1961 Provincial Speedway League
LeagueProvincial League
ChampionsPoole Pirates
No. of competitors11
Provincial League
KO Cup		Cradley 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
13/05Stoke53–41Middlesbrough
19/05Rayleigh50–46Exeter

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
18/05Sheffield43–53Plymouth
21/06Poole71–25Wolverhampton
24/06Stoke46–50Cradley Heath
17/07Edinburgh49–47Rayleigh

Semifinals

Date Team one Score Team two
29/07Cradley Heath55–41Poole
12/08Edinburgh55–40Plymouth

Final

Date Team one Score Team two
09/09Cradley Heath68–28Edinburgh
23/09Edinburgh59–34Cradley 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.RiderPtsTotal
1England Reg Reeves3 3 3 3 315
2New Zealand Trevor Redmond3 3 3 3 ef12
3England Maury Mattingley3 2 1 3 312
4Australia Jack Scott2 3 2 2 211
5England Stan Stevens2 1 2 2 311
6England Ivor Brown3 3 2 ef 311
7England Harry Bastable1 2 3 2 210
8Australia Graham Warren1 1 2 f 26
9England Ken Middleditch0 1 1 1 25
10England Len Silver2 2 0 0 15
11England Pete Lansdale0 2 2 1 05
12England Tony Lewisexc 0 1 3 15
13England Vic Ridgeon2 1 0 1 14
14England Rick France1 0 0 2 03
15England Eric Boothroyd2 0 1 1 03
16England Peter Jarmanf 0 0 f 11
  • f=fell, r-retired, exc=excluded, ef=engine failure

Riders & final averages

Cradley Heath

  • England Ivor Brown 10.14
  • England Harry Bastable 8.88
  • England Stan Stevens 7.54
  • England Ivor Davies 7.14
  • England George Bewley 6.15
  • England Derek Timms 5.97
  • England Ronnie Rolfe 5.29
  • England John Hart 5.04
  • England Alan Totney 4.44
  • England Tony Eadon 4.00
  • England Vic White 2.97

Edinburgh

Exeter

  • England Pete Lansdale 9.33
  • England Len Silver 8.81
  • England Roy Bowers 8.12
  • England Howdy Byford 8.00
  • England Eric Hockaday 7.66
  • England Francis Cann 6.75
  • England Billy Smith 4.90
  • England Clive Hitch 3.84
  • England Eric Howe 3.60
  • England Len Glover 2.25

Middlesbrough

Newcastle

  • England Gil Goldfinch 8.65
  • England Don Wilkinson 7.05
  • England Vic Lonsdale (Jack Thorp) 5.85
  • England George Major 5.67
  • England Slant Payling 5.55
  • South Africa George Glen 4.85
  • England Pat Flanagan 4.65
  • Scotland Gordon Mitchell 2.61

Plymouth

  • Australia Bluey Scott 11.08
  • England Maury Mattingley 9.38
  • England Cliff Cox 8.92
  • England Ron Bagley 6.86
  • England Chris Julian 6.03
  • England Pat Flanagan 4.41
  • Canada Chris Blewett 4.14
  • England Ray Wickett 3.36
  • Scotland George Summers 1.23

Poole

Rayleigh

  • England Reg Reeves 11.43
  • England Stan Stevens 8.53
  • England Harry Edwards 8.44
  • England Bob Thomas 6.68
  • England Roy Craighead 5.12
  • England Geoff Penniket 4.89
  • England Pete Sampson 4.39
  • England Terry Stone 4.36

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

  • England Reg Fearman 9.60
  • England Ron Sharp 9.50
  • England Brian Craven 8.64
  • England Ken Adams 8.59
  • England Eric Hockaday 8.44
  • England Ray Harris 7.63
  • England Pete Jarman 6.97
  • England Peter Kelly 6.92
  • England Bill Wainwright 5.23
  • England John Edwards 5.22
  • England Frank Wooster 3.86
  • England Colin Pratt 3.00
  • England John Key 2.32

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. ↑ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. 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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