The 1990 National League was the 16th since its establishment as a second tier in 1975, a renamed British League Division Two, and the last before it was again renamed British League Division Two.
Summary The league was initially supposed to run with 18 teams - however, Mildenhall Fen Tigers were unable to form a team to the 42-point minimum average limit, and were expelled on March 22, 1990. Matches were once again run over a 16-heat formula, with seven riders per team.
Poole Pirates were again champions, and stepped up into British League Division One for the 1991 season.
League table
Pos Club M Home Away F A Pts W D L W D L1 Poole Pirates321600130317791224582 Middlesbrough Bears32160062817011367463 Ipswich Witches32132190716741387464 Glasgow Tigers32130360101643.51419,5385 Hackney Kestrels321303601016081451386 Berwick Bandits32150131121575.51483.5377 Wimbledon Dons321213421013761469358 Stoke Potters321105511015731489339 Exeter Falcons3214021114157614893110 Peterborough Panthers3213032014145616133011 Eastbourne Eagles3212043013142616363012 Newcastle Diamonds32110530131478.51586.52813 Edinburgh Monarchs32101520141520.51539.52514 Arena Essex Hammers329153013138016742515 Rye House Rockets327091015138616721616 Long Eaton Invaders327270016137216971617 Milton Keynes Knights32501110151286177012 M = Meetings; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; F = Race points for; A = Race points against; Pts = Total Points
Fixtures and results
National League Knockout Cup The 1990 National League Knockout Cup was the 23rd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Poole Pirates were the winners of the competition.
First round Date Team one Score Team two14/04 Berwick 62-33 Long Eaton11/04 Long Eaton 57-39 Berwick Second round Date Team one Score Team two21/07 Berwick 50-44 Poole27/06 Wimbledon 62-33 Exeter15/06 Hackney 64-32 Eastbourne10/06 Eastbourne 40-56 Hackney10/06 Rye House 51-45 Milton Keynes07/06 Middlesbrough 51-44 Edinburgh05/06 Milton Keynes 56-39 Rye House05/06 Poole 56-40 Berwick04/06 Exeter 61-35 Wimbledon03/06 Edinburgh 51-45 Middlesbrough03/06 Glasgow 54-41 Ipswich03/06 Newcastle 61-35 Arena Essex02/06 Arena Essex 41-55 Newcastle02/06 Stoke 65-31 Peterborough01/06 Peterborough 48-48 Stoke31/05 Ipswich 60-36 Glasgow Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two21/08 Poole 62-33 Hackney10/08 Hackney 47-48 Poole29/07 Newcastle 54-41 Ipswich21/07 Stoke 51-45 Wimbledon19/07 Middlesbrough 69-27 Milton Keynes18/07 Wimbledon 57-37 Stoke17/07 Milton Keynes 40-56 Middlesbrough19/07 Ipswich 61-35 Newcastle Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two30/08 Ipswich47-49 Poole28/08 Poole 60-36 Ipswich23/08 Middlesbrough 69-27 Wimbledon22/08 Wimbledon 36-59 Middlesbrough Final
First leg
Second leg
Poole were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 107–85.
Riders' Championship Andy Grahame won the Riders' Championship. The final sponsored by Jawa Moto & Barum was held on 15 September at Brandon Stadium.
Pos. Rider Pts Total1 Andy Grahame 2 3 3 3 3 142 Chris Louis 3 2 2 3 3 133 Craig Boyce 3 3 2 3 0 11+34 David Bargh 2 3 3 1 2 11+2 5 Steve Regeling 1 2 3 2 2 106 Steve Schofield 3 1 2 1 2 97 Les Collins 3 0 r 2 3 88 Martin Goodwin 2 1 1 3 1 8 9 Eric Monaghan 1 1 3 2 1 810 Rod Hunter 2 3 0 0 1 6 11 David Walsh f f 2 0 3 5 12 Richard Hellsen 1 2 1 1 1 6 13 Shane Bowes 1 2 fex 1 2 6 14 Gordon Kennett 0 1 1 2 0 4 15 Mick Poole fex r 1 0 0 1 16 Jens Rasmussen r - - - - 0 17 Andy Meredith (res) 0 0 018 Lee Coleman (res) 0 0 0 f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure t=touched tapes
Pairs The National League Pairs Championship was held at Shawfield Stadium Glasgow on 17 June. The event was won by Hackney Kestrels.
Group APosTeamPtsRiders1Hackney18 SchofieldGalvin2 Ipswich 153Poole 104 Rye House 9
Group BPosTeamPtsRiders1Newcastle17 BarghCarr P2Long Eaton15 Hellsen 11Smart 43Wimbledon 12 4Arena Essex 10
Group CPosTeamPtsRiders1Exeter 18 Regeling 11Jeffrey 72Stoke 18 Crabtree 10Carr L 83 Peterborough 11 4 Eastbourne5
Group DPosTeamPtsRiders1 Middlesbrough 19 2 Berwick 14 3 Edinburgh 124 Glasgow 9
Semi finals Hackney bt Middlesbrough Exeter bt Newcastle
Final Hackney bt Exeter
Fours Stoke won the Fours championship final, held at the East of England Showground on 22 July.
Semi finals SF1 = Ipswich 16, Stoke 11, Wimbledon 11, Glasgow 10 SF2 = Poole 16, Hackney 13, Berwick 10, Middlesbrough 9
Final Pos TeamPts Riders1 Stoke 16 Monaghan 6, Carr 5, Crabtree 4, Cobby 1 Carlson 02 Poole 13Rossiter 5, Langdon 4, Boyce 3, Allan 13 Hackney 10Schofield 5, Galvin 3, Whittaker 2, Tagg 04 Ipswich 9Louis 4, Parker 2, Standing 2, Mogridge 1
Final leading averages The top ten rider averages in the National League as of October 31, 1990: RiderAverageTeam1 Steve Schofield10.51Hackney2 Craig Boyce10.45Poole3 Steve Regeling10.20Exeter4 Chris Louis10.19Ipswich5 Rod Hunter9.93Middlesbrough6 David Bargh 9.72Newcastle7 Mick Poole9.58Peterborough8 Andy Grahame9.40Wimbledon9 Jens Rasmussen9.36Rye House10 Andy Galvin9.27Hackney
Riders & final averages Arena Essex
Martin Goodwin 8.85 Rob Tilbury 8.09 Wayne Garratt 5.77 Troy Pratt 5.65 Kevin Brice 4.95 Adrian Stevens 4.48 Simon Wolstenholme 4.31 Kevin Teager 3.88 Robert Ledwith 2.86
Berwick
Mark Courtney 8.67 David Walsh 8.62 David Blackburn 7.87 Andy Campbell 6.39 Alan Rivett 6.04 Rob Grant Sr. 5.89 Scott Robson 5.77 Kevin Little 3.80 Steve Widt 3.47
Eastbourne
Gordon Kennett 8.94 Andy Buck 6.99 Tony Primmer 6.49 Paul Woods 6.24 Darren Standing 5.76 Brian Nixon 5.52 Keith Pritchard 5.52 Justin Walker 4.82 Darren Grayling 4.12
Edinburgh
Les Collins 8.76 Frede Schott 7.81 Carl Blackbird 7.14 Brett Saunders 6.98 Michael Coles 6.09 Scott Lamb 5.59 Mick Powell 4.02 Nigel Alderton 2.75
Exeter
Steve Regeling 10.20 Peter Jeffery 7.71 Richard Green 7.68 Colin Cook 6.61 Andy Sell 5.73 Steve Bishop 5.19 Mark Simmonds 4.79 Ian Barney 3.86
Glasgow
Steve Lawson 8.83 Kenny McKinna 8.54 Shane Bowes 8.42 Charlie McKinna 6.68 Sean Courtney 6.58 Phil Jeffrey 5.87 Jason Lyons 5.79 Geoff Powell 3.57 Martin McKinna 3.04
Hackney
Steve Schofield .10.51 Andy Galvin 9.27 Paul Whittaker 8.18 Gary Tagg 5.96 Michael Warren 5.45 Dave Hamnett 4.41 Tim Korneliussen 3.96 Shawn Venables 3.80 Ian Humphreys 2.91
Ipswich
Chris Louis 10.18 David Norris 8.30 Dean Standing 8.02 Alan Mogridge 7.81 Shane Parker 6.45 Robbie Fuller 5.07 Colin White 2.53 Craig Hyde 2.47
Long Eaton
Richard Hellsen 8.43 Nigel De'ath 6.91 Kevin Smart 6.03 Paul Fry 6.02 Jon Surman 4.63 Gary O'Hare 4.60 Peter Lloyd 4.20
Middlesbrough
Rod Hunter 9.93 Daz Sumner 8.62 David Cheshire 7.42 Jamie Luckhurst .7.36 Steve Wilcock 7.32 Paul Bentley 7.26 Duncan Chapman 3.62 Dave Edwards 3.41
Milton Keynes
Peter Glanz 7.24 Jonathan Cooper 6.00 Mark Blackbird 5.52 David Clarke 5.47 Trevor Banks 5.45 Mark Lyndon 5.33 Andy Hines 5.03 Rob Woffinden 4.59 Thierry Hilaire 3.68
Newcastle
David Bargh 9.72 Peter Carr 8.35 Martin Dixon 7.40 Simon Green 5.97 Mark Thorpe 5.37 Ian Stead 4.42 Paul Smith 3.95 Spencer Timmo 2.60 John Wainwright 2.46
Peterborough
Mick Poole 9.58 Craig Hodgson 8.04 Frank Andersen 7.83 Scott Norman 6.91 Ian Barney 6.72 Nigel Flatman 5.77 Mark Lyndon 4.46 Wayne Bridgeford 3.70 Sean Barker 2.98
Poole
Craig Boyce 10.44 Tom P. Knudsen 8.72 Alun Rossiter 8.64 Tony Langdon 8.23 Gary Allan 7.51 Gary Chessell 6.87 Rod Colquhoun 5.73 Steve Langdon 4.38
Rye House
Jens Rasmussen 9.36 Melvyn Taylor 8.86 Glen Baxter 7.70 Roger Johns 6.08 Jamie Fagg 5.71 Trevor O'Brien 5.39 Scott Humphries 4.69 Wayne Baxter 3.56 Nigel Sparshott 3.14 Kelvin Mullarkey 2.81 Wayne Bridgeford 2.62 Linden Warner 2.26
Stoke
Eric Monaghan 9.00 Nigel Crabtree 8.78 Louis Carr 8.28 Chris Cobby 5.74 Mark Pearce 4.83 Rob Woffinden 4.61 David Clarke 4.00 Mark Carlson 1.88 Richard Davidson 1.88
Wimbledon
Andy Grahame 9.40 Nathan Simpson 8.00 Ray Morton 7.52 Neville Tatum 7.38 Nigel Leaver 5.41 Pete Chapman 4.99 Deon Prinsloo 3.48 Justin Pryor 3.34
See also Speedway in the United Kingdom List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
References