The 1980 National League was contested as the second division of Speedway in the United Kingdom.
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 Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Rye House Rockets 38 31 0 7 622 Newcastle Diamonds 38 30 1 7 613 Middlesbrough Tigers 38 27 2 9 564 Berwick Bandits 38 24 1 13 495 Edinburgh Monarchs 38 23 2 13 486 Boston Barracudas 38 23 2 13 487 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 38 21 2 15 448 Peterborough Panthers 38 21 0 17 429 Crayford Kestrels 37 20 1 16 4110 Ellesmere Port Gunners 38 20 1 17 4111 Glasgow Tigers 38 19 2 17 4012 Exeter Falcons 38 17 1 20 3513 Scunthorpe Stags 38 15 1 22 3114 Nottingham Outlaws 38 14 2 22 3015 Oxford Cheetahs 38 14 1 23 2916 Stoke Potters 38 14 0 24 2817 Weymouth Wildcats 37 13 1 23 2718 Canterbury Crusaders 38 10 4 24 2419 Milton Keynes Knights 38 8 2 28 1820 Workington Comets 38 2 0 36 4
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 Date Team one Score Team two03/05 Berwick 52-26 Newcastle28/04 Newcastle 41-37 Berwick25/05 Mildenhall 45-33 Rye House26/05 Rye House 44-34 Mildenhall04/05 Boston 54-24 Stoke05/05 Stoke 27-51 Boston
Second round Date Team one Score Team two07/06 Berwick 46-32 Ellesmere Port13/06 Ellesmere Port 42-36 Berwick23/05 Edinburgh 42-34 Glasgow25/05 Glasgow 40-37 Edinburgh01/06 Mildenhall 46-32 Nottingham18/06 Nottingham 37-41 Mildenhall07/06 Canterbury 44-33 Milton Keynes10/06 Milton Keynes 40-38 Canterbury19/06 Middlesbrough 51-27 Scunthorpe29/06 Scunthorpe 37-40 Middlesbrough05/06 Oxford 40-37 Weymouth27/06 Weymouth 40-38 Oxford08/06 Boston 59-19 Workington11/07 Workington 26-52 Boston13/06 Peterborough 42-25 Crayford22/07 Crayford 41-37 Peterborough
Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two20/07 Berwick 47-31 Edinburgh18/07 Edinburgh 39-39 Berwick23/07 Mildenhall 51-27 Canterbury26/07 Canterbury 44-34 Mildenhall24/07 Middlesbrough 45-33 Oxford06/08 Oxford 32-46 Middlesbrough31/08 Boston 50-27 Peterborough12/09 Peterborough 39-39 Boston
Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two06/09 Berwick 52-26 Mildenhall07/09 Mildenhall 41-37 Berwick18/09 Middlesbrough 54-24 Boston05/10 Boston 42-36 Middlesbrough
Final First leg
Second leg
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.
Pos. Rider Pts Total1 Wayne Brown 3 3 3 3 2142 Martin Yeates 2 1 3 3 3 123 Steve Finch 2 2 2 3 3 124 Gary Guglielmi 3 0 3 1 3 105 Paul Woods 2 3 3 2 10 6 Mike Ferreira 3 1 2 2 2 107 Mike Sampson 3 2 2 2 1 108 Rob Maxfield 0 3 0 2 3 8 9 Rod Hunter 1 1 3 1 6 10 Kelvin Mullarkey 1 2 1 1 1 6 11 Steve Wilcock 2 0 0 2 1 5 12 Andy Hines 1 1 2 1 0 5 13 Phil White 1 0 1 1 2 5 14 Ray Bales 3 1 0 4 15 Derek Harrison 0 2 0 0 0 2 16 Graham Knowler 1 0 0 0 1 17 Keith Yorke 0 0 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.
Group APosTeamPtsRiders1Middlesbrough 11Wilcock 6Courtney 52Ellesmere P10Finch 5Jackson 53Rye House9Garrad 7Mullarkey 24Weymouth 6 Woodward 6Yeates 0
Group BPosTeamPtsRiders1Boston13Guglielmi 7Hollingworth 62Canterbury9Ferreira 5Hubbard 43Oxford9Perks 9Hack 04Edinburgh5Trownson 3Lambert 2
Group CPosTeamPtsRiders1Crayford 12Naylor 8Woods 42Exeter9Maxfield 7Boocock 23Berwick9Close 6Brown 34Scunthorpe6Browning 3White 3
Group DPosTeamPtsRiders1Peterborough11Hines 6Greer 52Newcastle11Richardson 6Blackadder 53Mildenhall7Henry 4Gledhill 24Glasgow 7Lawson 5Reid 2
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 Pos TeamPts Riders1 Crayford Kestrels 14 Rumsey 7, Woods 4, Naylor 3, Sage 0, Etheridge 02 Rye House Rockets 13 Garrad 4 Mullarkey 4, Smith 3, Pullen 2, Fiala 03 Ellesmere Port Gunners 12 Carr L 5, Jackson 3, Carr P 2, Finch 2, Ellams 04 Stoke Potters 9 Burton 6, Sawyer 2, Boyle 1, Stead 0, Evitts 0
Leading final averages Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Dave Perks Oxford Cheetahs 10.82 2 Paul Woods Crayford Kestrels 10.47 3 Mike Ferreira Canterbury Crusaders 10.32 4 Steve Wilcock Middlesbrough Tigers 10.28 5 Steve Lawson Glasgow Tigers 10.17
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
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References