Newcastle Speedway Brough Park A League History Volume Three 1981 to 1993 Compiled by Joe Wake 1 Foreword I was born in 1955 and was brought up in Blyth, Northumberland in the 1960’s. I discovered speedway when noticing the reports on the back page of the Newcastle Evening Chronicle. I pestered my father to take me and he eventually did. We both became hooked on the sport but as he was a police officer working shifts it meant we could only go every two weeks at the most. I did, on a couple of occasions, take the speedway special United bus which went from Ashington to Brough Park on a Monday night and picked up in Blyth but, for a schoolboy the, if I recall, 3s 9d bus fare together with the cost of admission and programme meant it was not possible to do so on a weekly basis. Brough Park closed at the end of the 1970 season. I went to one meeting each at Ashington and Sunderland but that was it until I attended the the reopening meeting at Brough Park in March 1975. I was then in my late teens, was working and liked socialising and between then and leaving the area to move to Northamptonshire in 1981 I probably saw no more than half a dozen meetings. Since then I have attended about twenty meetings with the latest being in 2005. I still follow the sport and have continued to subscribe to Speedway Star throughout but I, like many others, have become disillusioned with rule changes, guests, doubling up and down, the laughable double points joker etc. I fear for the future of the sport. I have contributed to the Speedway Researcher for quite a few years and thought it would be tidier if as many of the seasons’ files as possible were included within different volumes and that a little narrative and league tables were added. This is the second volume and subsequent volumes should follow in due course. All details are based on information available to me and assumptions made. If any details are incorrect or incomplete then please get in touch with me at my email address [email protected]. The averages compiled throughout these volumes take into account all full team matches (not four team tournament) excluding one-off (even if over two legs) challenge matches. Unlike other publications they include, for example, Supernationals and Gold Cups of the 1980’s and 1990’s. In recent years guest riders have been regularly used in that anyone not named in a team’s 1 to 7 is considered to be a guest. In my figures I only consider a guest to be someone deputising who is in the 1 to 7 of a team in the same league or a rider loaned by the home side when an away side has turned up short handed. As an example in 2012 Steve Worrall was injured but remained in Newcastle’s named 1 to 7. Paul Starke who rode for Isle of Wight in the league below replaced him on fifteen occasions and was classed as a guest. He would be shown as a Newcastle rider in my averages. Acknowledgements and Information Sources Speedway Researcher Website Speedway Star & News Alan Robertson and all his publications Speedway Surveys by Maurice Jones Peter Oakes Yearbooks & History of British League Matt Jackson for his A to Z & spreadsheets Loader’s Speedway Annuals John Skinner’s Newcastle Speedway History Phil Hood Website Jim Henry Keith Dyer Dave Allan With apologies to anyone I may have inadvertently missed. 2 Contents 1981 National League 4 1982 National League 31 1983 National League 62 1984 British League 92 1986 National League 116 1987 National League 139 1989 National League 157 1990 National League 182 1991 Sunbrite League Division Two 208 1992 Homefire League Division Two 236 1993 British League Division Two 261 3 1981 Nigel Crabtree did not accept the terms offered at the start of the season and new riders were Alan Emerson who was signed from Glasgow for a fee of £10,000 and Australian Glenn McDonald from defunct Nottingham. Derek Richardson broke his leg in the first league match of the season and was replaced by local youngster Paul McHale and subsequently New Zealander Kym Mauger who was the son of Ivan. David Bargh missed four meetings in July because of a virus and Robbie Blackadder was troubled by minor injuries throughout the season. Tom Owen attempted a comeback but did not last the full meeting at Edinburgh. This, however, allowed Newcastle to utilise rider replacement for the rest of the season which did not go down too well with their rivals. Rod Hunter and David Bargh represented Newcastle in the National League Pairs Championship at Halifax on 18 July. They scored seven points and four points respectively from their three rides and were eliminated at the group stage. David Bargh represented Newcastle in the National League Riders’ Championship at Wimbledon on 26 September and scored three points. Alan Emerson qualified for the Grand National Final at Boston on 15 August and was eliminated in the repecharge. David Bargh qualified for the Australasian Final of the World Championship in Sydney on 28 February and was eliminated after scoring two points. Alan Emerson scored fourteen points to win the Cumbrian Apollo Cup at Workington on 18 September. No Newcastle rider challenged for the Silver Helmet during the season. Berwick raced their league meetings at Barrow and Glasgow but were forced to drop out of the league in September. They went on, however, to reach the Knock Out Cup Final and raced their legs of the semi final and final at Brough Park. 4 National League P W D L F A Pts Middlesbrough 36 30 1 5 1692 1109 61 Weymouth 36 26 1 9 1570 1236 53 Newcastle 36 25 1 10 1566.5 1232.5 51 Edinburgh 36 25 0 11 1535.5 1246.5 50 Glasgow 36 24 0 12 1500.5 1294.5 48 Boston 36 22 0 14 1503.5 1301.5 44 Exeter 36 22 0 14 1497 1305 44 Mildenhall 36 20 0 16 1417.5 1383.5 40 Peterborough 36 19 1 16 1433 1368 39 Crayford 36 19 0 17 1361.5 1432.5 38 Ellesmere Port 36 18 1 17 1446 1354 37 Oxford 36 18 1 17 1392 1407 37 Wolverhampton 36 14 1 21 1345 1452 29 Canterbury 36 14 1 21 1340 1460 29 Stoke 36 14 0 22 1343 1452 28 Rye House 36 11 0 25 1328 1472 22 Scunthorpe 36 6 1 29 1114 1682 13 Workington 36 6 1 29 1047 1752 13 Milton Keynes 36 4 0 32 1149 1641 8 Withdrawn Berwick 26 8 0 18 998 1026 16 National League Knock Out Cup winners were Edinburgh. National League Four Team Tournament winners were Edinburgh. National League Pairs winners were Canterbury. Speedway Star Knock Out Cup winners were Ipswich. Averages (National League (including two against Berwick who dropped out of the league), Knock Out Cup and Speedway Star Knock Out Cup) M Rds Pts BP TPts Full Paid Avge David Bargh 37 168 359.5 21 380.5 6 1 9.06 Rod Hunter 41 178 358 34 392 8 3 8.81 Robbie Blackadder 40 148 288 22 310 4 1 8.38 Alan Emerson 41 179 304 55 359 1 5 8.02 Keith Bloxsome 41 175 265 35 300 6.86 Glenn McDonald 41 142 158 37 195 5.49 Kym Mauger 27 71 40 10 50 2.82 Also rode Dennis Gallagher 3 6 1 1 2 1.33 Paul McHale 5 12 5 2 7 2.33 Tom Owen 1 3 2 2 4 5.33 Derek Richardson 1 4 6 3 9 9.00 16 March – Newcastle 53 Edinburgh 25 (Challenge) Ht 1: Bargh, Rourke, Collins, Richardson 68.2 Ht 2: Bloxsome, McDonald, Maclean, Robson(f) 72.4 Ht 3: Hunter, Emerson, Trownson, Turner 69.2 Ht 4: Blackadder, Collins, McDonald, Maclean 68.8 Ht 5: Hunter, Emerson, Rourke, Trownson 68.4 5 Ht 6: Bargh, Collins, Robson, Richardson 69.8 Ht 7: Blackadder, Trownson, McDonald, Turner 69.2 Ht 8: Collins, Bloxsome, Richardson, Rourke 70.2 Ht 9: Emerson, Hunter, Collins, Robson 71.0 Ht 10: Bargh, Trownson, Richardson, Turner 70.4 Ht 11: Blackadder, Rourke, Bloxsome, Maclean 70.6 Ht 12: Bargh, Trownson, Collins, Hunter(f) 69.2 Ht 13: Blackadder, Emerson, Trownson, Robson 70.6 Newcastle – David Bargh (3,3,3,3) 12, Robbie Blackadder (3,3,3,3) 12, Alan Emerson (2,2,3,2) 9+3, Rod Hunter (3,3,2,f) 8+1, Keith Bloxsome (3,2,1) 6, Glenn McDonald (2,1,1) 4+1, Derek Richardson (0,0,1,1) 2+1 Edinburgh – Neil Collins (1,2,2,3,1,1) 10+2, Dave Trownson (1,0,2,2,2,1) 8, Benny Rourke (2,1,0,2) 5, Guy Robson (f,1,0,0) 1+1, Harry Maclean (1,0,0) 1, Chris Turner (0,0,0) 0 23 March – Newcastle 60 Wolverhampton 18 (Challenge) Ht 1: Bargh, Richardson, Evitts, Burton 68.4 Ht 2: Bloxsome, McDonald, Crockett, Evitts 71.8 Ht 3: Hunter, Cribb, Emerson, Wilding 68.8 Ht 4: Blackadder, Bloxsome, Rumsey, Crockett 69.4 Ht 5: Hunter, Emerson, Boyle, Burton 68.8 Ht 6: Bargh, Richardson, Evitts, Rumsey 68.4 Ht 7: Blackadder, Cribb, Wilding, Bloxsome 68.8 Ht 8: Richardson, Cribb, McDonald, Boyle 69.2 Ht 9: Hunter, Emerson, Rumsey, Evitts 70.2 Ht 10: Richardson, Bargh, Cribb, Wilding 69.6 Ht 11: Blackadder, Boyle, Bloxsome, Burton 70.2 Ht 12: Bargh, Hunter, Cribb, Rumsey 70.0 Ht 13: Blackadder, Emerson, Boyle, Wilding 69.2 Newcastle – Robbie Blackadder (3,3,3,3) 12, David Bargh (3,3,2,3) 11+1, Rod Hunter (3,3,3,2) 11+1, Derek Richardson (2,2,3,3) 10+2, Alan Emerson (1,2,2,2) 7+3, Keith Bloxsome (3,2,0,1) 6+1, Glenn McDonald (2,1) 3+1 Wolverhampton – Bruce Cribb (2,2,2,1,1) 8, Tony Boyle (1,0,2,1) 4, Neil Evitts (1,0,1,0) 2, Les Rumsey (1,0,1,0) 2, Mike Wilding (0,1,0,0) 1+1, Steve Crockett (1,0) 1, Billy Burton (0,0,0) 0 30 March – Newcastle 55 Ellesmere Port 23 (Challenge) Ht 1: Bargh, Jackson, Richardson, Alderman 67.6 Ht 2: McDonald, Bloxsome, Price, Carr(ef) 70.0 Ht 3: Emerson, Hunter, Monaghan, Ellams 69.2 Ht 4: Blackadder, Finch, Carr, Bloxsome 69.2 Ht 5: Emerson, Hunter, Alderman, Jackson 68.8 Ht 6: Finch, Bargh, Richardson, Price 68.4 Ht 7: Blackadder, Ellams, Monaghan, Bloxsome 70.0 Ht 8: Richardson, Alderman, Carr, McDonald 69.0 Ht 9: Emerson, Finch, Hunter, Price 67.8 Ht 10: Bargh, Richardson, Ellams, Monaghan 68.4 Ht 11: Blackadder, McDonald,