1929 Speedway English Dirt Track League
LeagueEnglish Dirt Track League
No. of competitors11
ChampionsLeeds
Knockout CupPreston
Highest averageSyd Jackson
Division/s other1929 Southern League

The 1929 English Dirt Track League was the inaugural season of speedway in the United Kingdom for Northern English teams.[1] There was also a Southern League called the 1929 Speedway Southern League that started during the same year.[2][3][4]

Summary

The season was littered with mid-season withdrawals but eventually the Leeds were crowned champions. In 1930, the league was renamed the Northern League so the league existed for just one year. White City Speedway (Manchester) withdrew from the league after a dispute[5] and would have been crowned champions if they had not done so because they were leading the table at the time by four points, having won 18 of their 20 matches.[6]

Dennis Atkinson suffered critical injuries on 12 July 1929, following an accident at Cleveland Park Stadium riding in a Golden Helmet meeting. He died the following day.[7]

Final table

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Leeds 20 16 1 3 33
2 Preston 20 14 0 6 28
3 Halifax 19 12 1 6 25
4 Newcastle 20 10 0 10 20
5 Salford 20 10 0 10 20
6 Rochdale 20 9 1 19 19
7 Leicester Stadium 20 9 0 11 18
8 Liverpool 18 8 0 10 16
9 Sheffield 20 6 1 13 13
10 Middlesbrough 19 6 0 13 12
11 Barnsley Lundwood 20 6 0 14 12

Withdrawals (Records expunged) :

Top Five Riders

Team C.M.A.
1 Syd Jackson Leicester 10.71
2 Joe Abbott Burnley/Preston 10.50
3 Ham Burrill Preston 9.44
4 Charlie Hornby Warrington 8.88
5 Walter Creasor Newcastle/Halifax 8.50

English Dirt Track Knockout Cup

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
03/08Barnsley Lundwood32–30Sheffield
10/08Rochdale39–23Salford
10/08Sheffield33–30Barnsley Lundwood
13/08Middlesbrough25–38Newcastle
16/08Manchester White City50–13Warrington
21/08Liverpool16–47Preston
22/08Halifax49–13Leeds
22/08Leicester Stadium34–27Leicester Super
22/08Preston44–19Liverpool
23/08Newcastle38–24Middlesbrough
23/08Warrington33–29Manchester White City
24/08Leeds32–31Halifax
24/08Leicester Super30–32Leicester Stadium
24/08Nottingham35–23Wombwell
26/08Salford37–26Rochdale
29/08Wombwell38–24Nottingham

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
12/09Halifax35–25Wombwell
14/09Rochdale30–33Leicester Stadium
16/09Wombwell31–31Halifax
18/09Sheffield35–28Preston
19/09Leicester Stadium35–27Rochdale
19/09Preston55–11Sheffield
Manchester White Cityw/oNewcastle

Semifinals

Date Team one Score Team two
19/09Halifax44–19Newcastle
20/09Newcastle37–25Halifax
21/09Preston48–14Leicester Stadium
03/10Leicester Stadium39–24Preston

Final

First leg

Preston
Frank Charles 12
Joe Abbott 10
Ham Burrill 8
Frank Chiswell 8
Jack Chiswell 7
Claude Rye 3		48 – 15Halifax
Walter Creasor 5
Bert Clayton 3
Geoff Taylor 2
Frank Smith 2
Geoff Kilburn 2
Jack Dudding 1
[8]
Farringdon Park

Second leg

Halifax
Cyril "Squib" Burton 7
George Reynard 6
Bert Clayton 4
Frank Smith 3
Arthur Atkinson 2
Jack Dudding 1		24 – 39Preston
Frank Chiswell 12
Frank Charles 10
Joe Abbott 6
Ham Burrill 5
Claude Rye 4
Len Myerscough 2
[8]
Sheffield

Preston were Knockout Cup winners, winning on aggregate 87–39.


Riders

Barnsley

  • Bob Allen
  • Tommy Allott
  • Albert Brown
  • Bob Elliott
  • Fred Ledger
  • Reg Marshall
  • Joe Mitchell
  • Arthur Moore
  • Bert Round
  • George Thompson
  • Tommy Thompson
  • Charlie Ward

Halifax

Leeds

Leicester

Liverpool

Manchester White City (withdrew)

Middlesbrough

  • James Allen
  • Dick Bailey
  • Charlie Barratt
  • Billy Brown
  • Dan Buck
  • Ron Carling
  • Edde Crenston
  • Broncho Dixon
  • Norman Evans
  • Frank Harrison

Newcastle

  • Phil Blake
  • Gordon Byers
  • Arnie Cattell
  • Fred Creasor
  • Walter Creasor
  • Percy Dunn
  • Charles Sanderson
  • Roy Sanderson
  • Ernie Smith
  • Tommy Storey
  • Bud Thompson

Preston

Rochdale

  • Jack Atkinson
  • Buster Breaks
  • Cyril "Squib" Burton
  • Ben Higginbottom
  • Wally Hicklin
  • Scott Michie
  • Skid Nock
  • Bud Proctor
  • Fred Proctor
  • Ron Thompson

Salford

  • Billy Howard
  • Hen Helsby
  • Tommy Mason
  • Ken Miller
  • Sid Newiss
  • Tommy Simpson
  • Cliff Watson
  • Arthur Wilcock
  • Cyril Wilcock
  • Fred Williams

Sheffield

  • Jack Barber
  • Clem Beckett
  • Frank Bianchi
  • Johnny Broughton
  • George Crawshaw
  • Scotty Cummings
  • Eric Hall
  • Dusty Jenkins
  • Arthur Longley
  • Gus Platts
  • W S Shuker
  • Spencer Stratton
  • Arthur Westwood

See also

References

  1. ↑ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  2. ↑ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  3. ↑ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - PRE-WAR ERA (1929-1939)". British Speedway. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  4. ↑ "Speedway Teams UK 1929-1934". Cyber Motorcycle. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  5. ↑ "MANCHESTER WHITE CITY". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  6. ↑ "Dirt-Track Topics". Yorkshire Evening Post. 20 September 1929. Retrieved 25 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ↑ "Middlesbrough Speedway Track At Cleveland Park". Speedway Museum. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  8. 1 2 "1960 National Trophy". Speedway Archive. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
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