1946 Speedway National League

1946 Speedway National League
LeagueNational League
No. of competitors6
ChampionsWembley Lions
National TrophyBelle Vue Aces
A.C.U CupBelle Vue Aces
Riders' championTommy Price
London CupWembley Lions
Highest averageEric Langton
Division/s belowNorthern League

The 1946 National League was the 12th season of the highest tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain and the first post-war season.[1][2]

The league had been abandoned seven years previously due to the outbreak of World War II. Record attendances were attracted with Wembley Lions attracting an average of 50,000 and the league as a whole a total of six and a half million.[3] From the abandoned 1939 season, Southampton Saints and Harringay Tigers were no longer racing whilst Odsal Boomerangs brought National League speedway to Bradford for the first time.[4][5]

Wembley Lions won their second National League title.

On 6 July, a crowd of 34,0000 at Odsal Stadium witnessed Odsal Boomerangs lose to Belle Vue Aces. During the match Albert 'Aussie' Rosenfeld, son of Albert Rosenfeld hit the fence and was taken to St Luke's Hospital, Bradford, with a suspected fractured skull.[6] He died 10 days later, on 16 July 1946.[7]

National League Final table

[edit]
Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Wembley Lions 20 18 0 2 36
2 Belle Vue Aces 20 12 1 7 25
3 Odsal Boomerangs 20 9 1 10 19
4 Wimbledon Dons 20 8 1 11 17
5 New Cross Rangers 20 6 1 13 13
6 West Ham Hammers 20 4 2 14 10

On account of the small number of teams in the league the ACU Cup was run in a league format. Belle Vue Aces came out on top.

A.C.U. Cup final table

[edit]
Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Belle Vue Aces 10 8 0 2 16
2 Wembley Lions 10 6 1 3 13
3 New Cross Rangers 10 6 0 4 12
4 Odsal Boomerangs 10 4 1 5 9
5 Wimbledon Dons 10 4 0 6 8
6 West Ham Hammers 10 1 0 9 2

Such was the dearth of new riders caused by the war that all of the top ten riders were established pre-war riders and none were below the age of 32.

Top Ten Riders (League only)

[edit]
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Eric Langton England Belle Vue Aces 11.13
2 Jack Parker England Belle Vue Aces 11.00
3 Bill Kitchen England Wembley Lions 10.75
4 Ron Johnson Australia New Cross Rangers 10.69
5 Eric Chitty Canada West Ham Hammers 10.30
6 Norman Parker England Wimbledon Dons 10.12
7 Tommy Price England Wembley Lions 10.00
8 Alec Statham England Odsal Boomerangs 9.72
9 Ron Clarke England Odsal Boomerangs 9.50
10 Bill Longley Australia Odsal Boomerangs 9.20

National Trophy

[edit]

The 1946 National Trophy was the tenth edition (if including the 1939 abandoned competition) or ninth edition (if not including) of the Knockout Cup.[8] Teams from the lower 1946 Speedway Northern League competed in the event.

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
04/05 Birmingham 56–48 Norwich
27/04 Norwich 53–51 Birmingham

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
25/05 Birmingham 61–45 Middlesbrough
16/05 Middlesbrough 58–50 Birmingham
29/04 Newcastle 49–56 Middlesbrough
25/04 Middlesbrough 55–51 Newcastle
25/04 Sheffield 61–47 Glasgow White City
24/04 Glasgow White City 61–47 Sheffield
09/05
replay		 Sheffield 63–44 Glasgow White City
08/05
replay		 Glasgow White City 62–45 Sheffield

Quarterfinals

Date Team one Score Team two
22/06 Birmingham 31–77 Wembley
13/06 Wembley 80–27 Birmingham
20/07 Bradford Odsal 72–36 Sheffield
04/07 Sheffield 48–60 Bradford Odsal
02/07 West Ham 55–52 Wimbledon
01/07 Wimbledon 63–44 West Ham
08/06 Belle Vue 58–49 New Cross
12/06 New Cross 50–57 Belle Vue

Semifinals

Date Team one Score Team two
25/07 Wembley 50–57 Belle Vue
13/07 Belle Vue 60–48 Wembley
19/08 Wimbledon 62–46 Bradford Odsal
03/08 Bradford Odsal 53–55 Wimbledon

Final

[edit]

First leg

Wimbledon Dons
Norman Parker 13
Lloyd Goffe 10
Oliver Hart 9
George Saunders 9
Arch Windmill 6
Dick Harris 6
Mike Erskine 5
Cyril Brine 1		61 – 46Belle Vue Aces
Jack Parker 13
Bill Pitcher 10
Wally Lloyd 10
Eric Langton 8
Ron Mason 2
Jim Boyd 2
Ralph Horne 1
Dent Oliver 0
[9]

Second leg

Belle Vue Aces
Wally Lloyd 18
Jack Parker 14
Bill Pitcher 11
Eric Langton 8
Jim Boyd 6
Dent Oliver 3
Louis Lawson 2
Ron Mason 1		63 – 45Wimbledon Dons
Norman Parker 11
Oliver Hart 10
Dick Harris 7
Mike Erskine 7
Lloyd Goffe 3
George Saunders 3
Cyril Brine 2
Arch Windmill 2
[9]

Belle Vue were National Trophy Champions, winning on aggregate 109–106.

Riders' Championship

[edit]

Tommy Price won the British Riders' Championship final held at Empire Stadium on 12 September, in front of 85,000 spectators.[10][11] There were no less than 23 qualifying rounds, where riders from National and Northern League tracks respectively, competed in six meetings each.[10]

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total
1 England Tommy Price 3 3 3 3 3 15
2 England Bill Kitchen 3 3 2 2 3 13
3 England Jack Parker 3 f 3 3 3 12
4 England Eric Langton 2 1 3 3 2 11
5 England Malcolm Craven 3 2 f 2 3 10
6 England Norman Parker 2 3 1 2 2 10
7 Canada Eric Chitty 2 1 3 1 2 9
8 England Frank Hodgson 1 3 2 1 1 8
9 Australia Ron Johnson f 2 3 2 f 7
10 Australia Bert Spencer 1 1 1 0 2 5
11 England Wally Lloyd 0 2 2 0 1 5
12 England Jeff Lloyd 0 1 0 2 1 4
13 Australia Bill Longley 2 2 0 0 0 4
14 England Tommy Allott 0 0 0 1 1 2
15 England Ernie Price 1 0 1 0 0 2
16 England Ron Clarke (res) 1 1 0 2
16 England Alec Statham 0 0 0 - - 0
  • f=fell

London Cup

[edit]

First round

Team one Score Team two
New Cross 59–49, 46–60 Wimbledon
West Ham 62–46, 43–65 Wembley

Final

[edit]

First leg

Wimbledon
Norman Parker 17
Oliver Hart 13
Archie Windmill 7
Cyril Brine 6
Dick Harris 2
George Saunders 1
Lloyd Goffe 1
Charlie Dugard 1		53–55Wembley
Bill Kitchen 13
George Wilks 11
Tommy Price 9
Bill Gilbert 9
Alf Bottoms 7
Bob Wells 4
Roy Craighead 2
Charlie May 0

Second leg

Wembley
Tommy Price 16
Bill Kitchen 14
Bill Gilbert 8
Alf Bottoms 7
Roy Craighead 2
George Wilks 2
Bob Wells 1
Charlie May 1		66–42Wimbledon
Norman Parker 10
Lloyd Goffe 7
Oliver Hart 7
Cyril Brine 7
Archie Windmill 6
George Saunders 3
Dick Harris 2
harlie Dugard 0
[12]

Wembley won on aggregate 121–95

Riders & final averages

[edit]

Belle Vue

New Cross

Odsal

  • England Alec Statham 9.72
  • England Ron Clarke 9.50
  • Australia Bill Longley 9.20
  • England Ernie Price 8.39
  • England Fred Tuck 6.90
  • England Albert Rosenfeld 2.93
  • England Vic Pitcher 2.86
  • England Bill Osborne 2.00
  • England Red Hamley 1.33
  • England Jack White 1.25
  • England Charlie Oates 1.24
  • England Stan Beardsall 0.80
  • England Ron Stringer 0.60

Wembley

West Ham

Wimbledon

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  3. ^ Dalling, P. (2011). The Golden Age Of Speedway. The History Press. ISBN 0-7524-5831-0
  4. ^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  5. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  6. ^ "Speedway's biggest 34,000". Bradford Observer. 8 July 1946. Retrieved 11 August 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ "Injured speedway rider dies". Hull Daily Mail. 16 July 1946. Retrieved 11 August 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ^ "1946 National Trophy". Speedway archive.
  9. ^ a b "1946 National Trophy". Speedway Archive. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  10. ^ a b "1946 fixtures" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  11. ^ "Tommy Price wins Speedway Championship". Daily Herald. 13 September 1946. Retrieved 3 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. ^ "Wembley Win Cup Final". South Western Star. 30 August 1946. Retrieved 16 September 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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