1990 National League season

The 1990 National League was the 16th since its establishment as a second tier in 1975, a renamed British League Division Two, and the last before it was again renamed British League Division Two.[1]

1990 National League season
LeagueNational League
ChampionsPoole Pirates
Knockout CupPoole Pirates
IndividualAndy Grahame
PairsHackney Kestrels
FoursStoke Potters
Highest averageSteve Schofield
Division/s above1990 British League

Summary

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The league was initially supposed to run with 18 teams - however, Mildenhall Fen Tigers were unable to form a team to the 42-point minimum average limit, and were expelled on March 22, 1990. Matches were once again run over a 16-heat formula, with seven riders per team.

Poole Pirates were again champions, and stepped up into British League Division One for the 1991 season.[2]

League table

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Pos Club M Home Away F A Pts
W D L W D L
1 Poole Pirates 32 16 0 0 13 0 3 1779 1224 58
2 Middlesbrough Bears 32 16 0 0 6 2 8 1701 1367 46
3 Ipswich Witches 32 13 2 1 9 0 7 1674 1387 46
4 Glasgow Tigers 32 13 0 3 6 0 10 1643.5 1419,5 38
5 Hackney Kestrels 32 13 0 3 6 0 10 1608 1451 38
6 Berwick Bandits 32 15 0 1 3 1 12 1575.5 1483.5 37
7 Wimbledon Dons 32 12 1 3 4 2 10 1376 1469 35
8 Stoke Potters 32 11 0 5 5 1 10 1573 1489 33
9 Exeter Falcons 32 14 0 2 1 1 14 1576 1489 31
10 Peterborough Panthers 32 13 0 3 2 0 14 1456 1613 30
11 Eastbourne Eagles 32 12 0 4 3 0 13 1426 1636 30
12 Newcastle Diamonds 32 11 0 5 3 0 13 1478.5 1586.5 28
13 Edinburgh Monarchs 32 10 1 5 2 0 14 1520.5 1539.5 25
14 Arena Essex Hammers 32 9 1 5 3 0 13 1380 1674 25
15 Rye House Rockets 32 7 0 9 1 0 15 1386 1672 16
16 Long Eaton Invaders 32 7 2 7 0 0 16 1372 1697 16
17 Milton Keynes Knights 32 5 0 11 1 0 15 1286 1770 12

M = Meetings; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; F = Race points for; A = Race points against; Pts = Total Points

National League Knockout Cup

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The 1990 National League Knockout Cup was the 23rd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams. Poole Pirates were the winners of the competition.[3]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
14/04 Berwick 62-33 Long Eaton
11/04 Long Eaton 57-39 Berwick

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
21/07 Berwick 50-44 Poole
27/06 Wimbledon 62-33 Exeter
15/06 Hackney 64-32 Eastbourne
10/06 Eastbourne 40-56 Hackney
10/06 Rye House 51-45 Milton Keynes
07/06 Middlesbrough 51-44 Edinburgh
05/06 Milton Keynes 56-39 Rye House
05/06 Poole 56-40 Berwick
04/06 Exeter 61-35 Wimbledon
03/06 Edinburgh 51-45 Middlesbrough
03/06 Glasgow 54-41 Ipswich
03/06 Newcastle 61-35 Arena Essex
02/06 Arena Essex 41-55 Newcastle
02/06 Stoke 65-31 Peterborough
01/06 Peterborough 48-48 Stoke
31/05 Ipswich 60-36 Glasgow

Quarter-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
21/08 Poole 62-33 Hackney
10/08 Hackney 47-48 Poole
29/07 Newcastle 54-41 Ipswich
21/07 Stoke 51-45 Wimbledon
19/07 Middlesbrough 69-27 Milton Keynes
18/07 Wimbledon 57-37 Stoke
17/07 Milton Keynes 40-56 Middlesbrough
19/07 Ipswich 61-35 Newcastle

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
30/08 Ipswich 47-49 Poole
28/08 Poole 60-36 Ipswich
23/08 Middlesbrough 69-27 Wimbledon
22/08 Wimbledon 36-59 Middlesbrough

Final

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First leg

Poole Pirates
Craig Boyce 19
Alun Rossiter 13
Gary Allan 11
Tony Langdon 10
Rod Colquhoun 6
Gary Chessell 3
Tom P. Knudsen R/R
62 – 34Middlesbrough Bears
Rod Hunter 11
Jamie Luckhurst 7
Daz Sumner 5
Paul Bentley 5
David Cheshire 3
Dave Edwards 2
Steve Wilcock 1
[4][5]

Second leg

Middlesbrough Bears
Rod Hunter 9
Steve Wilcock 9
Daz Sumner 9
Paul Bentley 9
Jamie Luckhurst 7
David Cheshire 7
Dave Edwards 1
51 – 45Poole Pirates
Craig Boyce 16
Gary Allan 11
Tony Langdon 10
Rod Colquhoun 4
Alun Rossiter 3
Justin Elkins 1
Tom P. Knudsen R/R
[4][5]

Poole were declared Knockout Cup Champions, winning on aggregate 107–85.

Riders' Championship

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Andy Grahame won the Riders' Championship. The final sponsored by Jawa Moto & Barum was held on 15 September at Brandon Stadium.[6]

Pos. Rider Pts Total
1   Andy Grahame 2 3 3 3 3 14
2   Chris Louis 3 2 2 3 3 13
3   Craig Boyce 3 3 2 3 0 11+3
4   David Bargh 2 3 3 1 2 11+2
5   Steve Regeling 1 2 3 2 2 10
6   Steve Schofield 3 1 2 1 2 9
7   Les Collins 3 0 r 2 3 8
8   Martin Goodwin 2 1 1 3 1 8
9   Eric Monaghan 1 1 3 2 1 8
10   Rod Hunter 2 3 0 0 1 6
11   David Walsh f f 2 0 3 5
12   Richard Hellsen 1 2 1 1 1 6
13   Shane Bowes 1 2 fex 1 2 6
14   Gordon Kennett 0 1 1 2 0 4
15   Mick Poole fex r 1 0 0 1
16   Jens Rasmussen r - - - - 0
17   Andy Meredith (res) 0 0 0
18   Lee Coleman (res) 0 0 0
  • f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure t=touched tapes

Pairs

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The National League Pairs Championship was held at Shawfield Stadium Glasgow on 17 June. The event was won by Hackney Kestrels.[7][8]

Semi finals

  • Hackney bt Middlesbrough
  • Exeter bt Newcastle

Final

  • Hackney bt Exeter

Fours

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Stoke won the Fours championship final, held at the East of England Showground on 22 July.[9]

Semi finals

  • SF1 = Ipswich 16, Stoke 11, Wimbledon 11, Glasgow 10
  • SF2 = Poole 16, Hackney 13, Berwick 10, Middlesbrough 9

Final

Pos Team Pts Riders
1 Stoke 16 Monaghan 6, Carr 5, Crabtree 4, Cobby 1 Carlson 0
2 Poole 13 Rossiter 5, Langdon 4, Boyce 3, Allan 1
3 Hackney 10 Schofield 5, Galvin 3, Whittaker 2, Tagg 0
4 Ipswich 9 Louis 4, Parker 2, Standing 2, Mogridge 1

Final leading averages

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The top ten rider averages in the National League as of October 31, 1990:

Rider Average Team
1   Steve Schofield 10.51 Hackney
2   Craig Boyce 10.45 Poole
3   Steve Regeling 10.20 Exeter
4   Chris Louis 10.19 Ipswich
5   Rod Hunter 9.93 Middlesbrough
6   David Bargh 9.72 Newcastle
7   Mick Poole 9.58 Peterborough
8   Andy Grahame 9.40 Wimbledon
9   Jens Rasmussen 9.36 Rye House
10   Andy Galvin 9.27 Hackney

Riders & final averages

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Arena Essex

  • Martin Goodwin 8.85
  • Rob Tilbury 8.09
  • Wayne Garratt 5.77
  • Troy Pratt 5.65
  • Kevin Brice 4.95
  • Adrian Stevens 4.48
  • Simon Wolstenholme 4.31
  • Kevin Teager 3.88
  • Robert Ledwith 2.86

Berwick

Eastbourne

Edinburgh

Exeter

Glasgow

Hackney

  • Steve Schofield .10.51
  • Andy Galvin 9.27
  • Paul Whittaker 8.18
  • Gary Tagg 5.96
  • Michael Warren 5.45
  • Dave Hamnett 4.41
  • Tim Korneliussen 3.96
  • Shawn Venables 3.80
  • Ian Humphreys 2.91

Ipswich

Long Eaton

Middlesbrough

Milton Keynes

Newcastle

Peterborough

Poole

Rye House

Stoke

Wimbledon

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - BRITISH LEAGUE ERA (1965-1990)". Official British Speedway website. Archived from the original on 25 August 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  3. ^ "1990 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway archive.
  4. ^ a b "1990 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Poole 1990 KO cup final" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  6. ^ "Grahame's title". Staffordshire Sentinel. 17 September 1990. Retrieved 22 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ "1990 fixtures" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
  8. ^ "Potters pairs bid comes unstuck". Staffordshire Sentinel. 18 June 1990. Retrieved 26 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ^ "Potters capture fours title for the first time". Staffordshire Sentinel. 6 August 1990. Retrieved 8 May 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.