The 1960 Provincial Speedway League was the first season of the Provincial League, ten motorcycle speedway teams took part.
Teams The ten teams that made up the re-incarnated Provincial League were mainly teams that had not experienced league racing for several years. Eight teams were Sheffield Tigers (who had been without league speedway since 1951), Cradley Heath Heathens (1952), Stoke Potters & Liverpool Pirates (1953), Bristol Bulldogs and Edinburgh Monarchs (1954), Bradford Panthers (formerly Odsal) & Rayleigh Rockets (1957). The remaining two teams were Poole Pirates, who joined from the National League and Yarmouth Bloaters, who joined the league after moving up from the Southern Area League. The Southern Area League was disbanded leaving three teams Eastbourne Eagles, Aldershot Shots and Rye House Rockets without a league, so they ran a series of challenge matches throughout 1960.
Summary The league was dominated by Rayleigh, Poole and Bristol. Rayleigh and Poole finished on the same points, but Rayleigh triumphed with a superior number of race points scored. At the end of the season Liverpool and Yarmouth folded and Bristol closed after their track was sold for redevelopment.
Final table Pos Team M W D L Pts1 Rayleigh Rockets 18 16 0 2 322 Poole Pirates 18 16 0 2 323 Bristol Bulldogs 18 15 0 3 304 Sheffield Tigers 18 9 0 9 185 Stoke Potters 18 8 1 9 176 Cradley Heath Heathens 18 8 0 10 167 Yarmouth Bloaters 18 7 0 11 148 Edinburgh Monarchs 18 5 1 12 119 Liverpool Pirates 18 4 0 14 810 Bradford Panthers 18 1 0 17 2 M = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points
Fixtures & results
+Poole awarded points
Top five averages (league only) Rider Nat Team C.M.A. 1 Reg Reeves Rayleigh 11.29 2 Trevor Redmond Bristol 10.92 3 Harry Bastable Cradley Heath 10.59 4 Tony Lewis Poole 10.43 5 Alan Smith Rayleigh 10.41
Provincial League Knockout Cup The 1960 Provincial League Knockout Cup was the first edition of the Knockout Cup for the Provincial League teams. Bristol Bulldogs were the winners.
First round Date Team one Score Team two30/05Liverpool 47–49 Cradley Heath09/07Edinburgh 59–37 Sheffield
Second round Date Team one Score Team two25/06Bradford 35–61 Bristol02/07Stoke 60–35 Cradley Heath16/07Edinburgh 54–41 Yarmouth03/08Poole 47–49 Rayleigh
Semifinals Date Team one Score Team two27/08Edinburgh 38–58 Bristol02/09Rayleigh 52–43 Stoke
Final Date Team one Score Team two07/09 Rayleigh 52–41 Bristol23/09 Bristol 59–37 Rayleigh
Riders' Championship Trevor Redmond won the Riders' Championship. The final was held at Dudley Wood Stadium on 24 September.
Pos. Rider Pts Total1 Trevor Redmond 3 3 3 3 3 152 Ken Middleditch 3 3 2 3 2 133 Eric Hockaday 3 3 3 1 3 134 Tony Robinson 3 3 1 2 2 115 Doug Templeton 2 1 3 3 1 106 Jack Kitchen 2 2 2 0 3 97 Tony Lewis 2 1 2 2 2 98 Wal Morton 1 1 0 3 0 99 Ivor Brown 1 2 3 1 1 910 Tommy Roper 2 0 2 1 0 511 Johnny Hole 0 2 1 2 3 512 Reg Reeves 1 1 1 0 1 413 Ray Day 0 2 1 0 0 314 Ross Gilbertson (res) 2 1 315 Eric Eadon (res) 1 2 316 Clive Featherby 1 0 r 117 Norman Strachan f 0 0 0 0 018 Cliff Cox 0 0 0 0 f=fell r-retired
Riders & final averages
Bradford
6.90 6.57 (Jack Thorp) 5.46 4.48 4.15 3.08 1.64
Bristol
10.92 10.00 7.83 7.79 7.20 6.83 6.24 5.87 5.29
Cradley Heath
10.59 8.06 6.59 6.04 5.55 5.28 3.52 2.00
Edinburgh
8.16 8.00 7.13 6.76 4.34 4.30 3.62 3.55
Liverpool
10.00 8.15 7.40 5.30 4.93 3.52 3.26 2.57 2.09
Poole
10.43 9.93 9.40 7.72 7.52 7.93 6.00 5.25 2.75
Rayleigh
11.29 10.41 9.24 8.94 7.58 5.85 5.37 4.50 4.00
Sheffield
9.60 9.20 8.55 6.26 5.19 4.13 2.86 2.32 1.43
Stoke
11.00 9.12 7.62 7.57 6.06 5.73 5.29 4.53 3.38 3.09
Yarmouth
9.78 8.24 8.00 5.53 5.77 4.59 3.48
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References