1964 Speedway National League

1964 Speedway National League
League	National League
No. of competitors	7
Champions	Oxford Cheetahs
National Trophy	Oxford Cheetahs
Britannia Shield	Oxford Cheetahs
London Cup	Wimbledon Dons
Highest average	Ove Fundin
Division/s below	1964 Provincial League
	← 1963; 1965 →;

The 1964 National League was the 30th season and the nineteenth post-war season of the highest tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain, but the final season of the National League being the highest tier.^[1]

Summary

West Ham Hammers returned after a nine-year absence but the league stayed at seven competitors with the withdrawal of Southampton Saints. Oxford Cheetahs, who had finished bottom of the table in 1963, rose spectacularly up the league to win the title, a repeat of the feat they had accomplished at a lower level in 1950.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

Final table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Oxford Cheetahs	12	9	0	3	18
2	Coventry Bees	12	8	1	3	17
3	Norwich Stars	12	6	0	6	12
4	Belle Vue Aces	12	5	1	6	11
5	Swindon Robins	12	4	1	7	9
6	Wimbledon Dons	12	4	1	7	9
7	West Ham Hammers	12	4	0	8	8

On account of the small number of teams in the league meeting each other only once home and away, the Britannia Shield was run in a league format. Oxford Cheetahs came out on top.

Britannia Shield table

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
1	Oxford Cheetahs	12	8	1	3	17
2	Coventry Bees	12	8	0	4	16
3	Belle Vue Aces	12	6	0	6	12
4	Swindon Robins	12	6	0	6	12
5	Norwich Stars	12	5	0	7	10
6	Wimbledon Dons	12	5	0	7	10
7	West Ham Hammers	12	3	1	8	7

Top Ten Riders (League only)

	Rider	Team	C.M.A.
1	Ove Fundin	Norwich Stars	10.71
2	Göte Nordin	Wimbledon Dons	10.62
3	Barry Briggs	Swindon Robins	10.51
4	Nigel Boocock	Coventry Bees	10.44
5	Ken McKinlay	Coventry Bees	9.92
6	Ron How	Oxford Cheetahs	9.84
7	Mike Broadbank	Swindon Robins	9.80
8	Sören Sjösten	Belle Vue Aces	9.62
9	Björn Knutson	West Ham Hammers	9.16
10	Dick Fisher	Belle Vue Aces	8.77

^[6]

National Trophy

The 1964 National Trophy was the 26th edition of the Knockout Cup. Oxford were the winners.^[7]

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
03/07	Norwich	47-36	Oxford
25/06	Oxford	48-36	Norwich
13/06	Coventry	43-41	West Ham
09/06	West Ham	45-39	Coventry
17/08	Wimbledon	46-38	Swindon
08/08	Swindon	51-33	Wimbledon

Semi-finals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
08/08	Belle Vue	32a-28a	Oxford
12/09	Belle Vue	46-38	Oxford
06/08	Oxford	49-35	Belle Vue
01/09	West Ham	51-33	Swindon
05/09	Swindon	43-41	West Ham

a=abandoned after 10 heats

Final

first leg

22 September 1964

West Ham Hammers Stan Stevens 11 Björn Knutson 9 Bengt Jansson 9 Reg Luckhurst 9 Ray Cresp 7 Malcolm Simmons 3 Norman Hunter 2 Alf Hagon 2	52–32	Oxford Cheetahs Ron How 8 Jimmy Gooch 7 Ronnie Genz 6 Arne Pander 4 Eddie Reeves 3 Colin Gooddy 2 John Bishop 2 Ted Ede 0
	^[8]

West Ham Stadium

second leg

24 September 1964

Oxford Cheetahs Colin Gooddy 10 Ron How 9 Jack Geran 8 Ronnie Genz 8 Arne Pander 7 Jimmy Gooch 5 Eddie Reeves 4 John Bishop 2	53–31	West Ham Hammers Björn Knutson 10 Bengt Jansson 7 Stan Stevens 5 Bob Dugard 5 Ray Cresp 2 Reg Luckhurst 1 Norman Hunter 1 Alf Hagon 0
	^[8]

Oxford Stadium

Oxford Cheetahs were declared National Trophy Champions, winning on aggregate 85-83.

London Cup

Just two teams competed. Wimbledon won on aggregate 87–81^[9]

Team 1	Team 2	Score	Scorers	Scorers
Wimbledon	West Ham	47–37	Harrfeldt 10, Nordin 9, Jackson 9, Andrews 8, Tebby 5, McAuliffe 5, Whipp 1, Baker 0	Jansson 10, Knutson 9, Luckhurst 4 Dugard 4, Ray Cresp 3, Stevens 3, Hagon 3, Hunter 1
West Ham	Wimbledon	44–40	Knutson 12, Simmons 7, Luckhurst 7, Hunter 5, Hagon 3, Cresp 3, Jansson 3	Andrews 11, Nordin 6, McAuliffe 6, Tebby 6, Jackson 5, Stan Stevens 4, Harrfeldt 3, Baker 2, Whipp 2

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Coventry

Norwich

Ove Fundin 10.71
Olle Nygren 8.65
David Crane 7.45
Trevor Hedge 7.68
Billy Bales 6.12
Tich Read (George Snailum) 4.69
Sándor Lévai 4.57
George Major 4.00
Reg Trott 3.89
Cyril Crane 1.33
John Debbage 0.50

Oxford

Swindon

West Ham

Wimbledon

References

^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
^ "League Tables".
^ "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
^ "Rider Averages" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 July 2017.
^ "1964 National Trophy". Speedway archive.
^ ^a ^b "Oxford 1964" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
^ "Speedway". Daily Mirror. 30 September 1964. Retrieved 26 September 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[1] "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.

[2] "League Tables".

[3] "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 12 August 2021.

[4] Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.

[5] "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - POST-WAR ERA (1946-1964)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 12 August 2021.

[6] "Rider Averages" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 July 2017.

[7] "1964 National Trophy". Speedway archive.

[SR-8] "Oxford 1964" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 27 June 2021.

[9] "Speedway". Daily Mirror. 30 September 1964. Retrieved 26 September 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.

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