1952 Speedway National League Division Two

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1952 Speedway National League Division Two
LeagueNational League Division Two
ChampionsPoole Pirates
No. of competitors12
National Trophy
(Div 2 final)		Poole Pirates
Highest average
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 Scotland Glasgow White City Tigers 10.91
2 Derick Close England Motherwell Eagles 10.57
3 Fred Brand England Yarmouth Bloaters 9.82
4 Brian Crutcher England Poole Pirates 9.66
5 Ken Middleditch England Poole Pirates 9.63

National Trophy Stage Two[]

  • For Stage One - see Stage One
  • For Stage Three - see Stage Three

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
05/06 Plymouth 57-51 Poole
02/06 Poole 67-41 Plymouth
24/05 Coventry 71-36 Motherwell
24/05 Stoke 71-37 Cradley Heath
23/05 Cradley Heath 67-41 Stoke
23/05 Motherwell 61-47 Coventry
19/05 Liverpool 71-37 Edinburgh
17/05 Edinburgh 67-41 Liverpool
13/05 Yarmouth 61-47 Leicester
09/05 Leicester 71-37 Yarmouth

Second Division Qualifying Second Round[]

Date Team One Score Team Two
19/06 Oxford 53-55 Poole
09/06 Poole 78-30 Oxford
07/06 Coventry 52-55 Leicester
07/06 Stoke 55-52 Liverpool
06/06 Leicester 55-53 Coventry
02/06 Liverpool 75.5-32.5 Stoke
24/05 Glasgow Ashfield 52-56 Glasgow White City
21/05 Glasgow White City 65-43 Glasgow Ashfield

Second Division Qualifying Semi Finals[]

Date Team One Score Team Two
20/06 Leicester 46-62 Glasgow White City
18/06 Glasgow White City 53-55 Leicester
25/06 Poole 85-23 Liverpool

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]
White City Stadium

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ http://www.speedwayresearcher.org.uk/leaguetables-6.pdf[permanent dead 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. ^ a b "Glasgow 1952 results" (PDF). Speedway researcher. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
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