1951 Speedway National League Division Three Explained

Competition:	National League Division Three
Season:	1951
Competitors:	10
Domesticcup1:	Champions
Domesticcup2:	National Trophy (Div 3 final)
Domesticcup2 Winners:	Exeter Falcons
Domesticcup3:	Riders' Championship
Domesticcup3 Winners:	Ken Middleditch
Highestaverage:	Alan Smith
League Above:	Division One Division Two
Prevseason:	1950
Nextseason:	1952

The 1951 National League Division Three was the fifth and final season of British speedway's National League Division Three^[1]

The league remained with 10 teams but there were changes. Oxford Cheetahs, Leicester Hunters and Liverpool Chads had all moved up to Division Two whilst Tamworth Tammies dropped out.

Plymouth Devils dropped down from Division Two. The three new sides were Cardiff Dragons, Long Eaton Archers and Wolverhampton Wasps.^[2]

Poole Pirates won their first title. Alan Smith of Plymouth topped the averages.^[3]

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Poole Pirates	36	30	0	6	60
2	Exeter Falcons	36	28	0	8	56
3	Aldershot Shots	36	21	1	14	43
4	Rayleigh Rockets	36	21	0	15	42
5	Swindon Robins	36	16	2	18	34
6	Plymouth Devils	36	16	1	19	33
7	Cardiff Dragons	36	13	3	20	29
8	St Austell Gulls	36	13	0	23	26
9	Long Eaton Archers	36	13	0	23	26
10	Wolverhampton Wasps	36	5	1	30	11

Leading Averages

	Rider	Team	C.M.A.
1	Alan Smith	Plymouth	10.58
2	Ken Middleditch	Poole	10.33
3	Trevor Redmond	Aldershot	10.10
4	Geoff Mardon	Aldershot	9.88
5	Brian Crutcher	Poole	9.41

National Trophy Stage Three

For Stage Two - see Stage Two
For Stage Three - see Stage Three

The 1951 National Trophy (sponsored by the Daily Mail) was the 14th edition of the Knockout Cup. The Trophy consisted of three stages; stage one was for the third division clubs, stage two was for the second division 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. Exeter won stage one and therefore qualified for stage two.^[4]

Third Division Qualifying First round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
05/04	Cardiff	52-56	Rayleigh
05/04	Plymouth	54-54	Exeter
02/04	Poole	69-39	Aldershot
02/04	Exeter	77-30	Plymouth
31/03	Aldershot	66-40	Poole
31/03	Rayleigh	68-40	Cardiff
31/03	Swindon	71-37	Long Eaton
29/03	Long Eaton	49-58	Swindon

Third Division Qualifying semifinals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
16/04	Exeter	73-35	Rayleigh
16/04	Poole	61-47	Swindon
07/04	Swindon	66-41	Poole
14/04	Rayleigh	56-52	Exeter

Qualifying final

First legSecond leg

Riders' Championship

Ken Middleditch won the National League Division Three Rider's Championship. The final was held at Penarth Road Stadium in Cardiff on 23 October.^[5] ^[6] ^[7]

width=25px	Pos.	width=180px	Rider	width=50px	Pts
1		14
2		11+4
3		11+3
4		11+2
5		11+1
6		11+0
7		9
8		9
9		9
10		7
11	Buster Brown	6
12		5
13	Jack Winstanley	2
14	Hugh Geddes (res)	1
15	Danny Malone	1
16	Norman Street	1
17	Tom O'Connor	0
18	Don Hardy	0

Riders & final averages

Aldershot

Geoff Mardon 10.06
Trevor Redmond 10.00
Basil Harris 8.07
Bert Edwards 8.04
Pat Flanagan 6.59
Ivor Powell 6.11
Brian Wilson 5.61
Doug Papworth 4.79
Ron Burnett 4.67
Bob Harrison 4.28
John Dore 4.19
Bill Grimes 3.43
Craig Jones 3.49

Cardiff

Charlie May 8.88
Mick Holland 8.26
Gerald Pugh 7.44
Kevin Hayden 7.39
Chum Taylor 6.62
Arthur Pilgrim 6.47
Jimmy Wright 6.20
Frank Johnson 5.16
Bert Croucher 4.78
Les Moore 4.64
Ray Beaumont 4.44
Vic Butcher 4.00
Mick Callaghan 4.16
Vic Brinkworth 2.78
Jack Bibby 2.67
Ray Thackwell 2.29

Exeter

Bob Roger 8.91
Don Hardy 8.89
Goog Hoskin 8.79
Johnny Sargeant 8.43
Ken Walsh 8.30
Jack Bedkober 7.10
Vic Gent 6.77
Ted Moore 6.02
Paul Best 4.49

Long Eaton

Frank Malouf 6.82
Jack Winstanley 6.71
Peter Moore 5.71
Johnny Jones 5.50
Eric Minall 5.41
Eric Mason 5.37
Ernest Palmer 5.05
Bill Humphries 4.55
Percy Brine 4.44
Ray Binfield 3.53

Plymouth

Alan Smith 10.84
George Wall 9.13
Bill Thatcher 8.00
Brian Hitchcock 6.08
Ron Barrett 5.93
Johnnie Bradford 5.22
George Craig 4.63
Frank Wheeler 4.56
Rusty Wainwright 4.21
Tom Turnham 4.18
Dennis Hayles 4.00
Doug Fursey 3.33
Farnk Holcombe 3.29
George Watts 3.08

Poole

Ken Middleditch 10.47
Terry Small 9.60
Brian Crutcher 9.52
Bill Holden 8.08
Tony Lewis 8.08
Roy Craighead 8.00
Alan Kidd 7.51
Vic Thyer 6.60
Dick Howard 7.41
Johnny Thomson 6.67
Charlie Hayden 6.55
Frank Wheeler 4.83
Jack Cunningham 4.00

Rayleigh

Gerry Jackson 8.58
Jack Unstead 8.43
Maurice Dunn 8.30
Tom O'Connor 7.74
Les McGillivray 7.56
Ron Howes 7.23
Vic Gooden 6.83
Jules Benson 6.13
Frank Bettis 5.20
Mike Wood 4.00
James Osborne 3.29

St Austell

Harold Bull 7.16
Ticker James 7.37
Norman Street 7.29
Ken James 5.80
Maurice Hutchens 5.69
Mick Mitchell 5.49
Max Rech 5.48
Allan Quinn 5.54
Ken Monk 4.84
Stan Bedford 3.04

Swindon

Buster Brown 7.87
Alex Gray 7.69
Hugh Geddes 7.54
Danny Malone 7.35
Frank Evans 7.13
Ray Ellis 6.80
Bob Jones 6.90
Reg Lambourne 6.10
Miek Beddoe 5.33
Ken Wiggins 4.47
Dudley Smith 3.67

Wolverhampton

Roy Moreton 6.55
Jack Cunningham 5.96
Harry Wardropper 5.49
Ron Wilson 5.39
Ronnie Genz 5.06
Dick Harris 4.83
Gundy Harris 4.58
Alan Sutcliffe 4.57
John Hitchings 4.56
Cliff Biggs 4.43
Bob Wigg 4.40
Derek Timms 4.30
Cyril Maidment 3.50
Ted Stevens 2.29

Notes and References

Web site: Home . speedwayresearcher.org.uk.
Web site: Major League Competitions. Speedway Archive.
Web site: National League Division 3 1951. Speedway Researcher. 11 November 2021.
Web site: 1951 National Trophy. Speedway archive.
News: Runner-Up in Speedway title event . Western Evening Herald . 24 October 1951 . 13 June 2023 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
Web site: 1951 fixtures . Speedway Researcher . 13 June 2023.
Web site: CLUB HISTORY: 1950S . Swindon Speedway . 13 June 2023.