• Ian Westwell 3.88
• Graham Mortimer 2.96

Stoke

• Billy Burton 8.02
• Tony Boyle 7.26
• Paul Stead 6.47
• Les Sawyer 5.99
• Alan MacLean 5.70
• Neil Evitts 4.78
• Ian Robertson 4.64
• Rod North 4.58
• Mike Wilding 3.86
• Rob Lightfoot 3.34

Weymouth

• Martin Yeates 9.30
• Brian Woodward 7.68
• Simon Wigg 6.60
• Bob Coles 6.25
• Chris Pusey 5.94
• Malcolm Corradine 5.50
• Mark DeKok 4.93
• Terry Tulloch 4.22
• Geoff Swindells 2.78

Workington

• Ian Hindle 6.65
• Ian Robertson 5.16
• Steve Regeling 4.51
• Des Wilson 4.51
• Wayne Jackson 4.43
• Mark Dickinson 4.06
• Terry Kelly 3.68
• Chris Roynon 3.50
• Kevin Clapham 3.45
• Andy Margarson 2.76

References

References

1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
2. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)".
3. Oakes, Peter. (1981). "Daily Mirror 1981 Speedway Yearbook, pages 101". Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd.
4. "About - Exeter Speedway 1980".
5. "Teams".
6. "1980 fixtures & results". Speedway Researcher.
7. "1980 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
8. "1980 KO cup final".
9. (1 October 1979). "Brown the King". Sunday Sun (Newcastle).
10. "1980 season results".
11. (20 July 1980). "Tigers pairs champs". Sunday Sun (Newcastle).
12. (28 July 1980). "Speedway". Daily Mirror.
13. Oakes, Peter. (1981). "1981 Speedway Yearbook". Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd.