The 1983 National League was the second tier of motorcycle speedway racing in the United Kingdom.
Summary Ellesmere Port Gunners dropped out of the league despite reaching the previous season's KO Cup final and assurances by promoter Richard Park that the team would continue racing at Thornton Road amidst rising costs.
The winning team was Newcastle Diamonds.Oakes, P.(2006). Speedway Star Almanac.
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.
Final table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Newcastle Diamonds 34 25 1 8 512 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 34 23 2 9 483 Crayford Kestrels 34 23 0 11 464 Weymouth Wildcats 34 19 2 13 405 Scunthorpe Stags 34 19 2 13 406 Milton Keynes Knights 34 19 1 14 397 Middlesbrough Tigers 34 18 3 13 398 Berwick Bandits 34 17 0 17 349 Edinburgh Monarchs 34 16 1 17 3310 Exeter Falcons 34 16 0 18 3211 Rye House Rockets 34 15 1 18 3112 Peterborough Panthers 34 14 2 18 3013 Glasgow Tigers 34 14 1 19 2914 Oxford Cheetahs 34 14 1 19 2915 Canterbury Crusaders 34 12 2 20 2616 Boston Barracudas 34 12 1 21 2517 Stoke Potters 34 10 1 23 2118 Long Eaton Invaders 34 9 1 24 19
Fixtures and results
Top five riders (league averages) 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
National League Knockout Cup 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.
First round Date Team one Score Team two19/04 Crayford 45-50 Mildenhall17/04 Mildenhall 55-41 Crayford01/04 Oxford 51-45 Milton Keynes29/03 Milton Keynes 47-49 Oxford Second round Date Team one Score Team two22/06 Long Eaton 58-38 Berwick09/06 Oxford 45-51 Rye House05/06 Berwick 61-35 Long Eaton27/05 Peterborough 57-39 Mildenhall25/05 Mildenhall 58-38 Peterborough23/05 Newcastle 61-35 Scunthorpe22/05 Rye House 51-45 Oxford22/05 Scunthorpe 43-53 Newcastle20/05 Edinburgh 50-46 Middlesbrough30/04 Canterbury 45-51 Exeter24/04 Boston 45-51 Weymouth22/04 Glasgow 62-34 Stoke19/04 Weymouth 58-38 Boston16/04 Stoke 55-41 Glasgow14/04 Middlesbrough 55-41 Edinburgh11/04 Exeter 70-26 Canterbury Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two15/08 Exeter 64-32 Rye House14/08 Rye House 55-41 Exeter23/07 Berwick 45-50 Newcastle19/07 Weymouth 65-31 Glasgow03/07 Mildenhall 67-25 Middlesbrough27/06 Newcastle 53-42 Berwick11/06 Glasgow 41-54 Weymouth09/06 Middlesbrough 47-49 Mildenhall Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two02/10 Mildenhall 66-30 Exeter12/09 Exeter 74-21 Mildenhall12/09 Newcastle 54-42 Weymouth02/08 Weymouth 55-41 Newcastle Final First leg
Second leg
Exeter were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 96–95.
Riders' Championship Steve McDermott won the Riders' Championship, sponsored by the FSO Cars and held at Wimbledon Stadium on 24 September 1983.
Pos. Rider Pts Total1 Steve McDermott 3 2 3 3 2 13+32 Richard Knight 2 3 3 2 3 13+23 Martin Yeates 3 2 1 3 3 124 Marvyn Cox 3 3 2 3 0 11 5 Steve Wilcock f 3 1 3 3 106 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 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 Weymouth Wildcats for the second consecutive season.
Group APosTeamPtsRiders1Newcastle 15Owen J 8Hunter 72Stoke 8Jackson 5Owen T 33Berwick7McDermott 6Cribb 14Scunthorpe 6Crabtree 6Hollingworth 0
Group BPosTeamPtsRiders1Glasgow 14McMillan 9Lawson 52Peterborough10Allen 6Pullen 43Middlesbrough9Wilcock 5Spink 44Canterbury3Mullarkey 3Kennett 0
Group CPosTeamPtsRiders1Weymouth 14Yeates 7Cross 72Crayford9Bosley 5Thomas 43Rye House6Cox 4Garrad 24Edinburgh5Fiora 5Hunter 0
Group DPosTeamPtsRiders1Mildenhall11Harrison 6Knight 52Boston9Lomas 6Gagen 33Milton K9McKinna 9White 04Long Eaton6Stead 6Molyneux 0
Semi finals Weymouth bt Newcastle Glasgow bt Mildenhall
Final Weymouth bt Glasgow
Fours Newcastle Diamonds won the fours championship final for the second successive year, held at the East of England Arena on 24 July.
Semi finals SF1 = Newcastle 15, Milton Keynes 13, Middlesbrough 13, Crayford 7 SF2 = Mildenhall 21, Long Eaton 11, Edinburgh 8, Weymouth 7
Final Pos TeamPts Riders1 Newcastle Diamonds 21 Emerson 6, Hunter 5, Owen 5, Scarisbrick 3, Beaton 22 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 17 Knight 5, Harrison 5, Baldwin 4, Henry 33 Milton Keynes Knights 6 Pendlebury 2, White 1, Clarke 1, McKinna 1, Mallett 14 Long Eaton Invaders 4 Perks 2, Molyneux 1, Stead 1, Frankland 0, Evitts 0
Final leading averages Rider Team Average Joe OwenNewcastle11.10 Rod HunterNewcastle10.51 Martin YeatesWeymouth10.39 Bobby BeatonNewcastle10.20 Steve LawsonGlasgow10.00 Jim McMillanGlasgow9.85 Marvyn CoxRye House9.83 Barry ThomasCrayford9.69 Steve WilcockMiddlesbrough9.48 Steve McDermottBerwick9.43 Bob GarradRye House9.28
Riders & final averages Berwick
Steve McDermott 9.43 Bruce Cribb 8.30 Brian Collins 6.33 Paul Thorp 6.20 Rob Grant Sr. 5.87 Mike Caroline 5.58 Phil Jeffrey 4.36 Robin Hampton 3.43
Boston
Steve Lomas 7.93 David Gagen 7.75 Billy Burton 6.40 Phil Alderman 5.67 David Blackburn 5.21 Dennis Mallett 4.94 Peter Framingham 4.37 Pete Chapman 4.31 Guy Wilson 3.92 Michael Holding 2.83
Canterbury
Denzil Kent 8.20 Barney Kennett 7.56 Kelvin Mullarkey 7.43 Andy Hibbs 6.70 Jamie Luckhurst 6.27 Dave Mullett 5.66 Laurie Etheridge 5.54 Kevin Brice 5.47 Keith Pritchard 4.91
Crayford
Barry Thomas 9.69 Paul Bosley 7.88 Kevin Teager 7.56 Andy Galvin 6.72 Alan Sage 6.63 Alan Mogridge 6.59 Trevor Banks 6.46
Edinburgh
Dave Trownson 8.74 Mark Fiora 7.77 Brett Saunders 7.44 George Hunter 6.96 Chris Turner 6.90 Roger Lambert 6.10 Glyn Taylor 6.07 Sean Courtney 4.68 Chris Kelly 2.83 Scott Cook 2.35
Exeter
Keith Millard 8.73 Rob Maxfield 7.88 Rob Ashton 7.35 Alun Rossiter 7.12 Steve Bishop 7.03 Kevin Price 6.28 Bob Coles 5.74
Glasgow
Steve Lawson 10.00 Jimmy McMillan 9.85 Kenny McKinna 9.00 Andy Reid 8.23 Colin Caffrey 5.64 David Cassels 4.95 Jim Beaton 4.00 Martin McKinna 3.74 Geoff Powell 3.57 Miles Evans 3.40 David Walsh 2.88
Long Eaton
Dave Perks 8.14 Alan Molyneux 8.09 Paul Stead 7.86 Paul Evitts 5.64 John Frankland 5.21 Mark Stevenson 4.63 Nicky Allot 3.50 David Tyler 2.58 John Proctor 1.18
Middlesbrough
Steve Wilcock 9.48 Mike Spink 8.66 Geoff Pusey 6.72 Brian Havelock 6.16 Rob Woffinden 5.92 Paul Price 5.48 Ashley Norton 4.77 Peter Nightingale 2.98 Mark Crang 2.88
Mildenhall
Derek Harrison 9.22 Richard Knight 8.98 Carl Baldwin 8.23 Robert Henry 7.00 Carl Blackbird 6.42 Dave Jackson 4.78 Andy Warne 4.11 Ian Farnham 2.34 Rob Parish 1.80
Milton Keynes
Craig Featherby 8.66 Keith White 8.56 Steve Payne 8.51 Charlie McKinna 7.84 Chris Pidcock 6.09 Paul Clarke 5.57 Dennis Mallett 5.02 Peter Framingham 5.00 Steve Mildoon 2.78 Rob Wall 2.37
Newcastle
Joe Owen 11.10 Rod Hunter 10.51 Bobby Beaton 10.20 Alan Emerson 7.20 Martin Scarisbrick 5.74 Bernie Collier 3.60 Dave Wild 3.05 Lawrie Bloomfield 2.52 Paul McHale 2.47 Neal Barnsley 1.80 Greg DeKok 1.63
Oxford
Nigel Sparshott 8.06 Graham Drury 7.79 Ian Clark 7.28 Mike Wilding 7.13 Kevin Smart 6.35 Wayne Jackson 5.40 Nigel De'ath 5.36 Steve Crockett 4.71 Mark Summerfield 4.17 Mark Chessell 1.65
Peterborough
Ashley Pullen 8.74 Dave Allen 8.09 Mick Hines 7.22 Ian Barney 6.53 Andy Buck 6.44 Mike Spinks 5.37 Neil Cotton 4.89 Dale Watson 2.36
Rye House
Marvyn Cox 9.83 Bobby Garrad 9.28 Steve Naylor 8.00 Peter Johns 7.03 Kerry Gray 5.73 Steve Bryenton 5.70 Andrew Silver 4.69 Kevin Bowen 4.60 Chris Chaplin 2.89 Terry Broadbank 2.87 John Barclay 1.27
Scunthorpe
Nigel Crabtree 9.10 Andy Fisher 7.59 Rob Hollingworth 7.15 Craig Pendlebury 6.91 Julian Parr 6.56 Derek Richardson 6.28 Ian Gibson 5.68 Kevin Armitage 5.29 Mark DeKok 4.00
Stoke
Tom Owen 8.98 Pete Smith 7.35 John Jackson 6.66 Ian Robertson 5.16 Gary O'Hare 4.91 Jim Burdfield 4.80 Steve Sant 3.95 Gary Johnson 3.00 Richie Owen 2.60
Weymouth
Martin Yeates 10.39 Steve Schofield 8.97 Simon Cross 8.35 Stan Bear 7.18 Rob Mather 5.83 Gordon Humphreys 4.40 Chris Martin 4.11 David Biles 2.87 Ian Humphreys 2.17
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References