1929 Speedway English Dirt Track League

1929 Speedway English Dirt Track League
LeagueEnglish Dirt Track League
No. of competitors11
ChampionsLeeds
Knockout CupPreston
Highest averageSyd Jackson
Division/s other1929 Southern League

The 1929 English Dirt Track League was the inaugural season of speedway in the United Kingdom, featuring from Northern England.[1] In the same year, the 1929 Speedway Southern League also commenced, catering to teams from Southern England[2][3][4]

Summary

[edit]

The season was marked by mid-season withdrawals, but Leeds were ultimately crowned champions. In 1930, the league was renamed the Northern League, thus existing for only one year. White City Speedway (Manchester) withdrew from the league following a dispute[5] and would have been crowned champions if they had not withdrawn. At the time of their departure, they were leading the table by four points, having won 18 of their 20 matches.[6]

The introduction of speedway in Middlesbrough at the Cleveland Park Stadium was a success with the team holding their first home fixture was on 16 May 1929 against Salford.[7][8] However, on 12 July 1929, Dennis Atkinson suffered critical injuries following an accident at Cleveland Park, riding in a Golden Helmet meeting. He died the following day.[9]

Final table

[edit]
Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Leeds 20 16 1 3 33
2 Preston 20 14 0 6 28
3 Halifax 19 12 1 6 25
4 Newcastle 20 10 0 10 20
5 Salford 20 10 0 10 20
6 Rochdale 20 9 1 19 19
7 Leicester Stadium 20 9 0 11 18
8 Liverpool 18 8 0 10 16
9 Sheffield 20 6 1 13 13
10 Middlesbrough 19 6 0 13 12
11 Barnsley Lundwood 20 6 0 14 12

Withdrawals (Records expunged) :

Top Five Riders

[edit]
Team C.M.A.
1 Syd Jackson Leicester 10.71
2 Joe Abbott Burnley/Preston 10.50
3 Ham Burrill Preston 9.44
4 Charlie Hornby Warrington 8.88
5 Walter Creasor Newcastle/Halifax 8.50

English Dirt Track Knockout Cup

[edit]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
03/08 Barnsley Lundwood 32–30 Sheffield
10/08 Rochdale 39–23 Salford
10/08 Sheffield 33–30 Barnsley Lundwood
13/08 Middlesbrough 25–38 Newcastle
16/08 Manchester White City 50–13 Warrington
21/08 Liverpool 16–47 Preston
22/08 Halifax 49–13 Leeds
22/08 Leicester Stadium 34–27 Leicester Super
22/08 Preston 44–19 Liverpool
23/08 Newcastle 38–24 Middlesbrough
23/08 Warrington 33–29 Manchester White City
24/08 Leeds 32–31 Halifax
24/08 Leicester Super 30–32 Leicester Stadium
24/08 Nottingham 35–23 Wombwell
26/08 Salford 37–26 Rochdale
29/08 Wombwell 38–24 Nottingham

Second round

Date Team one Score Team two
12/09 Halifax 35–25 Wombwell
14/09 Rochdale 30–33 Leicester Stadium
16/09 Wombwell 31–31 Halifax
18/09 Sheffield 35–28 Preston
19/09 Leicester Stadium 35–27 Rochdale
19/09 Preston 55–11 Sheffield
Manchester White City w/o Newcastle

Semifinals

Date Team one Score Team two
19/09 Halifax 44–19 Newcastle
20/09 Newcastle 37–25 Halifax
21/09 Preston 48–14 Leicester Stadium
03/10 Leicester Stadium 39–24 Preston

Final

[edit]

First leg

Preston
Frank Charles 12
Joe Abbott 10
Ham Burrill 8
Frank Chiswell 8
Jack Chiswell 7
Claude Rye 3		48 – 15Halifax
Walter Creasor 5
Bert Clayton 3
Geoff Taylor 2
Frank Smith 2
Geoff Kilburn 2
Jack Dudding 1
[10]
Farringdon Park

Second leg

Halifax
Cyril "Squib" Burton 7
George Reynard 6
Bert Clayton 4
Frank Smith 3
Arthur Atkinson 2
Jack Dudding 1		24 – 39Preston
Frank Chiswell 12
Frank Charles 10
Joe Abbott 6
Ham Burrill 5
Claude Rye 4
Len Myerscough 2
[10]
Sheffield

Preston were Knockout Cup winners, winning on aggregate 87–39.

Riders

[edit]

Barnsley

  • Bob Allen
  • Tommy Allott
  • Albert Brown
  • Bob Elliott
  • Fred Ledger
  • Reg Marshall
  • Joe Mitchell
  • Arthur Moore
  • Bert Round
  • George Thompson
  • Tommy Thompson
  • Charlie Ward

Halifax

Leeds

Leicester

Liverpool

Manchester White City (withdrew)

Middlesbrough

  • James Allen
  • Dick Bailey
  • Charlie Barratt
  • Billy Brown
  • Dan Buck
  • Ron Carling
  • Edde Crenston
  • Broncho Dixon
  • Norman Evans
  • Frank Harrison

Newcastle

  • Phil Blake
  • Gordon Byers
  • Arnie Cattell
  • Fred Creasor
  • Walter Creasor
  • Percy Dunn
  • Charles Sanderson
  • Roy Sanderson
  • Ernie Smith
  • Tommy Storey
  • Bud Thompson

Preston

Rochdale

  • Jack Atkinson
  • Buster Breaks
  • Cyril "Squib" Burton
  • Ben Higginbottom
  • Wally Hicklin
  • Scott Michie
  • Skid Nock
  • Bud Proctor
  • Fred Proctor
  • Ron Thompson

Salford

  • Billy Howard
  • Hen Helsby
  • Tommy Mason
  • Ken Miller
  • Sid Newiss
  • Tommy Simpson
  • Cliff Watson
  • Arthur Wilcock
  • Cyril Wilcock
  • Fred Williams

Sheffield

  • Jack Barber
  • Clem Beckett
  • Frank Bianchi
  • Johnny Broughton
  • George Crawshaw
  • Scotty Cummings
  • Eric Hall
  • Dusty Jenkins
  • Arthur Longley
  • Gus Platts
  • W S Shuker
  • Spencer Stratton
  • Arthur Westwood

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  2. ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
  3. ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - PRE-WAR ERA (1929-1939)". British Speedway. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  4. ^ "Speedway Teams UK 1929-1934". Cyber Motorcycle. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  5. ^ "MANCHESTER WHITE CITY". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Dirt-Track Topics". Yorkshire Evening Post. 20 September 1929. Retrieved 25 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ^ "1929 season" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  8. ^ "Albion Auto Racers". Yorkshire Evening Post. 13 May 1929. Retrieved 4 October 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ^ "Middlesbrough Speedway Track At Cleveland Park". Speedway Museum. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  10. ^ a b "1960 National Trophy". Speedway Archive. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
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