1952 Speedway National League

The 1952 National League Division One was the 18th season of speedway in the United Kingdom and the seventh post-war season of the highest tier of motorcycle speedway in Great Britain.

Summary

Norwich Stars joined the league. Wembley Lions won their fourth consecutive title and their seventh overall. Birmingham recorded their highest league finish to date by taking the runner-up spot.
While riding for Wimbledon, on 22 July 1952 the American Ernie Roccio was killed after crashing into the fence at high speed at West Ham Stadium, it has been reported that he died instantly but the newspaper report states he died in hospital.

National Trophy Stage Three

The 1952 National Trophy was the 15th edition of the Knockout Cup. The Trophy consisted of three stages; stage one was for the third-tier clubs, stage two was for the second-tier 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. Harringay won the third and final stage and were therefore declared the 1952 National Trophy champions.

For Stage One - see Stage One
For Stage Two - see Stage Two

First round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
19/07	Norwich	74-34	Poole
12/07	Birmingham	79-29	Bristol
04/07	Bristol	46-62	Birmingham
05/07	Bradford Odsal	67-40	West Ham
01/07	West Ham	66-42	Bradford Odsal

Second round

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
11/08	Birmingham	69-39	Belle Vue
26/07	Belle Vue	59-49	Birmingham
26/07	Bradford Odsal	58-50	Wembley
26/07	Poole	72-36	New Cross
23/07	New Cross	75-33	Poole
21/07	Wimbledon	57-51	Harringay
18/07	Harringay	57-50	Wimbledon
17/07	Wembley	66-41	Bradford Odsal

Semifinals

Date	Team one	Score	Team two
21/08	Wembley	59-49	Birmingham
16/08	Birmingham	69-39	Wembley
15/08	Harringay	57-51	New Cross
13/08	New Cross	43-64	Harringay

Final

First leg
Second leg
Harringay were National Trophy Champions, winning on aggregate 123–92.

London Cup

First round

Team one	Score	Team two
West Ham	63–45, 49–58	New Cross

Semi final round

Team one	Score	Team two
Wembley	49–59, 53–55	Wimbledon
Harringay	56–51, 54–53	West Ham

Final

First leg
Second leg
Harringay won on aggregate '''113–100'''

Riders & final averages

Belle Vue

Henry Long 8.63
8.37
7.40
6.89
7.16
6.63
6.15
6.69
5.28
5.25
2.60
2.00

Birmingham

10.00
8.00
7.78
7.77
7.33
7.28
6.08
5.93
4.86
4.00
3.50

Bradford

8.82
8.36
7.75
6.29
6.27
5.50
4.65
4.27
3.84
3.50
2.82
2.53

Bristol

8.29
6.85
6.36
6.11
5.87
5.50
5.23
5.00
5.04
4.55

Harringay

9.96
8.47
8.37
7.25
6.78
6.28
5.85
5.66
5.52
2.80

New Cross

8.79
8.60
7.66
7.61
7.26
5.66
5.18
4.53
4.49
4.15

Norwich

10.29
8.20
7.41
7.05
4.70
5.09
4.82
4.24
4.00
3.22
3.11
2.71

Wembley

9.76
9.31
8.23
7.74
7.41
7.32
6.79
4.92
1.60

West Ham

10.88
8.56
7.75
6.37
5.49
5.00
4.26
2.86
2.46
1.40

Wimbledon

11.27
9.60
9.00
8.68
6.84
5.74
5.66
5.25
4.20
3.58
3.12
1.71
1.23
0.83