1951 Speedway National League Division Two

The 1951 National League Division Two was the sixth post-war season of the second tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.

Summary

The League was extended again with 18 teams starting the season. New entrants were Motherwell Eagles and there were again three teams promoted from Division Three - the champions Oxford Cheetahs, third-place finishers Leicester Hunters and Liverpool Chads. Plymouth Devils moved back down in the opposite direction.
Norwich Stars retained their league title, while Cradley Heath, Edinburgh and Norwich won the early season shield competitions.
Another rider was killed at the Firs Stadium. Twenty-one-year-old Bob Howes died after hitting the fence during a training practice race on 10 November 1951.
Southampton Saints and Sheffield Tigers resigned in mid-season and their records were expunged. Jimmy Baxter Director of Southern Speedways withdrew Southampton from the league largely due to 45% entertainment duty imposed by the government. and they had their results expunged.

National Trophy Stage Two

For Stage One - see Stage One
For Stage Three - see Stage Three

The 1951 National Trophy was the 14th edition of the Knockout Cup. The Trophy consisted of three stages; stage one was for the third division clubs, stage two was for the second division clubs and stage three was for the top-tier clubs. The winner of stage one would qualify for stage two and the winner of stage two would qualify for the third and final stage. Norwich won stage two and therefore qualified for stage three.
Second Division qualifying first round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
14/05	Exeter	60-47	Oxford
10/05	Oxford	80-28	Exeter
09/05	Fleetwood	64-44	Newcastle
04/05	Southampton	60-48	Walthamstow
30/04	Newcastle	71-36	Fleetwood
30/04	Walthamstow	77-31	Southampton

Second Division Qualifying Second round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
28/05	Cradley Heath	58-49	Coventry
26/05	Coventry	48-60	Cradley Heath
24/05	Oxford	61-47	Yarmouth
22/05	Yarmouth	63-44	Oxford
21/05	Newcastle	47-70	Norwich
19/05	Norwich	79-29	Newcastle
14/05	Walthamstow	81-26	Stoke Hanley
12/05	Edinburgh	77-29	Leicester
12/05	Stoke Hanley	59-49	Walthamstow
11/05	Leicester	46-62	Edinburgh
11/05	Motherwell	39-69	Halifax
09/05	Halifax	79-29	Motherwell
08/05	Glasgow Ashfield	70-38	Liverpool
07/05	Liverpool	62-46	Glasgow Ashfield
-	Glasgow	w/o	Sheffield

Second Division Qualifying quarterfinals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
05/06	Glasgow Ashfield	71-37	Cradley Heath
30/05	Glasgow White City	64-44	Norwich
26/05	Edinburgh	68-40	Halifax
23/05	Halifax	68-39	Edinburgh
26/05	Norwich	14-4	Glasgow White City
11/06	Walthamstow	73-35	Yarmouth
09/06	Norwich	81-27	Glasgow White City
29/05	Yarmouth	57-51	Walthamstow

Second Division Qualifying semifinals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
07/07	Norwich	67.5-40.5	Cradley Heath
11/06	Cradley Heath	83-25	Glasgow Ashfield
04/07	Halifax	71-37	Walthamstow
02/07	Walthamstow	74-34	Halifax

Second Division Qualifying final

First leg
'''Second leg'''

Shields

Southern Shield

Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
Norwich	10	7	1	2	15
Walthamstow	10	6	0	4	12
Oxford	10	6	0	4	12
Southampton	10	5	1	4	11
Yarmouth	10	2	0	8	4
Coventry	10	1	0	9	2

Central Shield

Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
Cradley Heath	10	7	0	3	14
Leicester	10	6	0	4	12
Halifax	10	5	1	4	11
Hanley	10	5	0	5	10
Sheffield	10	3	1	6	7
Liverpool	10	2	1	7	5

Northern Shield

Team	PL	W	D	L	Pts
Edinburgh	10	9	0	1	18
Glasgow	10	7	0	3	10
Newcastle	10	5	0	5	10
Motherwell	10	4	0	6	8
Ashfield	10	3	0	7	6
Fleetwood	10	2	0	8	4

Midland Cup

Leicester won the inaugural Midland Cup, which consisted of eight teams. There was one team from division 1, five teams from division 2 and two teams from division 3.
First round

Team one	Team two	Score
Hanley	Wolverhampton	67–29, 60–30

Second round

Team one	Team two	Score
Leicester	Long Eaton	75–21, 52–44
Oxford	Coventry	58–38, 37–59
Cradley	Hanley	57–39, 45–50

Semi final round

Team one	Team two	Score
Coventry	Leicester	49–45, 41–55
Birmingham	Cradley	65–30, 62–34

Final

First leg
Second leg
Leicester won on aggregate '''98–94'''

Riders & final averages

Ashfield

9.02
8.57
7.30
6.20
6.17
6.07
5.61
4.46
4.39
2.74

Coventry

8.48
8.21
8.04
6.99
6.24
5.91
5.63
5.85
5.58
5.26
4.73

Cradley Heath

9.00
6.76
8.56
7.86
6.55
6.51
6.14
5.15
4.43
4.00
3.52
1.74

Edinburgh

11.72
8.45
8.15
7.36
7.11
5.74
5.38
3.45
3.00
2.53
2.45

Fleetwood

8.00
7.93
7.13
6.25
3.88
3.40
3.04
2.51
2.09

Glasgow

10.70
9.18
5.86
6.43
6.29
6.09
4.62
4.55
4.37

Halifax

10.30
9.03
7.70
6.08
5.71
5.18
4.86
4.59
2.71

Hanley

8.71
7.10
6.65
6.65
6.36
6.34
6.32
5.80
1.00

Leicester

9.42
8.43
8.24
7.93
6.86
6.55
6.17
5.30
4.92
4.65
3.45
3.30

Liverpool

8.80
7.83
7.43
7.39
5.75
5.50
5.39
4.23
3.71
2.40

Motherwell

10.18
8.86
8.37
7.48
6.32
5.50
5.20
5.00
4.59
2.35
2.24
1.95

Newcastle

10.25
6.80
6.10
6.00
5.49
5.46
4.56
4.45
4.20
4.19
4.00
2.93
2.91

Norwich

10.84
9.50
8.38
7.91
7.82
7.73
7.93
5.88

1.00
Oxford

9.10
7.23
7.15
7.06
7.03
6.62
5.53
5.52
5.49
5.35
3.64

Sheffield

8.60
8.00
7.24
6.10
5.89
5.40
4.40
4.32
2.60

Southampton

8.71
8.71
7.43
6.71
6.43
6.25
5.89
3.16

Walthamstow

9.03
8.21
8.11
7.92
7.86
6.73
6.49
4.50
2.96

Yarmouth

9.57
9.28
6.53
5.63
4.75
4.45
4.23
3.80
3.70
2.59
1.73