1951 Speedway National League Division Two Explained

Competition:	National League Division Two
Competitors:	16
Domesticcup1:	Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:	Norwich Stars
Domesticcup2:	National Trophy (Div 2 final)
Domesticcup2 Winners:	Norwich Stars
Domesticcup3:	Midland Cup
Domesticcup3 Winners:	Leicester Hunters
Highestaverage:	Jack Young
League Above:	National League (Div 1)
Leagues Below:	National League (Div 3)
Prevseason:	1950
Nextseason:	1952

The 1951 National League Division Two was the sixth post-war season of the second tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.

Summary

The League was extended again with 18 teams starting the season. New entrants were Motherwell Eagles and there were again three teams promoted from Division Three - the champions Oxford Cheetahs,^[1] third place finishers Leicester Hunters and Liverpool Chads (despite finishing 8th). Plymouth Devils moved back down in the opposite direction.^[2]

Norwich Stars retained their title. However after the season had finished a fourth rider in five years was killed at their Firs Stadium. 21-year-old Bob Howes died after hitting the fence during a training practice race on 10 November 1951.^{[3] [4]}

Southampton Saints and Sheffield Tigers resigned in mid-season and their records were expunged.

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Norwich Stars	30	24	0	6	48
2	Leicester Hunters	30	19	0	11	38
3	Edinburgh Monarchs	30	18	0	12	36
4	Coventry Bees	30	16	3	11	35
5	Walthamstow Wolves	30	17	0	13	34
6	Halifax Dukes	30	17	0	13	34
7	Motherwell Eagles	30	16	1	13	33
8	Ashfield Giants	30	16	0	14	32
9	Hanley Potters	30	15	0	15	30
10	Glasgow White City Tigers	30	14	1	15	29
11	Yarmouth Bloaters	30	13	1	16	27
12	Oxford Cheetahs	30	12	2	16	26
13	Liverpool Chads	30	12	1	17	25
14	Fleetwood Flyers	30	9	2	19	20
15	Cradley Heath Heathens	30	9	0	21	18
16	Newcastle Diamonds	30	7	1	22	15

Top Five Riders (League only)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Jack Young		Edinburgh	11.72
2	Bob Leverenz		Norwich	10.84
3	Derick Close		Newcastle/Motherwell	10.71
4	Tommy Miller		Glasgow Tigers	10.70
5	Arthur Forrest		Halifax	10.30

National Trophy Stage Two

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

The 1951 National Trophy 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. Norwich won stage two and therefore qualified for stage three.^[5]

Second Division qualifying first round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
14/05	Exeter	60-47	Oxford
10/05	Oxford	80-28	Exeter
09/05	Fleetwood	64-44	Newcastle
04/05	Southampton	60-48	Walthamstow
30/04	Newcastle	71-36	Fleetwood
30/04	Walthamstow	77-31	Southampton

Second Division Qualifying Second round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
28/05	Cradley Heath	58-49	Coventry
26/05	Coventry	48-60	Cradley Heath
24/05	Oxford	61-47	Yarmouth
22/05	Yarmouth	63-44	Oxford
21/05	Newcastle	47-70	Norwich
19/05	Norwich	79-29	Newcastle
14/05	Walthamstow	81-26	Stoke Hanley
12/05	Edinburgh	77-29	Leicester
12/05	Stoke Hanley	59-49	Walthamstow
11/05	Leicester	46-62	Edinburgh
11/05	Motherwell	39-69	Halifax
09/05	Halifax	79-29	Motherwell
08/05	Glasgow Ashfield	70-38	Liverpool
07/05	Liverpool	62-46	Glasgow Ashfield
-	Glasgow	w/o	Sheffield

Second Division Qualifying quarterfinals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
05/06	Glasgow Ashfield	71-37	Cradley Heath
30/05	Glasgow White City	64-44	Norwich
26/05	Edinburgh	68-40	Halifax
23/05	Halifax	68-39	Edinburgh
26/05	Norwich	14-4	Glasgow White City
11/06	Walthamstow	73-35	Yarmouth
09/06	Norwich	81-27	Glasgow White City
29/05	Yarmouth	57-51	Walthamstow

Second Division Qualifying semifinals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
07/07	Norwich	67.5-40.5	Cradley Heath
11/06	Cradley Heath	83-25	Glasgow Ashfield
04/07	Halifax	71-37	Walthamstow
02/07	Walthamstow	74-34	Halifax

Second Division Qualifying final

First legSecond leg

Midland Cup

Leicester won the inaugural Midland Cup, which consisted of eight teams. There was one team from division 1, five teams from division 2 and two teams from division 3.

First round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Hanley	Wolverhampton	67–29, 60–30

Second round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Leicester	Long Eaton	75–21, 52–44
Oxford	Coventry	58–38, 37–59
Cradley	Hanley	57–39, 45–50

Semi final round

width=150	Team one	width=150	Team two	width=120	Score
Coventry	Leicester	49–45, 41–55
Birmingham	Cradley	65–30, 62–34

Final

First leg

Second leg

Leicester won on aggregate 98–94

Riders & final averages

Ashfield

• 9.02
• 8.57
• 7.30
• 6.20
• 6.17
• 6.07
• 5.61
• 4.46
• 4.39
• 2.74

Coventry

• 8.48
• 8.21
• 8.04
• 6.99
• 6.24
• 5.91
• 5.63
• 5.85
• 5.58
• 5.26
• 4.73

Cradley Heath

• 9.00
• 6.76
• 8.56
• 7.86
• 6.55
• 6.51
• 6.14
• 5.15
• 4.43
• 4.00
• 3.52
• 1.74

Edinburgh

• 11.72
• 8.45
• 8.15
• 7.36
• 7.11
• 5.74
• 5.38
• 3.45
• 3.00
• 2.53
• 2.45

Fleetwood

• 8.00
• 7.93
• 7.13
• 6.25
• 3.88
• 3.40
• 3.04
• 2.51
• 2.09

Glasgow

• 10.70
• 9.18
• 5.86
• 6.43
• 6.29
• 6.09
• 4.62
• 4.55
• 4.37

Halifax

• 10.30
• 9.03
• 7.70
• 6.08
• 5.71
• 5.18
• 4.86
• 4.59
• 2.71

Hanley

• 8.71
• 7.10
• 6.65
• 6.65
• 6.36
• 6.34
• 6.32
• 5.80
• 1.00

Leicester

• 9.42
• 8.43
• 8.24
• 7.93
• 6.86
• 6.55
• 6.17
• 5.30
• 4.92
• 4.65
• 3.45
• 3.30

Liverpool

• 8.80
• 7.83
• 7.43
• 7.39
• 5.75
• 5.50
• 5.39
• 4.23
• 3.71
• 2.40

Motherwell

• 10.18
• 8.86
• 8.37
• 7.48
• 6.32
• 5.50
• 5.20
• 5.00
• 4.59
• 2.35
• 2.24
• 1.95

Newcastle

• 10.25
• 6.80
• 6.10
• 6.00
• 5.49
• 5.46
• 4.56
• 4.45
• 4.20
• 4.19
• 4.00
• 2.93
• 2.91

Norwich

• 10.84
• 9.50
• 8.38
• (Horace Burke) 7.91
• 7.82
• 7.73
• 7.93
• 5.88

1.00

Oxford

• 9.10
• 7.23
• 7.15
• 7.06
• 7.03
• 6.62
• 5.53
• 5.52
• 5.49
• 5.35
• 3.64

Sheffield (withdrew mid-season)

• 8.60
• 8.00
• 7.24
• 6.10
• 5.89
• 5.40
• 4.40
• 4.32
• 2.60

Southampton (withdrew mid-season)

• 8.71
• 8.71
• 7.43
• 6.71
• 6.43
• 6.25
• 5.89
• 3.16

Walthamstow

• 9.03
• 8.21
• 8.11
• 7.92
• 7.86
• 6.73
• 6.49
• 4.50
• 2.96

Yarmouth

• 9.57
• 9.28
• 6.53
• 5.63
• 4.75
• 4.45
• 4.23
• 3.80
• 3.70
• 2.59
• 1.73

See also

• List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
• Knockout Cup (speedway)

Notes and References

1. Book: Bamford/Shailes, Robert/Glynn. The History of Oxford Speedway. 2007. Tempus Publishing Ltd. 978-0-7524-4161-0.
2. Web site: Historic league tables. Speedway Archive.
3. News: Speedway death . Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail . 10 November 1951 . 11 August 2021 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
4. Web site: Norwich The Firs Stadium. National Speedway Museum. 12 August 2021.
5. Web site: 1951 National Trophy. Speedway archive.