The 1939 National League Division Two was the second season of British speedway's National League Division Two. The season was never completed, due to the outbreak of World War II.
Summary As with the previous season, there were several team changes. Southampton Saints had moved up to the National League and Bristol Bulldogs had moved down to take their place. Other new entrants were Crystal Palace Glaziers, Stoke and Middlesbrough. Absentees from the end of the previous season were Lea Bridge, West Ham Hawks (West Ham's reserve team), Birmingham (Hall Green) and Leeds Lions.
Newcastle were leading the league at the point of abandonment. Crystal Palace Glaziers resigned after 10 matches and Stoke after 14 matches. Belle Vue Aces provided a team to complete Stoke's fixtures.
Middlesbrough withdrew after 8 matches despite the club's general manager Vic Wieland signing star rider George Greenwood.
Uncompleted table Division Two The season was incomplete due to the outbreak of World War II. Uncompleted table on September 1.
Team PL W D L Pts Newcastle Diamonds 15 10 0 5 20 Hackney Wick Wolves 13 7 0 6 14 Sheffield 8 6 0 2 12 Norwich Stars 12 6 0 6 12 Bristol Bulldogs 14 5 0 9 10 Stoke Potters+ Belle Vue Reserves+ 14 4 0 10 8
+ Belle Vue Reserves replaced Stoke Potters mid-season. Stoke scored 4 points from 8 matches, Belle Vue reserves scored 4 points from 6 matches.
Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace Glaziers withdrew mid-season and their records were expunged.
Fixtures & results A fixtures
B fixtures
Leading averages (league only) Rider Team Average Frank Hodgson Hackney11.29 Ernie EvansSheffield11.25 George PepperNewcastle11.13 Broncho DixonSheffield10.25 Bert SpencerNorwich9.67
National Trophy The 1939 National Trophy was the ninth edition of the Knockout Cup. Wembley and Belle Vue were declared joint winners following the abandonment of the final fixture due to the outbreak of the war. Sheffield Tigers won the Division 2 Final round and therefore qualified for the quarter finals proper (the round when the tier one sides entered the competition).
Qualifying quarterfinals Date Team one Score Team two01/06 Sheffield 69-38 Norwich27/05 Norwich 60-46 Sheffield16/05 Bristol 83-22 Crystal Palace27/05 Crystal Palace 35-65 Bristol13/05 Hackney Wick 80-28 Stoke25/05 Stoke 68-39 Hackney15/05 Newcastle 60-48 Middlesbrough26/05 Middlesbrough 61-46 Newcastle Qualifying semifinals Date Team one Score Team two30/06 Bristol 46-59 Sheffield29/06 Sheffield 75-32 Bristolw/oHackney Wick w/oMiddlesbrough Final
First leg
Second leg
Sheffield were declared National League (Div 2) Champions, winning on aggregate 114–100.
English Speedway Trophy
South
North
Final Team one Team two ScoreNorwich Newcastle 42–40Newcastle Norwich 44–40
Riders and final averages Bristol
7.70 7.38 7.14 6.87 6.43 6.00 5.48 5.07
Crystal Palace (withdrew)
6.86 6.14 6.06 6.00 Keith Harvey 5.79 5.57 5.00 5.00 Charlie Appleby 4.67 4.13 3.43 3.20 2.40 1.50
Hackney
11.29 9.62 8.71 7.29 6.93 6.13 5.96 5.14 4.50
Middlesbrough (withdrew)
11.13 9.33 9.11 8.25 Fred Belliveau 6.50 5.91 5.86 5.85 4.64
Newcastle
George Pepper 11.13 9.29 7.54 7.60 6.07 5.40 5.40 4.00 3.40
Norwich
9.67 8.63 8.33 8.00 8.00 7.83 6.17 Keith Harvey 6.09 5.83 4.67 3.00
Sheffield
11.25 10.25 9.48 (Horace Burke) 5.88 5.78 4.80 3.74 3.25 3.20 2.29
Stoke/Belle Vue
8.25 6.74 6.67 5.47 5.25 5.22 4.76 4.00
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References