1929 Speedway English Dirt Track League
Annual British motorcycle speedway season
- 1930 →
The 1929 English Dirt Track League was the inaugural season of speedway in the United Kingdom for Northern English teams.[1] There was also a Southern League called the 1929 Speedway Southern League that started during the same year.[2][3][4]
Summary
The season was littered with mid-season withdrawals but eventually the Leeds were crowned champions. In 1930, the league was renamed the Northern League so the league existed for just one year. White City Speedway (Manchester) withdrew from the league after a dispute[5] and would have been crowned champions if they had not done so because they were leading the table at the time by four points, having won 18 of their 20 matches.[6]
Dennis Atkinson suffered critical injuries on 12 July 1929, following an accident at Cleveland Park Stadium riding in a Golden Helmet meeting. He died the following day.[7]
Final table
| 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
| 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
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
First leg
| Preston Frank Charles 12 Joe Abbott 10 Ham Burrill 8 Frank Chiswell 8 Jack Chiswell 7 Claude Rye 3 | 48 – 15 | Halifax Walter Creasor 5 Bert Clayton 3 Geoff Taylor 2 Frank Smith 2 Geoff Kilburn 2 Jack Dudding 1 |
|---|---|---|
| [8] |
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 – 39 | Preston Frank Chiswell 12 Frank Charles 10 Joe Abbott 6 Ham Burrill 5 Claude Rye 4 Len Myerscough 2 |
|---|---|---|
| [8] |
Sheffield
Preston were Knockout Cup winners, winning on aggregate 87–39.
Riders
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
- Arthur Atkinson
- Cyril "Squib" Burton
- Bert Clayton
- George Corney
- Walter Creasor
- Jack Duddings
- Dusty Haigh
- Geoff Kilburn
- George Reynard
- Frank Smith
- Geoff Taylor
- Alec Tidswell
- Geoff Wilson
Leeds
- Arthur Atkinson
- Dennis Atkinson
- Roy Barrowclough
- Tommy Bullus
- Billy Burrows
- Tommy Gamble
- George Greenwood
- Alec Hill
- Eric Langton
- Oliver Langton
- Arnold Moore
- John Scratcherd
Leicester
- Stan Baines
- Alec Bowerman
- Len Brown
- Squib Burton
- Billy Ellmore
- Jimmy Gent
- Dilly Gittins
- Hal Herbert
- Syd Jackson
- Nobby Kendrick
- Slider Shuttleworth
- Henry Taft
Liverpool
- Eric Blain
- Larry Boulton
- Crasher Coxhead
- Chris Hughes
- Eddie Myerscough
- Syd Plevin
- Thomas Arthur Price
- Les Wotton
Manchester White City (withdrew)
- Cyril "Squib" Burton
- Larry Boulton
- Billy Dallison
- Harry Gresty
- Walter Hull
- Syd Jackson
- Arthur Jervis
- Hugh Jervis
- Rex Kirby
- Jack Owen
- Skid Skinner
- Bunny Wilcox
- Tommy Withington
- Les Wotton
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
- Joe Abbott
- Bill Anderton
- Ham Burrill
- Frank Charles
- Jack Chiswell
- Frank Chiswell
- Doug Hutchings
- Jack Lund
- Len Mysercough
- Thomas Arthur Price
- Claude Rye
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
References
- ^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 129. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
- ^ "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
- ^ "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - PRE-WAR ERA (1929-1939)". British Speedway. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
- ^ "Speedway Teams UK 1929-1934". Cyber Motorcycle. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
- ^ "MANCHESTER WHITE CITY". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
- ^ "Dirt-Track Topics". Yorkshire Evening Post. 20 September 1929. Retrieved 25 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Middlesbrough Speedway Track At Cleveland Park". Speedway Museum. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
- ^ a b "1960 National Trophy". Speedway Archive. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
- v
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Northern League seasons
- 1929
