1950 Speedway National League Division Three
LeagueNational League Division Three
Season1950
No. of competitors10
ChampionsOxford Cheetahs
National Trophy
(Div 3 final)		Oxford Cheetahs
Riders' ChampionshipPat Clark
Highest averageKen Middleditch
Division/s aboveDivision One
Division Two

The 1950 National League Division Three was the fourth season of British speedway's National League Division Three[1]

The league was reduced from 13 teams to 10. Halifax Dukes, Plymouth, Yarmouth and Hanley had all moved up to Division Two whilst Hastings Saxons dropped out. The two new sides were Aldershot Shots and St Austell Gulls whilst Tamworth changed their nickname from 'Hounds' to 'Tammies'.[2]

Oxford Cheetahs, who had finished bottom of the table during their inaugural league season in 1949, rose spectacularly up the league to win the title. The Oxford team was made up from an entirely new set of riders including Harry Saunders, signed as captain from Tamworth for £750, Pat Clark from Rayleigh for £250, Bill Osborne from Walthamstow, Raymond Buster Brown from Wembley and Eric Irons from Cradley.[3]

Ken Middleditch of Poole topped the averages.[4]

Final table

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Oxford Cheetahs 36 26 2 8 54
2 Poole Pirates 36 23 3 10 49
3 Leicester Hunters 36 21 0 15 42
4 Swindon Robins 36 19 1 16 39
5 Aldershot Shots 36 18 1 17 37
6 Tamworth Tammies 36 17 0 19 34
7 Exeter Falcons 36 16 1 19 33
8 Liverpool Chads 36 14 1 21 29
9 Rayleigh Rockets 36 12 0 24 24
10 St Austell Gulls 36 9 1 26 19

Leading Averages

Rider Team C.M.A.
1 Ken Middleditch Poole 10.53
2 Basil Harris Aldershot 9.90
3 Pat Clark Oxford 9.78
4 Trevor Redmond Aldershot 9.64
5 Don Hardy Exeter 9.57

National Trophy Stage Three

The 1950 National Trophy was the 13th edition of the Knockout Cup. The Trophy consisted of three stages; stage one was for the third division clubs, stage two was for the second division clubs and stage three was for the top tier clubs. The winner of stage one would qualify for stage two and the winner of stage two would qualify for the third and final stage. Oxford won stage one and therefore qualified for stage two.[5]

Third Division Qualifying First round

Date Team one Score Team two
10/04Liverpool50-57Oxford
06/04Oxford76-32Liverpool

Third Division Qualifying Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
22/04Swindon60-47Oxford
20/04Oxford62-46Swindon
10/04Exeter65-41Leicester
07/04Leicester66-42Exeter
19/04Tamworth71-37St Austell
18/04St Austell48-58Tamworth
20/04Poole51-57Aldershot
19/04Aldershot61-45Poole
21/04
replay		Leicester53-55Exeter
17/04
replay		Exeter62-45Leicester

Third Division Qualifying semifinals

Date Team one Score Team two
05/05Exeter54-53Oxford
27/04Oxford83-24Exeter
03/05Tamworth67-41Aldershot
01/05Aldershot63-44Tamworth

Qualifying final

First leg

Tamworth Tammies
Brian Wilson 11
Eric Boothroyd 10
Dick Tolley 6
Lionel Watling 4
Brian Shepherd 3
Laurie Schofield 2
Ivor Davies 2
John Hitchings 0		38 – 70Oxford Cheetahs
Pat Clark 14
Ernie Rawlins 13
Frank Boyle 13
Eric Irons 11
Bob McFarlane 11
Bill Kemp 5
Buster Brown 3
Jim Wright R/R
[6][7]

Second leg

Oxford Cheetahs
Pat Clark 14
Frank Boyle 13
Bob McFarlane 10
Ernie Rawlins 9
Eric Irons 8
Bill Kemp 7
Buster Brown 6
Jim Wright R/R		67 – 41Tamworth Tammies
Eric Boothroyd 8
Brian Shepherd 7
Brian Wilson 7
Lionel Watling 7
Dick Tolley 6
Ivor Davies 4
Laurie Schofield 2
John Hitchings 0
[8][7]

Riders' Championship

Pat Clark won the National League Division Three Rider's Championship, in front of 28,000 spectators. The final was held at Walthamstow Stadium on 23 October.[9][10][11]

Pos.RiderPts
1England Pat Clark15
2New Zealand Trevor Redmond13
3England Ken Middleditch11
4England Gerry Jackson9
5England Norman Street9
?England Harwood Pike6
?England Alex Gray6
?Australia Hugh Geddes3
?England Jack Unstead?
?England Basil Harris ?
?England Reg Duval?
?England Cyril Quick?
?England Harold Jackson?

Riders & final averages

Aldershot

  • Basil Harris 9.77
  • Trevor Redmond 9.72
  • Doug Ible 7.27
  • Ivor Powell 6.69
  • Bob Harrison 5.75
  • Joe Rodwell 5.65
  • Doug Papworth 5.17
  • Pat Flanagan 4.14
  • Bob Bunney 4.00
  • Ron Burnett 3.52
  • Ken Smith 3.36
  • Bill Grimes 3.09

Exeter

  • Don Hardy 9.69
  • Hugh Geddes 8.20
  • Arthur Pilgrim 7.56
  • Ken Walsh 6.87
  • Ted Moore 6.20
  • Vic Gent 6.56
  • Jack Bedkober 5.93
  • Johnny Sargeant 5.19
  • Johnny Myson 3.57
  • Goog Hoskin 5.67

Leicester

  • Lionel Benson 8.77
  • Jock Grierson 8.39
  • Harwood Pike 8.32
  • Cyril Page 7.52
  • Les Beaumont 7.45
  • Johnny Carpenter 7.09
  • Joe Bowkiss 6.86
  • Vic Pitcher 6.78
  • Ron Wilson 6.63
  • Sid Hipperson 6.21
  • Ernest Palmer 5.33
  • Jack Watts 3.47

Liverpool

  • Bill Griffiths 7.27
  • Harry Welch 7.00
  • Reg Duval 6.92
  • Doug Serrurier 6.73
  • Angus McGuire 6.13
  • Arthur Bush 6.03
  • Percy Brine 5.94
  • Derek Glover 5.90
  • Alf Webster 5.67
  • Stan Bedford 3.64
  • Buddy Fuller 3.62
  • Brian Craven 1.54

Oxford

  • Pat Clark 9.99
  • Frank Boyle 9.12
  • Bob McFarlane 8.35
  • Bil Kemp 7.32
  • Eric Irons 7.22
  • Bill Osborne 7.20
  • Jimmy Wright 7.16
  • Harry Saunders 7.10
  • Buster Brown 6.40
  • Ernie Rawlins 6.07
  • Brian Wilson 5.10

Poole

Rayleigh

St Austell

  • Harold Bull 7.68
  • Ray Ellis 7.48
  • Norman Street 7.30
  • Ken James 5.89
  • Maury McDermott 5.62
  • John Yates 5.53
  • Bill Sobey 5.33
  • Rusty Wainwright 4.74
  • Larry Young 4.50
  • Ed Williams 4.00
  • George Gower 2.91

Swindon

  • Mick Mitchell 8.21
  • Hugh Geddes 8.44
  • Alex Gray 8.18
  • Bill Downton 6.88
  • Bob Jones 6.74
  • Frank Evans 6.34
  • Ron Clark 6.28
  • George Craig 6.26
  • Reg Lambourne 6.09
  • Danny Malone 5.98
  • Tom Wilson 2.20

Tamworth

  • Brian Wilson 8.78
  • Lionel Watling 8.14
  • Eric Boothroyd 8.00
  • Dick Tolley 7.43
  • Ivor Davies 7.21
  • Brian Shepherd 5.84
  • Harry Bastable 5.39
  • Cecil Hookham 5.21
  • Laurie Schofield 4.40
  • Ray Beaumont 3.21
  • James Hitchings 2.95
  • Geoff Newman 0.24

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Home". speedwayresearcher.org.uk.
  2. ↑ "Major League Competitions". Speedway Archive.
  3. ↑ Bamford/Shailes, Robert/Glynn (2007). The History of Oxford Speedway. Tempus Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7524-4161-0.
  4. ↑ "National League Division 3 1950" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  5. ↑ "1950 National Trophy". Speedway archive.
  6. ↑ "New Cross missed Ron Johnson". Daily Herald. 19 May 1950. Retrieved 4 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. 1 2 "Oxford 1950 results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  8. ↑ "Tamworth beaten". Birmingham Daily Gazette. 19 May 1950. Retrieved 4 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ↑ "Div. III riders' title". Daily Herald. 24 October 1950. Retrieved 13 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ↑ "1950 fixtures" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  11. ↑ "CLUB HISTORY: 1950S". Swindon Speedway. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
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