1946 Speedway Northern League

The 1946 Northern League was a season of speedway racing in the United Kingdom for Northern British teams in 1946. With a National League in place and no Southern counterpart, it was effectively a second tier.[1]

1946 Speedway Northern League
LeagueNorthern League
ChampionsMiddlesbrough Bears
No. of competitors6
A.C.U CupNorwich Stars
Highest averageJeff Lloyd
Division/s above1946 Speedway National League

Four of the six entrants were previously members of National League Division Two before war broke out. Glasgow and Birmingham were new entrants.[2]

Middlesbrough Bears won their first trophy.[3] The Bears only lost four league fixtures and had three riders in the leading averages; Frank Hodgson, Fred Curtis and Will Plant all contributed significantly during the season.[4]

During a fixture on 7 October at Brough Park the Birmingham Brummies Canadian rider Charlie Appleby crashed. A rider had fallen in front and in an effort to avoid the fallen rider, Appleby swerved and hit the machine instead. He was thrown into the air and suffered a fractured skull. He was taken to Newcastle Infirmary but died during the early hours of 8 October.[5]

Northern League Final table
Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Middlesbrough Bears 20 12 4 4 28
2 Sheffield Tigers 20 11 1 8 23
3 Norwich Stars 20 10 1 9 21
4 Birmingham Brummies 20 9 1 10 19
5 Newcastle Brough 20 8 1 11 17
6 Glasgow Tigers 20 6 0 14 12

On account of the small number of teams in the league the ACU Cup was run in a league format. Norwich Stars came out on top on points difference.

A.C.U. Cup (Div 2) Final table
Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Norwich Stars 10 6 2 2 14
2 Middlesbrough Bears 10 7 0 3 14
3 Sheffield Tigers 10 6 0 4 12
4 Birmingham Brummies 10 4 1 5 9
5 Glasgow Tigers 10 3 0 7 6
6 Newcastle Brough 10 2 1 7 5

Top Five Riders (League only)
Rider Nat Team C.M.A.
1 Jeff Lloyd England Newcastle Brough 10.38
2 Frank Hodgson England Middlesbrough Bears 10.38
3 Bert Spencer Australia Norwich Stars 10.15
4 Tommy Allott England Sheffield Tigers 10.00
5 Stan Williams England Sheffield Tigers 9.75

Riders & final averages

Birmingham

  • England Tiger Hart 9.42
  • England Doug Wells 9.04
  • England Stan Dell 8.73
  • England Roy Dook 8.00
  • Australia Laurie Packer 6.40
  • England Bob Lovell 5.46
  • England Percy Brine 4.19
  • England Ernie Appleby 3.67
  • England Cyril Page 3.29
  • Canada Charlie Appleby 3.12
  • England Jimmy Wright 2.93
  • England Dick Tolley 2.22

Glasgow

  • England Will Lowther 9.67
  • England Wal Morton 8.65
  • England Joe Crowther 7.90
  • Australia Gruff Garland 7.57
  • England Maurice Stobbart 6.30
  • England Eddie Lack 4.12
  • England Charlie Oates 4.00
  • Scotland Bill Baird 3.57
  • England Wally Thomson 2.91
  • England Jack Tidbury 2.67
  • Scotland Bert Shearer 0.89

Middlesbrough

  • England Frank Hodgson 10.38
  • England Kid Curtis 9.68
  • England Wilf Plant 9.45
  • England Tip Mills 7.27
  • England Geoff Godwin 6.95
  • England Jack Hodgson 6.51
  • England Ed Pye 6.45
  • England Jack Gordon 6.29
  • Australia Doug McLachlan 5.50
  • England Len Tupling 4.71
  • England Alex Peel 2.33

Newcastle

  • England Jeff Lloyd 10.38
  • England Norman Evans 8.90
  • Australia Charlie Spinks 7.77
  • Australia Doug McLachlan 6.86
  • Australia Syd Littlewood 6.79
  • England Alec Grant 4.51
  • Scotland Leo Lungo 4.11
  • England Terry Tight 3.70
  • England Stan Pennell 2.00
  • England Harry Modral 1.33

Norwich

  • England Bert Spencer 10.15
  • England Wilf Jay 9.00
  • England Paddy Mills (Horace Burke) 8.20
  • England Ted Bravery 7.59
  • England Roy Duke 6.22
  • England Sid Hipperson 5.71
  • England Harwood Pike 4.52
  • England Len Read 4.00
  • England Don Houghton 3.94
  • Northern Ireland Paddy Hammond 1.60
  • Australia Bluey Thorpe 1.14
  • England Charlie Challis 1.00

Sheffield

  • England Tommy Allott 10.00
  • England Stan Williams 9.75
  • England Tommy Bateman 8.00
  • England Jack Bibby 6.56
  • England Dick Geary 5.64
  • England John Duncan White 4.84
  • England Stan Hodson 3.79
  • England Reg Lambourne 3.75
  • England Alf Elliott 3.49
  • England Bruce Semmens 3.27

See also

References
  1. The Speedway Researcher Speedway Researcher. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
  2. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  3. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  4. "Northern League 1946" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  5. "Speedway crash". Lincolnshire Echo. 8 October 1946. Retrieved 11 August 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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