1961 Provincial Speedway League

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1961 Provincial Speedway League
League
Provincial League
No. of competitors11
ChampionsPoole Pirates
Knockout CupCradley Heathens
IndividualReg Reeves
Highest averageReg Reeves
Division/s above1961 National League

The 1961 Provincial Speedway League was the second season of the

Provincial League.[1]

Summary

Eleven speedway teams took part. Liverpool, Yarmouth and Bristol had all folded at the end of the previous season and Bradford were unable to take their place in the league after the construction of their new track was delayed. Exeter, Plymouth, Wolverhampton, Middlesbrough and Newcastle all re-opened their tracks and joined the league for the start of the season. Plymouth took on Bristol's riders and Bulldog nickname. Poole were champions, finishing seven points ahead of runners up Plymouth.[2][3][4]

Final table

Pos Team M W D L Pts
1 Poole Pirates 20 15 1 4 31
2 Plymouth Bulldogs 20 12 0 8 24
3 Stoke Potters 20 12 0 8 24
4
Cradley Heath Heathens
 20 11 1 8 23
5 Rayleigh Rockets 20 11 0 9 22
6 Edinburgh Monarchs 20 10 1 9 21
7 Sheffield Tigers 20 10 0 10 20
8 Exeter Falcons 20 9 0 11 18
9 Wolverhampton Wolves 20 7 0 13 14
10 Middlesbrough Bears 20 6 1 13 13
11 Newcastle Diamonds 20 5 0 15 10

M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points

Top Five Riders (League only)

Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Reg Reeves England Rayleigh 11.43
2 Bluey Scott Australia Plymouth 11.08
3 Ken Middleditch England Poole 10.55
4 Ross Gilbertson Scotland Poole 10.51
5 Tony Lewis England Poole 10.32

Provincial League Knockout Cup

The 1961 Provincial League Knockout Cup was the second edition of the Knockout Cup for the Provincial League teams. Cradley Heathens were the winners.[5]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
13/05 Stoke 53–41 Middlesbrough
19/05 Rayleigh 50–46 Exeter

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
18/05 Sheffield 43–53 Plymouth
21/06 Poole 71–25 Wolverhampton
24/06 Stoke 46–50 Cradley Heath
17/07 Edinburgh 49–47 Rayleigh

Semifinals

Date Team one Score Team two
29/07 Cradley Heath 55–41 Poole
12/08 Edinburgh 55–40 Plymouth

Final

Date Team one Score Team two
09/09 Cradley Heath 68–28 Edinburgh
23/09 Edinburgh 59–34 Cradley Heath

Riders' Championship

Reg Reeves won the Riders' Championship. The final was held at Harringay Stadium on 16 September in front of 20,000 spectators. Defending champion Trevor Redmond suffered a broken chain in his last race when leading Reeves, which prevented him from winning the title again.[6]

Pos. Rider Pts Total
1 England Reg Reeves 3 3 3 3 3 15
2 New Zealand Trevor Redmond 3 3 3 3 ef 12
3 England Maury Mattingley 3 2 1 3 3 12
4 Australia Jack Scott 2 3 2 2 2 11
5 England Stan Stevens 2 1 2 2 3 11
6 England Ivor Brown 3 3 2 ef 3 11
7 England Harry Bastable 1 2 3 2 2 10
8 Australia Graham Warren 1 1 2 f 2 6
9 England Ken Middleditch 0 1 1 1 2 5
10 England Len Silver 2 2 0 0 1 5
11 England Pete Lansdale 0 2 2 1 0 5
12 England Tony Lewis exc 0 1 3 1 5
13 England Vic Ridgeon 2 1 0 1 1 4
14 England Rick France 1 0 0 2 0 3
15 England Eric Boothroyd 2 0 1 1 0 3
16 England Peter Jarman f 0 0 f 1 1
  • f=fell, r-retired, exc=excluded, ef=engine failure

Riders & final averages

Cradley Heath

Edinburgh

Exeter

Middlesbrough

Newcastle

Plymouth

Poole

Rayleigh

Sheffield

  • England Guy Allott 9.64
  • England Clive Featherby 9.59
  • Australia Derrol Melbin 8.80
  • England Ronnie Rolfe 7.20
  • England Jack Winstanley 6.97
  • England Stuart Hickman 6.86
  • England Bernard McArthur 6.27
  • England Tony Robinson 6.21
  • England Col Smith 3.64
  • England Malcolm Bruce 3.40

Stoke

Wolverhampton

See also

References

  1. ^ "Championship History". Poole Speedway. 2008. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 18 May 2008.
  2. ^ "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  3. ISBN 0-904584-45-3
    .
  4. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  5. ^ "1961 Provincial League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  6. ^ "One Long Yawn for Trevor". Daily Mirror. 18 September 1961. Retrieved 12 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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