1959 Speedway National League Explained

Competition:	National League
Competitors:	9
Domesticcup1:	Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:	Wimbledon Dons
Domesticcup2:	National Trophy
Domesticcup2 Winners:	Wimbledon Dons
Highestaverage:	Ove Fundin
Leagues Below:	1959 Southern Area League
Prevseason:	1958
Nextseason:	1960

The 1959 National League was the 25th season and the fourteenth post-war season of the highest tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.^[1]

Summary

With Ipswich Witches dropping down to the Southern Area League, only 9 teams competed with Wimbledon Dons continuing their domination of British speedway with their fifth title in six years.^[2] ^[3] ^[4]

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Wimbledon Dons	16	13	0	3	26
2	Leicester Hunters	16	8	1	7	17
3	Coventry Bees	16	8	1	7	17
4	Norwich Stars	16	8	0	8	16
5	Southampton Saints	16	8	0	8	16
6	Poole Pirates	16	8	0	8	16
7	Oxford Cheetahs	16	7	0	9	14
8	Swindon Robins	16	6	0	10	12
9	Belle Vue Aces	16	5	0	11	10

Top Ten Riders (League only)

	Rider	Nat	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ove Fundin		Norwich	11.00
2	Peter Craven		Belle Vue	10.84
3	Ken McKinlay		Leicester	10.75
4	Brian Crutcher		Southampton	10.65
5	Ronnie Moore		Wimbledon	10.52
6	Peter Moore		Wimbledon	10.08
7	Ron How		Wimbledon	9.92
8	Mike Broadbank		Swindon	9.40
9	Ron Johnston		Belle Vue	9.05
10	Arne Pander		Oxford	8.90

National Trophy

The 1959 National Trophy was the 21st edition of the Knockout Cup. Wimbledon were the winners.^[5]

First round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
30/05	Swindon	55-52	Oxford
28/05	Oxford	59-49	Swindon

Second round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
16/07	Oxford	57-51	Southampton
14/07	Southampton	61-47	Oxford
27/06	Belle Vue	67-41	Leicester
27/06	Coventry	69-39	Wimbledon
26/06	Leicester	59-49	Belle Vue
22/06	Wimbledon	71-37	Coventry
20/06	Norwich	65-43	Poole
19/06	Poole	46-62	Norwich

Semifinals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	Team two
08/08	Norwich	53-55	Southampton
04/08	Southampton	73-35	Norwich
03/08	Wimbledon	75-33	Belle Vue
01/08	Belle Vue	54-54	Wimbledon

Final

First leg

Second leg

Wimbledon were National Trophy Champions, winning on aggregate 123–93.

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

10.84
9.05
7.24
6.57
5.54
5.33
4.21
3.64
3.00
2.73
2.50
1.20
0.29

Coventry

8.65
7.61
7.28
5.51
5.44
5.33
4.98
4.94
4.32
2.00

Leicester

10.75
8.50
7.80
5.95
4.10
4.00
3.80
3.70
2.67
2.10

Norwich

11.00
8.56
7.78
6.25
5.76
5.63
5.58
4.55
4.76
4.00

Oxford

8.90
8.32
7.07
7.00
5.96
5.70
5.37
5.02
3.52
0.00

Poole

7.37
7.14
7.08
6.85
6.34
5.70
Trevor Blokdyk 4.88
4.50
4.34
3.73

Southampton

10.65
8.73
8.40
6.67
6.22
6.22
5.33
4.86
5.70
4.09
4.85

Swindon

9.40
7.89
7.22
6.58
6.57
3.71
3.60
2.18
1.56
0.94
0.00

Wimbledon

10.52
10.40
9.92
8.80
7.14
6.55
6.49
6.35
5.00
4.07

Notes and References

Web site: Historic league tables. Speedway Archive.
Web site: Year by Year. Speedway Researcher. 12 August 2021.
Book: Rogers, Martin. The Illustrated History of Speedway. 1978. 129. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-904584-45-3.
Web site: BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964). Official British Speedway website. 12 August 2021.
Web site: 1959 National Trophy. Speedway archive.