1959 Speedway National League

LeagueNational League

No. of competitors9

1959 Speedway National League
League	National League
No. of competitors	9
Champions	Wimbledon Dons
National Trophy	Wimbledon Dons
Britannia Shield	Wimbledon Dons
Highest average	Ove Fundin
Division/s below	1959 Southern Area League
← 1958 1960 →

The 1959 National League was the 25th season and the fourteenth post-war season of the highest tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.^[1]

With Ipswich Witches dropping down to the Southern Area League, only 9 teams competed with Wimbledon Dons continuing their domination of British speedway with their fifth title in six years.^[2]^[3]^[4]

League

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Wimbledon Dons	16	13	0	3	26
2	Leicester Hunters	16	8	1	7	17
3	Coventry Bees	16	8	1	7	17
4	Norwich Stars	16	8	0	8	16
5	Southampton Saints	16	8	0	8	16
6	Poole Pirates	16	8	0	8	16
7	Oxford Cheetahs	16	7	0	9	14
8	Swindon Robins	16	6	0	10	12
9	Belle Vue Aces	16	5	0	11	10

Fixtures and results

Home \ Away	BV	COV	LEI	NOR	OX	PP	SOT	SWI	WIM
Belle Vue		55–35	50–39	44–46	44–46	65–43	69–38	51–57	52–56
Coventry	51–39		45–45	64–44	51–39	69–39	48–42	51–39	43–47
Leicester	50–40	57–33		66–42	45–43	60–30	43–47	46–44	49–41
Norwich	47–43	60–30	62–46		65–42	54–36	72–36	48–42	44–46
Oxford	62–28	61–29	49–41	58–49		44–45	49–41	52–38	34–56
Poole	48–60	60–48	58–50	63–27	52–38		53–37	46–44	47–43
Southampton	59–31	53–54	50–58	47–43	74–34	58–32		54–36	41–49
Swindon	51–39	50–58	59–31	49–41	45–44	63–27	43–47		39–68
Wimbledon	65–25	67–41	75–33	50–40	70–38	53–37	44–45	63–27

Source: ^[5]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top ten riders (league only)

	Rider	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ove Fundin	Norwich	11.00
2	Peter Craven	Belle Vue	10.84
3	Ken McKinlay	Leicester	10.75
4	Brian Crutcher	Southampton	10.65
5	Ronnie Moore	Wimbledon	10.52
6	Peter Moore	Wimbledon	10.08
7	Ron How	Wimbledon	9.92
8	Mike Broadbank	Swindon	9.40
9	Ron Johnston	Belle Vue	9.05
10	Arne Pander	Oxford	8.90

National Trophy

The 1959 National Trophy was the 21st edition of the Knockout Cup. Wimbledon were the winners.^[6]

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
30/05	Swindon	55-52	Oxford
28/05	Oxford	59-49	Swindon

Second round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
16/07	Oxford	57-51	Southampton
14/07	Southampton	61-47	Oxford
27/06	Belle Vue	67-41	Leicester
27/06	Coventry	69-39	Wimbledon
26/06	Leicester	59-49	Belle Vue
22/06	Wimbledon	71-37	Coventry
20/06	Norwich	65-43	Poole
19/06	Poole	46-62	Norwich

Semifinals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
08/08	Norwich	53-55	Southampton
04/08	Southampton	73-35	Norwich
03/08	Wimbledon	75-33	Belle Vue
01/08	Belle Vue	54-54	Wimbledon

Final

First leg

14 September 1959

Wimbledon Dons Barry Briggs 18 Ronnie Moore 13 Bob Andrews 12 Ron How 11 Jim Tebby 8 Cyril Maidment 4 Cyril Brine 2 Gil Goldfinch 0	67 – 41	Southampton Saints Geoff Mardon 11 Brian Crutcher 9 Björn Knutson 7 Alby Golden 5 Chum Taylor 4 Jack Scott 2 Brian Hanham 1 Dick Bradley 0
	^[7]

Wimbledon Stadium

Second leg

15 September 1959

Southampton Saints Geoff Mardon 11 Björn Knutson 9 Chum Taylor 8 Alby Golden 8 Brian Brett 8 Brian Crutcher 4 Dick Bradley 2 Brian Hanham 2	52 – 56	Wimbledon Dons Barry Briggs 17 Ron How 16 Ronnie Moore 10 Bob Andrews 6 Gil Goldfinch 3 Jim Tebby 3 Cyril Brine 1 Cyril Maidment 0
	^[7]

Banister Court Stadium

Wimbledon were National Trophy Champions, winning on aggregate 123–93.

Britannia Shield

South

Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
Wimbledon	8	6	0	2	12
Southampton	8	5	0	3	10
Norwich	8	4	1	3	9
Swindon	8	2	1	5	5
Poole	8	2	0	6	4

North

Team	PL	W	L	Pts
Belle Vue	6	4	2	8
Coventry	6	4	2	8
Leicester	6	2	4	4
Oxford	6	2	4	4

Home \ Away	NOR	PP	SOT	SWI	WIM
Norwich		52–38	57–33	69–21	54–36
Poole	48–42		43–47	38–52	43–47
Southampton	60–30	54–36		50–40	48–42
Swindon	45–45	42–48	46–43		44–46
Wimbledon	59–31	57–33	60–30	53–37

Source: ^[8]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Home \ Away	BV	COV	LEI	OX
Belle Vue		57–33	58–32	51–39
Coventry	35–53		49–41	52–38
Leicester	46–44	44–46		62–28
Oxford	51–39	41–49	47–43

Source: ^[9]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Final

Team one	Team two	Scores
Wimbledon	Belle Vue	59–31, 56–34

v t e Speedway in the United Kingdom
Current leagues	SGB Premiership SGB Championship National Development League List of champions
Former leagues	Elite League Premier League National League (1932–1964) Provincial League (1960–1964) British League British League Division Two/National League Conference League National League Division Two National League Division Three English Dirt Track League/Northern League Southern League (1929–1931) Southern League (1952–1953) Provincial League (1936–1937) Southern Area League
Current team competitions	Knockout Cup League Pairs champions League Fours champions
Former team competitions	London Cup Midland Cup Craven and Young Shields Premiership Shield
Current individual competitions	British Speedway Championship League Riders' champions British U-21 British U-19 Scottish Open
Former individual competitions	London Riders' Midland Riders' Northern Riders' Southern Riders' Olympique Internationale
See also	Speedway British Speedway Promoters' Association Speedway Control Bureau

v t e United Kingdom Speedway Seasons
Tier One League Top division	1929 1929 1930 1930 1931 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Tier Two League Second division	1934 1936 1937 1938 1939 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Tier Three League Third division	1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1994 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Champions	League champions Cup winners

1959 Speedway National League

League

Final table

Fixtures and results

Top ten riders (league only)

National Trophy

Final

Britannia Shield

Riders and final averages

See also

References

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