The 1983 National League was the second tier of motorcycle speedway racing in the United Kingdom.[1]
League | National League |
---|---|
No. of competitors | 18 |
Champions | Newcastle Diamonds |
Knockout Cup | Exeter Falcons |
Individual | Steve McDermott |
Pairs | Weymouth Wildcats |
Fours | Newcastle Diamonds |
Highest average | Joe Owen |
Division/s above | 1983 British League |
The winning team was Newcastle Diamonds.[2][3][4]
After the tragedy of losing a rider the previous season Milton Keynes endured a second loss when their rider Craig Featherby was killed in a crash at Peterborough in a National League match on 16 September. Featherby hit a lamp standard after being thrown from the bike.[5]
Pos | Team | PL | W | D | L | Pts |
1 | Newcastle Diamonds | 34 | 25 | 1 | 8 | 51 |
2 | Mildenhall Fen Tigers | 34 | 23 | 2 | 9 | 48 |
3 | Crayford Kestrels | 34 | 23 | 0 | 11 | 46 |
4 | Weymouth Wildcats | 34 | 19 | 2 | 13 | 40 |
5 | Scunthorpe Stags | 34 | 19 | 2 | 13 | 40 |
6 | Milton Keynes Knights | 34 | 19 | 1 | 14 | 39 |
7 | Middlesbrough Tigers | 34 | 18 | 3 | 13 | 39 |
8 | Berwick Bandits | 34 | 17 | 0 | 17 | 34 |
9 | Edinburgh Monarchs | 34 | 16 | 1 | 17 | 33 |
10 | Exeter Falcons | 34 | 16 | 0 | 18 | 32 |
11 | Rye House Rockets | 34 | 15 | 1 | 18 | 31 |
12 | Peterborough Panthers | 34 | 14 | 2 | 18 | 30 |
13 | Glasgow Tigers | 34 | 14 | 1 | 19 | 29 |
14 | Oxford Cheetahs | 34 | 14 | 1 | 19 | 29 |
15 | Canterbury Crusaders | 34 | 12 | 2 | 20 | 26 |
16 | Boston Barracudas | 34 | 12 | 1 | 21 | 25 |
17 | Stoke Potters | 34 | 10 | 1 | 23 | 21 |
18 | Long Eaton Invaders | 34 | 9 | 1 | 24 | 19 |
Rider | Nat | Team | C.M.A. | |
1 | Joe Owen | Newcastle | 11.18 | |
2 | Martin Yeates | Weymouth | 10.41 | |
3 | Rod Hunter | Newcastle | 10.39 | |
4 | Bobby Beaton | Newcastle | 10.12 | |
5 | Jim McMillan | Glasgow | 10.03 |
The 1983 National League Knockout Cup was the 16th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Exeter Falcons were the winners of the competition.[6][7]
First round
Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
---|---|---|---|
19/04 | Crayford | 45-50 | Mildenhall |
17/04 | Mildenhall | 55-41 | Crayford |
01/04 | Oxford | 51-45 | Milton Keynes |
29/03 | Milton Keynes | 47-49 | Oxford |
Second round
Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
---|---|---|---|
22/06 | Long Eaton | 58-38 | Berwick |
09/06 | Oxford | 45-51 | Rye House |
05/06 | Berwick | 61-35 | Long Eaton |
27/05 | Peterborough | 57-39 | Mildenhall |
25/05 | Mildenhall | 58-38 | Peterborough |
23/05 | Newcastle | 61-35 | Scunthorpe |
22/05 | Rye House | 51-45 | Oxford |
22/05 | Scunthorpe | 43-53 | Newcastle |
20/05 | Edinburgh | 50-46 | Middlesbrough |
30/04 | Canterbury | 45-51 | Exeter |
24/04 | Boston | 45-51 | Weymouth |
22/04 | Glasgow | 62-34 | Stoke |
19/04 | Weymouth | 58-38 | Boston |
16/04 | Stoke | 55-41 | Glasgow |
14/04 | Middlesbrough | 55-41 | Edinburgh |
11/04 | Exeter | 70-26 | Canterbury |
Quarter-finals
Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
---|---|---|---|
15/08 | Exeter | 64-32 | Rye House |
14/08 | Rye House | 55-41 | Exeter |
23/07 | Berwick | 45-50 | Newcastle |
19/07 | Weymouth | 65-31 | Glasgow |
03/07 | Mildenhall | 67-25 | Middlesbrough |
27/06 | Newcastle | 53-42 | Berwick |
11/06 | Glasgow | 41-54 | Weymouth |
09/06 | Middlesbrough | 47-49 | Mildenhall |
Semi-finals
Date | Team one | Score | Team two |
---|---|---|---|
02/10 | Mildenhall | 66-30 | Exeter |
12/09 | Exeter | 74-21 | Mildenhall |
12/09 | Newcastle | 54-42 | Weymouth |
02/08 | Weymouth | 55-41 | Newcastle |
First leg
Exeter Falcons Kevin Price 10 Rob Maxfield 9 Keith Millard 9 Steve Bishop 8 Rob Ashton 7 Bob Coles 6 Alun Rossiter 3 | 52 – 43 | Weymouth Wildcats Martin Yeates 13 Steve Schofield 10 Simon Cross 9 Stan Bear 9 Gordon Humphreys 1 Chris Martin 1 David Biles 0 |
---|---|---|
[8] |
Second leg
Weymouth Wildcats Steve Schofield 15 Martin Yeates 12 Simon Cross 11 Stan Bear 6 Gordon Humphreys 3 David Biles 3 Chris Martin 2 | 52 – 44 | Exeter Falcons Rob Ashton 10 Alun Rossiter 10 Keith Millard 9 Bob Coles 7 Rob Maxfield 5 Kevin Price 2 Steve Bishop 1 |
---|---|---|
[8] |
Exeter were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 96–95.
Steve McDermott won the Riders' Championship, sponsored by the FSO Cars and held at Wimbledon Stadium on 24 September 1983.[9]
Pos. | Rider | Pts | Total |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Steve McDermott | 3 2 3 3 2 | 13+3 |
2 | Richard Knight | 2 3 3 2 3 | 13+2 |
3 | Martin Yeates | 3 2 1 3 3 | 12 |
4 | Marvyn Cox | 3 3 2 3 0 | 11 |
5 | Steve Wilcock | f 3 1 3 3 | 10 |
6 | Dave Perks | 2 0 2 2 2 | 8 |
7 | Dave Trownson | 0 1 3 1 2 | 7 |
8 | Keith Millard | 3 2 0 2 0 | 7 |
9 | Nigel Crabtree | 0 3 2 1 1 | 7 |
10 | Joe Owen | 2 ef 3 2 fexc | 7 |
11 | Barney Kennett | 1 1 2 1 1 | 6 |
12 | Jim McMillan | 2 2 0 1 0 | 5 |
13 | Barry Thomas | 1 1 1 0 1 | 4 |
14 | Tom Owen | 0 1 1 0 2 | 4 |
15 | Keith White | 0 0 0 0 3 | 3 |
16 | Nigel Sparshott | 1 0 0 0 0 | 1 |
The National League Pairs was held at Hyde Road on 4 June and was won by Weymouth Wildcats for the second consecutive season.[10]
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Semi finals
Final
Newcastle Diamonds won the fours championship final for the second successive year, held at the East of England Arena on 24 July.[11]
Semi finals
Final
Pos | Team | Pts | Riders |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Newcastle Diamonds | 21 | Emerson 6, Hunter 5, Owen 5, Scarisbrick 3, Beaton 2 |
2 | Mildenhall Fen Tigers | 17 | Knight 5, Harrison 5, Baldwin 4, Henry 3 |
3 | Milton Keynes Knights | 6 | Pendlebury 2, White 1, Clarke 1, McKinna 1, Mallett 1 |
4 | Long Eaton Invaders | 4 | Perks 2, Molyneux 1, Stead 1, Frankland 0, Evitts 0 |
Rider | Team | Average |
---|---|---|
Joe Owen | Newcastle | 11.10 |
Rod Hunter | Newcastle | 10.51 |
Martin Yeates | Weymouth | 10.39 |
Bobby Beaton | Newcastle | 10.20 |
Steve Lawson | Glasgow | 10.00 |
Jim McMillan | Glasgow | 9.85 |
Marvyn Cox | Rye House | 9.83 |
Barry Thomas | Crayford | 9.69 |
Steve Wilcock | Middlesbrough | 9.48 |
Steve McDermott | Berwick | 9.43 |
Bob Garrad | Rye House | 9.28 |
Berwick
Boston
Canterbury
Crayford
Edinburgh
Exeter
Glasgow
Long Eaton
Middlesbrough
Mildenhall
Milton Keynes
Newcastle
Oxford
Peterborough
Rye House
Scunthorpe
Stoke
Weymouth