1946 Speedway National League

The 1946 National League was the 12th season of the highest tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain and the first post-war season.

The league had been abandoned seven years previously due to the outbreak of World War II. Record attendances were attracted with Wembley Lions attracting an average of 50,000 and the league as a whole a total of six and a half million. From the abandoned 1939 season, Southampton Saints and Harringay Tigers were no longer racing whilst Odsal Boomerangs brought National League speedway to Bradford for the first time.

Wembley Lions won their second National League title.

On 6 July, a crowd of 34,0000 at Odsal Stadium witnessed Odsal Boomerangs lose to Belle Vue Aces. During the match Albert 'Aussie' Rosenfeld, son of Albert Rosenfeld hit the fence and was taken to St Luke's Hospital, Bradford, with a suspected fractured skull. He died 10 days later, on 16 July 1946.

National League Final table
On account of the small number of teams in the league the ACU Cup was run in a league format. Belle Vue Aces came out on top.

A.C.U. Cup final table
Such was the dearth of new riders caused by the war that all of the top ten riders were established pre-war riders and none were below the age of 32.

National Trophy
The 1946 National Trophy was the tenth edition (if including the 1939 abandoned competition) or ninth edition (if not including) of the Knockout Cup. Teams from the lower 1946 Speedway Northern League competed in the event.

First round

Second round

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final
First leg

Second leg

Belle Vue were National Trophy Champions, winning on aggregate 109–106.

Riders' Championship
Tommy Price won the British Riders' Championship final held at Empire Stadium on 12 September, in front of 85,000 spectators. There were no less than 23 qualifying rounds, where riders from National and Northern League tracks respectively, competed in six meetings each.


 * f=fell

London Cup
First round

Final
First leg

Second leg

Wembley won on aggregate 121–95

Riders & final averages
Belle Vue


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Eric Langton 11.13
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jack Parker 11.00
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Wally Lloyd 8.46
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bill Pitcher 6.91
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dent Oliver 5.00
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jim Boyd 4.92
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ron Mason 3.90
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Harold Jackson 4.67
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Louis Lawson 1.45

New Cross


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ron Johnson 10.69
 * Eric French 9.52
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Geoff Pymar 8.63
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Les Wotton 8.24
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Phil Bishop 4.14
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mick Mitchell 4.12
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Frank Lawrence 3.78
 * Keith Harvey 3.40
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Les Webbon 3.06
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ray Moore 2.29
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jack Cooley 2.13
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jack White 0.57

Odsal


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alec Statham 9.72
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ron Clarke 9.50
 * 🇦🇺 Bill Longley 9.20
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ernie Price 8.39
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Fred Tuck 6.90
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Albert Rosenfeld 2.93
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Vic Pitcher 2.86
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bill Osborne 2.00
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Red Hamley 1.33
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jack White 1.25
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Charlie Oates 1.24
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Stan Beardsall 0.80
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ron Stringer 0.60

Wembley


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bill Kitchen 10.75
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tommy Price 10.00
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 George Wilks 9.00
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alf Bottoms 5.90
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bill Gilbert 5.72
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bob Wells 5.66
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Roy Craighead 5.50
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bronco Wilson 5.11
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Charlie May 4.90

West Ham


 * 🇨🇦 Eric Chitty 10.30
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Malcolm Craven 9.03
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Colin Watson 8.40
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bob Harrison 7.89
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jack Cooley 4.73
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Cyril Anderson 4.14
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Benny King 3.47
 * 🇦🇺 Buck Whitby 3.39
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Frank Lawrence 3.23
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Ron Howes 3.23
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 George Gower 3.00
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bert Roger 2.45
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dick Geary 2.29

Wimbledon


 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Norman Parker 10.12
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Lloyd Goffe 8.23
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Oliver Hart 7.58
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Mike Erskine 6.29
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 George Saunders 5.82
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dick Harris 5.69
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Arch Windmill 5.38
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Charlie Dugard 4.38
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Alex Gray 4.00
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Cyril Brine 4.00