1952 Speedway National League Division Two
LeagueNational League Division Two
No. of competitors12
ChampionsPoole Pirates
National Trophy
(Div 2 final)		Poole Pirates
Midland CupCoventry Bees
Highest averageTommy Miller
Division/s aboveNational League (Div 1)
Division/s belowSouthern League

The 1952 National League Division Two was the seventh post-war season of the second tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.[1]

Summary

The post-war boom was now fading and the League was shortened to 12 teams with Division Three now defunct and continued only on a regional basis. Previous champions Norwich Stars had been promoted to Division One. Newcastle, Walthamstow and Halifax had closed whilst Fleetwood Flyers changed to Fleetwood Knights and ran only open meetings. Poole Pirates were the only new entrant, promoted from the former lower tier.[2]

Poole Pirates won the title, having won Division Three in the previous season.

Final table

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Poole Pirates 44 31 1 12 63
2 Coventry Bees 44 25 5 14 55
3 Leicester Hunters 44 25 2 17 52
4 Cradley Heath Heathens 44 24 0 20 48
5 Glasgow White City Tigers 44 23 1 20 47
6 Edinburgh Monarchs 44 21 4 19 46
7 Ashfield Giants 44 19 3 22 41
8 Motherwell Eagles 44 19 2 23 40
9 Yarmouth Bloaters 44 20 0 24 40
10 Stoke Potters 44 18 1 25 37
11 Liverpool Chads 44 16 3 25 35
12 Oxford Cheetahs 44 11 2 31 24

Top Five Riders (League only)

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Tommy Miller Scotland Glasgow 10.91
2 Derick Close England Motherwell 10.57
3 Fred Brand England Yarmouth 9.82
4 Brian Crutcher England Poole 9.66
5 Ken Middleditch England Poole 9.63

National Trophy Stage Two

The 1952 National Trophy was the 15th edition of the Knockout Cup. The Trophy consisted of three stages; stage one was for the third tier clubs, stage two was for the second tier 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. Poole won stage two and therefore qualified for stage three.[3]

Second Division qualifying first round

Date Team one Score Team two
05/06Plymouth57-51Poole
02/06Poole67-41Plymouth
24/05Coventry71-36Motherwell
24/05Stoke71-37Cradley Heath
23/05Cradley Heath67-41Stoke
23/05Motherwell61-47Coventry
19/05Liverpool71-37Edinburgh
17/05Edinburgh67-41Liverpool
13/05Yarmouth61-47Leicester
09/05Leicester71-37Yarmouth

Second Division Qualifying Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
19/06Oxford53-55Poole
09/06Poole78-30Oxford
07/06Coventry52-55Leicester
07/06Stoke55-52Liverpool
06/06Leicester55-53Coventry
02/06Liverpool75.5-32.5Stoke
24/05Glasgow Ashfield52-56Glasgow White City
21/05Glasgow White City65-43Glasgow Ashfield

Second Division Qualifying semifinals

Date Team one Score Team two
20/06Leicester46-62Glasgow White City
18/06Glasgow White City53-55Leicester
25/06Poole85-23Liverpool

Second Division Qualifying final

First leg

Poole Pirates
Ken Middleditch 13
Brian Crutcher 12
Tony Lewis 11
Jimmy Squibb 11
Alan Kidd 8
Bill Holden 4
Terry Small 2
Roy Craighead 0		61 – 47Glasgow White City Tigers
Junior Bainbridge 14
Tommy Miller 13
Don Wilkinson 8
Ken McKinlay 8
Len Nicholson 4
Alf McIntosh 1
Peter Dykes 1
Stuart Irvine 0
[4][5]

Second leg

Glasgow White City Tigers
Ken McKinlay 16
Tommy Miller 15
Junior Bainbridge 12
Alf McIntosh 6
Len Nicholson 4
Don Wilkinson 3
Peter Dykes 3
Stuart Irvine 0		58 – 50Poole Pirates
Brian Crutcher 13
Jimmy Squibb 13
Ken Middleditch 12
Bill Holden 4
Terry Small 4
Alan Kidd 2
Tony Lewis 1
Roy Craighead 1
[5]

Midland Cup

Coventry won the Midland Cup, which consisted of eight teams. There was one team from division 1, five teams from division 2 and two teams from division 3.

First round

Team one Team two Score
WolverhamptonLong Eaton69–26, 59–37

Second round

Team one Team two Score
LeicesterStoke54–42, 42–53
OxfordWolverhampton62–34, 45–51
CradleyCoventry50–46, 34–62

Semi final round

Team one Team two Score
OxfordCoventry25–71, 26–70
BirminghamLeicester70–26, 63–33

Final

First leg

Birmingham
Dan Forsberg 14
Arthur Payne 13
Ron Mountford 8
Lionel Watling 6
Eric Boothroyd 5
Cyril Page 4
Ivor Davies 2
Ron Mason 1		53–43Coventry
Johnnie Reason 13
Vic Emms 7
Peter Brough 5
Stan Williams 5
Les Hewitt 5
Derrick Tailby 5
Charlie New 2
Jack Wright 1
Attendance: 20,000

Second leg

Coventry
Peter Brough 14
Vic Emms 12
Johnnie Reason 11
Les Hewitt 9
Derrick Tailby 7
John Yates 6
Cyril Cooper 5
Stan Williams 3		67–29Birmingham
Alan Hunt 7
Ron Mountford 6
Ron Mason 4
Ivor Davies 4
Cyril Page 4
Bill Jemison 3
Lionel Watling 1
Eric Boothroyd 0
[6]
Attendance: 17,000

Coventry won on aggregate 110–82

Riders & final averages

Ashfield

Coventry

  • England Vic Emms 9.48
  • Australia Les Hewitt 9.05
  • England Johnny Reason 7.83
  • New Zealand Charlie New 6.93
  • England Stan Williams 6.72
  • England Peter Brough 6.21
  • England Derrick Tailby 5.64
  • England Jack Wright 4.42
  • England John Yates 4.34

Cradley Heath

  • England Harry Bastable 8.70
  • England Brian Shepherd 8.24
  • England Jim Tolley 7.41
  • England Les Tolley 7.02
  • England Phil Malpass 6.62
  • England Fred Perkins 5.63
  • England Dick Tolley 5.24
  • England Guy Allott 5.16
  • England Derek Braithwaite 5.08
  • England Geoff Bennett 4.43
  • England Wilf Willstead 2.00

Edinburgh

  • England Don Cuppleditch 9.54
  • Scotland Bob Mark 9.14
  • New Zealand Dick Campbell 9.09
  • England Harold Fairhurst 8.07
  • England Eddie Lack 6.45
  • Australia Keith Gurtner 5.68
  • England Johnny Green 4.78
  • Scotland Jimmy Cox 4.66
  • Scotland Harry Darling 3.12
  • Scotland Jock Scott 2.13

Glasgow

Leicester

  • England Len Williams 9.14
  • Australia Lionel Benson 8.48
  • Scotland Jock Grierson 7.88
  • England Joe Bowkis 6.29
  • England Les Beaumont 6.26
  • England Harwood Pike 6.10
  • England Alf Parker 5.61
  • New Zealand Laurie Holland 4.81
  • England Charlie Barsby 4.15

Liverpool

  • England Peter Robinson 9.13
  • England Reg Duval 7.37
  • England Tommy Allott 7.37
  • England Don Potter 7.36
  • England Harry Welch 6.77
  • England Bill Griffiths 6.09
  • England Len Read 5.79
  • England Eric Smith 4.77
  • England Alf Webster 4.52
  • Australia Tommy Anderson 3.68
  • England Val Morton 3.36

Motherwell

  • England Derick Close 10.57
  • Scotland Gordon McGregor 8.18
  • Australia Noel Watson 7.51
  • Australia Keith Gurtner 7.23
  • England Will Lowther 5.53
  • England Johnny Green 5.47
  • England Stan Bradbury 5.21
  • England Joe Crowther 4.80
  • Australia Bluey Scott 4.17
  • Scotland Scott Hall 3.29
  • Scotland Bob Lindsay 3.00

Oxford

  • England Jim Gregory 7.42
  • England Jim Boyd 6.79
  • England Harry Saunders 6.39
  • England Bill Osborne 6.17
  • New Zealand Frank Boyle 5.03
  • England Bill Kemp 5.62
  • England Herby King 4.92
  • England Ron Wilson 4.50
  • England Len Glover 3.83
  • England Ernie Lessiter 1.00

Poole

Stoke

  • England Ken Adams 8.50
  • England Ron Peace 7.50
  • England Reg Fearman 7.44
  • England Les Jenkins 6.73
  • England Ray Harris 5.64
  • Guernsey Johnny Fitzparick 5.40
  • England Fred Siggins 5.29
  • England Peter Orpwood 5.25
  • England Gil Blake 5.16
  • England Derek Braithwaite 4.98

Yarmouth

  • England Fred Brand 9.82
  • England Bob Baker 9.62
  • England Reg Reeves 6.77
  • England Terry Courtnell 6.73
  • Australia Johnny Chamberlain 5.53
  • England Reg Morgan 5.38
  • Australia Gundy Harris 4.76
  • England Tip Mills 4.75
  • England Vic Ridgeon 3.13
  • England Roy Bowers 4.73
  • England Stan Page 4.63

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). www.speedwayresearcher.org.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 December 2018. Retrieved 22 May 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ↑ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  3. ↑ "1952 National Trophy". Speedway archive.
  4. ↑ "Birmingham's speedway bid for lead". Daily Herald. 1 July 1952. Retrieved 30 October 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. 1 2 "Glasgow 1952 results" (PDF). Speedway researcher. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
  6. ↑ "Bees great win in Speedway Cup final". Coventry Evening Telegraph -. 27 October 1952. Retrieved 18 October 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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