1977 National League season

1977 National League season

League	National League
No. of competitors	19
Champions	Eastbourne Eagles
Knockout Cup	Eastbourne Eagles
Individual	Colin Richardson
Pairs	Boston Barracudas
Fours	Peterborough Panthers
Highest average	Tom Owen
Division/s above	1977 British League

The 1977 National League was contested as the second division of Speedway in the United Kingdom.[1][2]

Summary

Newport had moved down from the British League. Their riders were transferred to Bristol Bulldogs but they acquired new riders and were renamed Newport Dragons. Paisley Lions dropped out so the league had 19 teams, the same as the previous season. Part way through the season, Coatbridge Tigers relocated and changed name to Glasgow Tigers after being kicked out of Cliftonhill.[3]

Eastbourne Eagles won the National League title, completing a league and cup double.[4][5] Eastbournes's star rider was Colin Richardson, who won the Riders' Championship and averaged 10.70 for the season. He was backed up by Mike Sampson, who also surpassed a 10 average and Dave Kennett (8.37 average) and a member of Eastbourne's 1971 winning team.[6]

Joe Owen, the leading rider of 1976 had moved from champions Newcastle Diamonds to join British League side Hull Vikings. Newcastle were unable to compensate for the loss and finished in 6th place, despite Joe's brother Tom Owen finishing top of the averages.[6]

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Eastbourne Eagles	36	29	0	7	58
2	Rye House Rockets	36	24	3	9	51
3	Ellesmere Port Gunners	36	22	2	12	46
4	Canterbury Crusaders	36	23	0	13	46
5	Peterborough Panthers	36	22	0	14	44
6	Newcastle Diamonds	36	21	1	14	43
7	Boston Barracudas	36	20	0	16	40
8	Mildenhall Fen Tigers	36	16	4	16	36
9	Teesside Tigers	36	17	1	18	35
10	Crayford Kestrels	36	17	0	19	34
11	Glasgow Tigers	36	16	0	20	32
12	Newport Dragons	36	16	0	20	32
13	Oxford Cheetahs	36	15	1	20	31
14	Scunthorpe Saints	36	15	1	20	31
15	Edinburgh Monarchs	36	15	0	21	30
16	Workington Comets	36	14	1	21	29
17	Weymouth Wizards	36	11	3	22	25
18	Berwick Bandits	36	11	1	24	23
19	Stoke Potters	36	9	0	27	18

Top Five Riders (League Averages)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Tom Owen		Newcastle	11.01
2	Colin Richardson		Eastbourne	10.70
3	Martin Yeates		Oxford	10.59
4	John Jackson		Ellesmere Port	10.22
5	Mike Sampson		Eastbourne	10.18

National League Knockout Cup

The 1977 National League Knockout Cup was the tenth edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Eastbourne Eagles were the winners of the competition.[7]

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
03/04	Eastbourne	55-23	Canterbury
23/04	Canterbury	26-52	Eastbourne
14/04	Oxford	44-34	Rye House
17/04	Rye House	44-34	Oxford
22/04	Edinburgh	48-30	Scunthorpe
25/04	Scunthorpe	43-34	Edinburgh
02/06 replay	Oxford	45-32	Rye House
29/05 replay	Rye House	42-36	Oxford

Second round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
15/05	Eastbourne	54-23	Crayford
03/05	Crayford	35-43	Eastbourne
22/05	Newcastle	49-29	Glasgow
29/04	Glasgow	47-30	Newcastle
17/05	Ellesmere Port	46-32	Workington
03/06	Workington	42-36	Ellesmere Port
12/06	Oxford	50-28	Newport
23/06	Newport	41-37	Oxford
28/05	Berwick	46-32	Teesside
02/06	Teesside	44-34	Berwick
27/05	Edinburgh	44-34	Stoke
21/05	Stoke	40-38	Edinburgh
22/05	Boston	43-34	Weymouth
24/05	Weymouth	35-43	Boston
20/05	Peterborough	44-34	Mildenhall
22/05	Mildenhall	38-40	Peterborough

Quarter-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
10/07	Eastbourne	54-24	Newcastle
08/08	Newcastle	34-43	Eastbourne
26/07	Ellesmere Port	46½-31½	Oxford
14/07	Oxford	37-41	Ellesmere Port
25/06	Berwick	46-32	Edinburgh
15/07	Edinburgh	41-37	Berwick
17/07	Boston	45-33	Peterborough
01/07	Peterborough	40-38	Boston

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
25/09	Eastbourne	57-21	Ellesmere Port
02/09	Ellesmere Port	50-28	Eastbourne
27/08	Berwick	45-33	Boston
19/08	Boston	38-40	Berwick

Final

First leg

8 October 1977

Berwick Bandits Willie Templeton 9 Graham Jones 9 Dave Gifford 7 Mike Hiftle 6 Wayne Brown 5 Robin Adlington 4 Colin Caffrey 1	41 – 37	Eastbourne Eagles Colin Richardson 13 Mike Sampson 11 Steve Naylor 7 Eric Dugard 5 Paul Woods 1 Roger Abel 0 Dave Kennett 0
	[8]

Shielfield Park

Second leg

23 October 1977

Eastbourne Eagles Colin Richardson 12 Mike Sampson 11 Steve Naylor 9 Eric Dugard 9 Dave Kennett 7 Roger Abel 7 Paul Woods 6	61 – 16	Berwick Bandits Brendan Shilleto (guest) 6 Graham Jones 5 Willie Templeton 2 Mike Hiftle 2 Ian Darling 1 Dave Gifford 0 Colin Caffrey 0
	[8]

Arlington Stadium

Eastbourne were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 98–57.

Riders' Championship

Colin Richardson won the Riders' Championship, sponsored by Gauloises and held at Wimbledon Stadium on 24 September.[9]

Pos.	Rider	Pts	Total
1	Colin Richardson	3 3 3 3 3	15
2	Martin Yeates	3 3 2 3 2	13+3
3	Tom Owen	3 3 3 3 1	13+2
4	Kelvin Mullarkey	3 2 3 2 2	12
5	Rob Hollingworth	2 3 1 2 3	11
6	John Jackson	2 3 1 2 3	10
7	Steve Koppe	1 2 1 2 3	9
8	Laurie Etheridge	2 1 0 2 2	7
9	Stuart Mountford	0 0 2 1 2	5
10	Bert Harkins	1 1 1 1 1	5
11	Alan Emerson	0 0 0 1 3	4
12	Danny Kennedy	0 2 2 0 ex	4
13	Brian Woodward	2 0 1 1 0	4
14	Brian Collins	0 1 2 0 0	3
15	Bob Coles	1 1 0 ef 0	3
16	Steve Lawson	1 0 f 0 1	2
17	Ian Clark (res)	0	0

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

Pairs

The National League Pairs was held at Hyde Road on 4 June and was won by Boston Barracudas.[10]

Group A Pos Team Pts Riders 1 Oxford 10 Yeates 9 Handley 1 2 Eastbourne 9 Richardson 5 Dugard 4 3 Weymouth 9 Kennedy 6 Harding 3 4 Mildenhall 8 Coles 7 Gibbons 1

Group B Pos Team Pts Riders 1 Canterbury 12 Koppe 6 Banks 6 2 Stoke 10 Mountford 6 Nunan 4 3 Workington 10 Lawson 8 Havelock 2 4 Berwick 4 Jones 3 Gifford 1

Group C Pos Team Pts Riders 1 Newport 13 Brett 8 Woodward 5 2 Ellesmere P 12 Jackson 9 Finch 3 3 Newcastle 8 Owen T 4 Henderson 4 4 Edinburgh 3 Millen 2 Harkins 1

Group D Pos Team Pts Riders 1 Boston 13 Hollingworth 8 Cook 5 2 Coatbridge 13 Collins B 8 Dawson 5 3 Peterborough 7 Clark I 5 Couzens 2 4 Teesside 2 Wilcock 2 Emerson 0

Semi finals

• Boston bt Canterbury
• Newport bt Oxford

Final

• Boston bt Newport

Fours

Peterborough won the fours championship final, held at the East of England Arena on 7 August.[11][12]

Semi finals

• SF1 = Eastbourne 21, Stoke 12, Ellesmere Port 8, Boston 7
• SF2 = Canterbury 18, Peterborough 14, Newcastle 9, Oxford 7

Final

Pos	Team	Pts	Riders
1	Peterborough Panthers	17	Clark I 6, Hawkins 5, Hines 5, Flatman 1, Clark B 0
2	Canterbury Crusaders	14	Banks 6, Koppe 3, Spelta 3, Kennett 2
3	Eastbourne Eagles	13	Richardson 5, Sampson 5, Dugard 2, Abel 1
4	Stoke Potters	4	Mountford 2, Nunan 1, Gledhill 1, Robertson 0

Leading final averages

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Tom Owen		Newcastle	10.82
2	Colin Richardson		Eastbourne	10.63
3	Martin Yeates		Oxford	10.53
4	Mike Sampson		Eastbourne	10.09
5	John Jackson		Ellesmere Port	10.07

Riders & final averages

Berwick

• Graham Jones 7.85
• Robin Adlington 7.01
• Mike Hiftle 6.65
• Willie Templeton 5.76
• Dave Gifford 5.69
• Terry Kelly 4.44
• Keith Williams 4.00
• Noel Suckling 3.86
• Wayne Brown 3.85
• Colin Caffrey 3.47

Boston

• Rob Hollingworth 9.90
• Carl Glover 7.84
• Colin Cook 7.68
• Paul Gilbert 7.04
• Steve Clarke 6.48
• Billy Burton 6.27
• Dave Piddock 5.75
• Dave Allen 5.45
• Stuart Cope 5.37
• Ron Cooper 5.25

Canterbury

• Steve Koppe 8.83
• Graham Banks 8.29
• Les Rumsey 8.18
• Bob Spelta 7.37
• Barney Kennett 6.44
• Brendan Shiletto 6.09
• Terry Casserley 5.55
• Graham Clifton 4.66
• Brian Canning 4.32

Coatbridge/Glasgow

• Brian Collins 8.94
• Mick McKeon 7.95
• Grahame Dawson 7.65
• Rob Maxfield 7.13
• Derek Richardson 5.41
• Merv Janke 4.75
• Benny Rourke 4.57
• Jimmy Gallacher 4.35
• Nicky Hollingworth 2.87

Crayford

• Laurie Etheridge 9.41
• Alan Sage 8.63
• Colin Gooddy 8.53
• Alan Johns 5.47
• John Hooper 4.63
• Mike Bessant 4.18
• Richard Davey 4.17
• Garry May 3.78

Eastbourne

• Colin Richardson 10.63
• Mike Sampson 10.09
• Dave Kennett 8.37
• Eric Dugard 8.25
• Peter Jarman 7.50
• Roger Abel 7.32
• Paul Woods 6.85
• Steve Naylor 6.63

Edinburgh

• Bert Harkins 8.09
• Jack Millen 7.80
• Charlie Monk 7.31
• Steve McDermott 6.37
• Dave Trownson 6.15
• Colin Farquharson 5.75
• Alan Bridgett 4.58
• Alan Morrison 4.48
• Des Allen 3.53

Ellesmere Port

• John Jackson 10.07
• Steve Finch 8.83
• Dave Mortiboys 7.43
• Phil Collins 7.23
• Duncan Meredith 5.64
• James Moore 4.93
• John Williams 4.90
• Louis Carr 4.03
• Paul Sheard 3.20

Mildenhall

• Bob Coles 8.81
• Trevor Jones 7.05
• Robert Henry 6.66
• Mike Spink 6.40
• Mick Bates 6.22
• Neil Leeks 5.83
• John Gibbons 5.66
• Fred Mills 5.64
• Melvyn Taylor 4.63

Newcastle

• Tom Owen 10.82
• Robbie Blackadder 8.61
• Ron Henderson 7.72
• Phil Kynman 7.22
• Robbie Gardner 6.35
• Neil Coddington .06
• Phil Micheledies 4.75
• Eddie Argall 4.43
• Rob Maxfield 2.78
• Robin Dixon 2.19
• Nigel Crabtree 1.47

Newport

• Jim Brett 8.84
• Brian Woodward 8.31
• John Goodall 7.61
• Mike Broadbank 6.52
• Cliff Anderson 5.26
• Chris Robins 5.18
• Malc Bedkober 5.00
• Dave Shepherd 2.88

Oxford

• Martin Yeates 10.53
• Phil Bass 7.13
• Kevin Young 6.82
• Colin Meredith 6.71
• Brian Leonard 6.53
• Mick Handley .6.00
• Malcolm Holloway 5.90
• Pip Lamb 4.99
• Gerald Smitherman 3.83
• Richie Caulwell 3.31

Peterborough

• Andy Hines 7.83
• Ian Clark 7.47
• Kevin Hawkins 7.37
• Nigel Flatman 7.00
• Brian Clark 6.99
• Nigel Couzens 6.46
• Ken Matthews 6.26
• Peter Spink 4.33

Rye House

• Kelvin Mullarkey 9.14
• Ted Hubbard 9.02
• Bobby Garrad 8.07
• Hugh Saunders 7.32
• Karl Fiala 6.22
• Ashley Pullen 6.11
• Peter Tarrant 6.00
• Bob Cooper 4.79

Scunthorpe

• Nicky Allott 8.29
• Arthur Browning 7.69
• John McNeill 7.22
• Sid Sheldrick 5.86
• Dave Baugh 5.76
• Trevor Whiting 5.09
• Paul Cooper 4.80
• Phil White 4.75
• Danny Young 4.21

Stoke

• Stuart Mountford 8.15
• Tim Nunan 7.3
• Ian Gledhill 6.67
• Carl Askew 6.49
• Ian Robertson 6.26
• Mick Fishwick 5.65
• Steve McDermott 5.29
• Rob Dole 4.50
• Colin Farquharson 4.11
• Ian Jeffcoate 3.86
• Trevor Vincent/Charley 3.37

Teesside

• Alan Emerson 8.56
• Steve Wilcock 6.84
• Pete Reading 6.16
• Pete Smith 6.09
• Nigel Close 5.14
• Martyn Cusworth 4.95
• John Robson 4.80
• Mike Beaumont 4.67
• Harry Maclean 2.56

Weymouth

• Danny Kennedy 8.65
• Vic Harding 7.95
• Malcolm Corradine 7.91
• Chris Robins 6.14
• Sean Willmott 5.65
• Rob Jones 5.59
• Geoff Swindells 5.27
• Richard Evans 5.24
• Chris Julian 4.77
• Roger Stratton 4.58

Workington

• Steve Lawson 8.19
• Brian Havelock 7.82
• Mick Newton 6.47
• Ian Hindle 6.37
• Roger Wright 5.61
• Colin Goad 5.49
• Terry Kelly 4.65
• Mark Dickinson 3.14
• Chris Bevan 3.04
• Andy Reid 3.04

See also

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

References

1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
2. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
3. "Greyhounds beat Tigers". Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser. 10 February 1977. Retrieved 25 April 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
4. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
5. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 101. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
6. "Teams". wwosbackup. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
7. "1977 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
8. "1977 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
9. "Stuart's five". Staffordshire Sentinel. 26 September 1977. Retrieved 17 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
10. "1977 season results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
11. "Speedway". Lincolnshire Free Press. 9 August 1977. Retrieved 9 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
12. Oakes, Peter (1978). 1978 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 39. ISBN 978-0904584509.