1983 National League season

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1983 National League season
LeagueNational League
ChampionsNewcastle Diamonds[1]
No. of competitors18
Knockout CupExeter Falcons
IndividualSteve McDermott
PairsWeymouth Wildcats
FoursNewcastle Diamonds
Highest averageJoe Owen
Division/s above1983 British League

The 1983 National League was the second tier of motorcycle speedway racing in the United Kingdom.

Summary[]

The winning team was Newcastle Diamonds.[2][3][4]

After the tragedy of losing a rider the previous season Milton Keynes endured a second loss when their rider Craig Featherby was killed in a crash at Peterborough in a National League match on 16 September. Featherby hit a lamp standard after being thrown from the bike.[5]

Final table[]

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Newcastle Diamonds 34 25 1 8 51
2 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 34 23 2 9 48
3 Crayford Kestrels 34 23 0 11 46
4 Weymouth Wildcats 34 19 2 13 40
5 Scunthorpe Stags 34 19 2 13 40
6 Milton Keynes Knights 34 19 1 14 39
7 Middlesbrough Tigers 34 18 3 13 39
8 Berwick Bandits 34 17 0 17 34
9 Edinburgh Monarchs 34 16 1 17 33
10 Exeter Falcons 34 16 0 18 32
11 Rye House Rockets 34 15 1 18 31
12 Peterborough Panthers 34 14 2 18 30
13 Glasgow Tigers 34 14 1 19 29
14 Oxford Cheetahs 34 14 1 19 29
15 Canterbury Crusaders 34 12 2 20 16
16 Boston Barracudas 34 12 1 21 25
17 Stoke Potters 34 10 1 23 21
18 Long Eaton Invaders 34 9 1 24 19

Leading averages[]

Rider Team Average
Joe Owen Newcastle 11.10
Rod Hunter Newcastle 10.51
Martin Yeates Weymouth 10.39
Bobby Beaton Newcastle 10.20
Steve Lawson Glasgow 10.00
Jim McMillan Glasgow 9.85
Marvyn Cox Rye House 9.83
Barry Thomas Crayford 9.69
Steve Wilcock Middlesbrough 9.48
Steve McDermott Berwick 9.43
Bob Garrad Rye House 9.28

National League Knockout Cup[]

The 1983 National League Knockout Cup was the 16th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Exeter Falcons were the winners of the competition.[6]

First Round[]

Date Team One Score Team Two
19/04 Crayford 45-50 Mildenhall
17/04 Mildenhall 55-41 Crayford
01/04 Oxford 51-45 Milton Keynes
29/03 Milton Keynes 47-49 Oxford

Second Round[]

Date Team One Score Team Two
22/06 Long Eaton 58-38 Berwick
09/06 Oxford 45-51 Rye House
05/06 Berwick 61-35 Long Eaton
27/05 Peterborough 57-39 Mildenhall
25/05 Mildenhall 58-38 Peterborough
23/05 Newcastle 61-35 Scunthorpe
22/05 Rye House 51-45 Oxford
22/05 Scunthorpe 43-53 Newcastle
20/05 Edinburgh 50-46 Middlesbrough
30/04 Canterbury 45-51 Exeter
24/04 Boston 45-51 Weymouth
22/04 Glasgow 62-34 Stoke
19/04 Weymouth 58-38 Boston
16/04 Stoke 55-41 Glasgow
14/04 Middlesbrough 55-41 Edinburgh
11/04 Exeter 70-26 Canterbury

Quarter Finals[]

Date Team One Score Team Two
15/08 Exeter 64-32 Rye House
14/08 Rye House 55-41 Exeter
23/07 Berwick 45-50 Newcastle
19/07 Weymouth 65-31 Glasgow
03/07 Mildenhall 67-25 Middlesbrough
27/06 Newcastle 53-42 Berwick
11/06 Glasgow 41-54 Weymouth
09/06 Middlesbrough 47-49 Mildenhall

Semi Finals[]

Date Team One Score Team Two
02/10 Mildenhall 66-30 Exeter
12/09 Exeter 74-21 Mildenhall
12/09 Newcastle 54-42 Weymouth
02/08 Weymouth 55-41 Newcastle

Final[]

First leg

Exeter Falcons52 – 43Weymouth Wildcats
[7]
County Ground Stadium

Second leg

Weymouth Wildcats
Steve Schofield 15
Martin Yeates 12
Simon Cross 11
Stan Bear 6
Gordon Humphreys 3
David Biles 3
Chris Martin 2		52 – 44Exeter Falcons
Rob Ashton 10
Alun Rossiter 10
Keith Millard 9
Bob Coles 7
Rob Maxfield 5
Kevin Price 2
Steve Bishop 1
[7]
Wessex Stadium

Exeter were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 96–95.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "About - Exeter Speedway 1983". MyWeb.Tiscali.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
  2. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  3. ^ Oakes, P.(2006). Speedway Star Almanac. ISBN 0-9552376-1-0
  4. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  5. ^ "Craig Featherby". Cradley Speedway. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  6. ^ "1983 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  7. ^ a b "1983 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
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