Post by administrator on Mar 27, 2009 22:41:22 GMT 1
TO try and run any motor sport in mid-winter on dirt tracks is courting disaster, but the threats from the rain did not deter Skirrow midget car owner Dave Hughes and Coventry promoter Charles Ochiltree from trying to establish a speedway-type league for midgets in the winter of 1951-52.
The league centred over a month on the tracks at Leicester, Birmingham (Perry Barr), Coventry and Cradley Heath. Leicester was allocated three meetings, Coventry and Cradley Heath had two dates with Birmngham scheduled to stage the league’s final meeting.
Sadly, thanks to one of the wettest winters for many years, the league was abandoned mid-way through. At the time, there was a suggestion that ‘fixtures have been suspended until the spring.’ That was never fulfilled and, as with so many ambitious plans to promote midget car racing as a mainstream sport, the venture went to the wall.
Basically, the idea was to staff the teams with a mixture of speedway riders - to attract the bike fans - and regular midget car drivers. Additionally, pre-war midget car stars Cyril ‘Squib” Burton - who had also been a speeday international in the 1930s, Walter Mackereth and Johnny young were brought out of retirement. The matches were triangular meetings whereby a team scoring most points won two matches, while the second highest scoring team would win one match.
The Coventry team was led by speedway rider Derrick Tailby, who turned down an offer to join Captain Jack Easton’s stunt and crash demonstration team to drive midgets. They also brought in their pre-war drivers Mackereth and Young to form the basis of the team, but the driver who eventually became the big hero was Johnnie Reason, a youngster then also carving himself a big reputation in the Coventry speedway team.
Leicester’s top man was expected to be ‘Squib’ Burton, whose bike career was ended by a badly broken leg in the early 1930s, but at the end of the decade was a top Skirrow midget car driver who raced mainly at Lea Bridge (London) and Stoke. Arch handscombe was another experienced midget car driver in the Leicester team, while local speedway riders in the team included Len Williams and Ron Wilson.
Birmingham drafted in the stock car star Wilf Davis, who was also a regular Skirrow midget car driver. It was a delight before races to see 6ft 4ins tall Davis ‘sardine’ himself into the driving cockpit of his midget car. Birmingham speedway riders in the side included the legendary Alan Hunt, along with Lionel Watling and Jim Tolley.
The Tolleys were also evident in the Cradley Heath team, with Jim’s brothers Dickyy and Les in the Dudley Wood-based side. Cradley Heath had five five speedway riders in their nominated team - Dickyy Tolley, Frank Johnson, Phil Malpass, Les Tolley and Jimmy Wright. The only Skirrow regular was Walt Perry.
Much was made of the fact that at 17-stones in weight, Hughes was the heaviest driver in the league. Much was also made of the fact that Leicester’s Ted Taylor was ‘keen to put on another stone to enable him to match the Coventry driver’s racing weight.’
With five drivers in each each race, the points scoring for heats was rather complex. A winning driver scored four points, three for second, two for third, one for fourth and nil for fifth. Points for the league table were four for a win over both opposing teams, two for a win over one opposing team, three for one win and one draw, and one for one draw.
The first league match at Coventry povided plenty of excitement. In heat two, Derrick Tailby tried to overtake Alan Hunt, with both cars colliding and overturning. They both hit the safety fence, tearing up 30 yards of wire mesh fencing and damaging a lamp standard. In the collision, Tailby’s car climbed over Hunt’s car. While Hunt walked away from the crash, Tailby was carried off on a stretcher but later turned out and won two races.
Lionel Watling was also involved in a spectacular pile-up later in the match when he hit the safety fence and overturned his car. Again, Watling like Tailby and Hunt drove later in the match, won by Leicester 36 from Coventry 32 and Birmingham 21.
At this meeting, Coventry’s Mackereth showed how serious he was about racing by defying his 47 years and 13 years absence from team racing to set the the track record of 76.2 seconds for four laps rolling start over the 375-yard circuit. Mackereth scored seven points and lost more when he had engine failure when second in his thirdd drive. His comment after the meeting was, “I never realised how tiring it was on the wrists.”
The meeting at Leicester the following week was fairly uneventful, with Coventry 37 finishing ahead of Leicester 34 and Cradley Heath 21. Bujt when racing moved on to Cradley Heath on Decdember 15, the fireworks flew again.
Again, Tailby was the thrill-maker. Cradley’s Dickyy Tolley was in the lead when his steering snapped on the last bend and he ran into the safety fence. Tailby moved past Wright to challenge Dickyy’s brother Jim who had gone into the lead. Somehow, a last bend sweep took Tailby into the lead but as he passed the chequered flag he skidded violently into the safety fence, oveturning his car.
After the meeting, Tailby inspected the safety fence, and sadi, “I tore the fence down at Coventry, but neither Dickyy nor I did that to the Cradley fence. My record’s intact!”
Both Birmingham and Cradley were hit by various problems during the match. The reliable Coventry side had Johnnie Reason unbeaten for a second match in their 38 points total. Birmingham scored 29 and Cradley 21.
Leicester’s match on Boxing day, December 24, was the last in the Midland League. The reasons given were the high accident rate and problems getting spares to make the cars raceworthy. And some bad weather, with severe frosts and heavy rain were also making track conditions atrocious. There was a suggestion the Midland League would resume in April 1952 but this never happened.
Going into the final match, Squib Burton dropped out of the Leicester team to let Ron Wilson make his first appearance, while Coventry drafted in pre-World War Two star Johnnie Young for Ron Major who was getting married on the day of the match.
Another newcomer to the league was Phil ‘Tiger’ Hart, the former Birmingham and Wimbledon speedway rider. His speedway career had ended in 1948 after he broke a leg for the second time. In 1937, Hart had joined with Charlie dugard to buy a field at Arlington in Sussex, which became the famous Eastbourne Speedway.
Fittingly, Hart was involved in Birmingham’s only win in the Midland League, his seven points as team captain helping them\ to score 38, followed by Coventry 28 and Leicester 18.
One of the big mysteries surrounding the Midland League was the failure of Spike Rhiando get a team place. He had been a big star in pre-war league racing, and also featured in open meetings leading up to the start of the Midland League. In one meeting at Birmigham, Rhiando had delighted a 25,000 crowd with his daring driving. He also featured in another warm-ip meeting at long Eaton in which Lionel Watling startled the fans by ‘jumping’ his Skirrow over the safety fence.
The speculation for his non-appearance was that he refused to drive the rent-a-Skirrows owned by Hughes. He wanted to drive his own car and asked for more points and start money than that being paid to the other drivers. In the end, Rhiando decided to walkout on midget car racing and sold his car to Huighes for £270.
In the subsequent inquest into the failure of the Midland League, Johnnie reason, arguably the competition’s best driver, said, “The actual format for racing was hard to follow, but once supporters got used to the heat concept they began to enjoy the racing.
“However, there is no doubt that racing was put on at the wrong time of the year with the winter meetings badly hit by the weather.”
Reason added, :Dave Hughes wanted to take midget car league racing to other stadiums when the Midland League folded, but there was never a reasonable profit margin for the promoters.
“However, I felt that staging midget car racing to a speedway meeting formula had potential, especially when it featured such hair-raising events as those involving Derrick Tailby at Coventry and Cradley Heath.”
Reason continued, “I had no problems adapting from riding speedway bikes to driving midget cars - the technique is very similar. Derrick Tailby was the speedway rider who most impressed me in midget cars, while I always respected Arch Handscomb of the midget car brigade.
“Walter Mackereth - dspite being much older than the other drivers was also very good . But, without being big-headed, I held two track records at the finish - one shared with Tailby - and I had the best car in the league. I looked after it and always made sure it was raceworthy.”
Derrick Tailby, who died in 2002, said, “The failure of the league was due to a lack of raceworth cars as well as the weather. The same cars were being use in most races and two drivers would share a car and maintain it. The numbers were changed to fit in with those going out to race.
“Midget car racing as a speedway sport would be attractive if properly promoted. In the days of the Midland League, despite the weather attendances were always good.”
Tailby concluded, “I think you have to be a little mad to drive a midget car but it was good fun. My two crashes, at Coventry and Cradley Heath, were really spectacular - so they told me.
“I won the race at Cradley while upside down after skidding and hitting the safety fence. Our pay rates for such endeavours were not worthwhile, but midget car racing was great fun - for drivers and the fans.”
More than 50 years after the end of the Midland League, there were still people who remembered the competition. The author had contacts with several supporters during 2002.
John Arnold, of Hinckley Road, Wolvey, in Leicestershire, told me, “I used to watch midget car racing at Brandon Stadium (Coventry) in the early to mid-1950s. These were league meetings with teams from Coventry, Leicester, Birmingham and Cradley Heath. There were only a few cars - about six or eight - and they were used by all the teams at any one meeting.
“There were quite a few mechanic al failures and delays during the meetings although the racing was always exciting when it took place! The league season did not last for very long because of the mechanical failures.”
John Arnold, added, “There was a degree of danger with the cars as they were four-wheel drive and if a drive touched the back of the car ahead of him it would climb up over it. I saw this happen at Coventry and also saw a car climb up one of the trackside light standards.
“The only drivers I can remember are Ron Major, Alan Hunt who was the Cradley Heath speedway captain, and an American Spike Rhiando who had his own car which was more reliable than the others used.”
P G Wale, of Styvechale, Coventry, said, “The races were over four cars over four laps and usually only two finished. The reliability of the engines was very poor.”
MIDLAND LEAGUE TEAMS
Drivers and car numbers:
Birmingham: Alan Hunt (51, captain), Phil ‘Tiger’ Hart (50), Roy Pulford (20),Wilf Davis (4), Jim Tolley (54), Jim Martin (16), Lionel Watling (57).
Coventry: Derrick Tailby (33, captain), Dave Hughes (9), Johnnie Reason (30), Walter Mackereth (39), John Yates (37), Ron Major (15), Johnny Young (36).
Cradley Heath: Dickyy Tolley (64, captain), Walt Perry (19), Frank Johnson (11), Les Tolley (62), Phil Malpass (60), Jimmy Wright (28).
Leicester: Squib Burton (40, captain, Arch Handscomb (8), Ted Taylor (25), Vic King (12), Ron Wilson (48), Bob Sivyer (24), Len Williams (46).
Track details:
Coventry, 375 yards, 4-lap rolling start record, Walter Mackereth 76.2 seconds.
Leicester, 380 yards, 4-lap rolling start record, Johnnie Reason and Derrick Tailby, 77.4 seconds.
Cradley Heath, 387 yards, 4-lap rolling start record, Johnnie Reason, 80.4 seconds.
Birmingham, no league matches staged.
CLASSIFIED RESULTS
December 1, 1951, at Coventry: Leicester 36 (Williams 9, Handscomb 9, King 8, Burton 5, Taylor 5), Coventry 32 (Major 8, Tailby 8, Reason 7, Hughes 2), Birmingham 21 (Davis 8, Pulford 7, Watling 3, J Tolley 2, Hunt 1)
December 8, 1951, at Leicester: Coventry 37 (Reason 10, Tailby 10, Mackereth 9, Major 5, Hughes 3), Leicestser 34 (Taylor 12, Williams 7, Sivyer 7, Handscomb 6, Burton 2), Cradley Heath 18 (D Tolley 7, J Tolly 6, Perry 4, Johnson 1, Wright 0).
December 15, 1951, at Cradley Heath: Coventry 38 (Reason 11, Tailby 9, Mackereth 7, Major 7, Hughes 4), Birmingham 29 (Watling 11, Hunt 10, Davis 5, J Tolley 3, Martin 0), Cradley Heath 21 (Johnson 5, Wright 5, Perry 4, L Tolley 2).
December 26, 1951, at Leicester: Birmingham 38 (Pulford 10. Watling 8, Hart 7, J Tolley 7, Davis 6), Coventry 28 (Reason 12, Hughes 5, Young 5, Tailby 4, Mackereth 2), Leicester 18 (Handscomb 8, Williams 6, Wilson 4, Sivyer 0, Taylor 0).
Individual scorers: Johnnie Reason (Coventry) 40, Derrick Tailby (Coventry) 31, Walter Mackereth (Coventry) 25, Arch Handscomb (Leicester) 23, Lionel Watling (Birmingham) 22, Len Williams (Leicester) 22, Ron Major (Coventry) 20, Wilf Davis (Birmingham) 19, Ted Taylor (Leicester) 17, Roy Pulford (Birmingham) 17, Dickyy Tolley (Cradley Heath) 12, Alan Hunt (Birmingham) 11, Dave Hughes (Coventry) 10, Vic King (Leicester) 8, Walt Perry (Cradley Heath) 8, Les Tolley (Cradley Heath) 8, Squib Burton (Leicester) 7, Bob Sivyer (Leicester) 7, Phil ‘Tiger’ Hart (Birmingham) 7, Frank Johnson (Cradley Heath) 6, Jimmy Wright (Cradley Heath) 5, Johnny Young (Coventry) 5, Ron Wilson (Leicester) 4, Jim Martin (Birmingham) 0.
In the final table of an uncompleted league, Coventry had six wins and two draws in eight matches, with 135 race points for, 215 against, and 12 table points.
Birmingham won three and lost three of six matches, with 88 race poits for, 173 against, and six points in the table.
Leicester had the same match results and table points as Birmingham. They scored 88 race points and conceded 174.
Cradley Heath lost all four league matches, scoring just 39 race points and conceding 138. They scored two points in the league table.
The matches not raced were: Coventry v Cradley Heath v Leicester; Cradley Heath v Leicester v Birmingham; Leicester v Cradley Heath v Birmingham; Birmingham v Coventry v Cradley Heath.
All the matches were raced between December 1, 1951 and December 26, 1951.
The league centred over a month on the tracks at Leicester, Birmingham (Perry Barr), Coventry and Cradley Heath. Leicester was allocated three meetings, Coventry and Cradley Heath had two dates with Birmngham scheduled to stage the league’s final meeting.
Sadly, thanks to one of the wettest winters for many years, the league was abandoned mid-way through. At the time, there was a suggestion that ‘fixtures have been suspended until the spring.’ That was never fulfilled and, as with so many ambitious plans to promote midget car racing as a mainstream sport, the venture went to the wall.
Basically, the idea was to staff the teams with a mixture of speedway riders - to attract the bike fans - and regular midget car drivers. Additionally, pre-war midget car stars Cyril ‘Squib” Burton - who had also been a speeday international in the 1930s, Walter Mackereth and Johnny young were brought out of retirement. The matches were triangular meetings whereby a team scoring most points won two matches, while the second highest scoring team would win one match.
The Coventry team was led by speedway rider Derrick Tailby, who turned down an offer to join Captain Jack Easton’s stunt and crash demonstration team to drive midgets. They also brought in their pre-war drivers Mackereth and Young to form the basis of the team, but the driver who eventually became the big hero was Johnnie Reason, a youngster then also carving himself a big reputation in the Coventry speedway team.
Leicester’s top man was expected to be ‘Squib’ Burton, whose bike career was ended by a badly broken leg in the early 1930s, but at the end of the decade was a top Skirrow midget car driver who raced mainly at Lea Bridge (London) and Stoke. Arch handscombe was another experienced midget car driver in the Leicester team, while local speedway riders in the team included Len Williams and Ron Wilson.
Birmingham drafted in the stock car star Wilf Davis, who was also a regular Skirrow midget car driver. It was a delight before races to see 6ft 4ins tall Davis ‘sardine’ himself into the driving cockpit of his midget car. Birmingham speedway riders in the side included the legendary Alan Hunt, along with Lionel Watling and Jim Tolley.
The Tolleys were also evident in the Cradley Heath team, with Jim’s brothers Dickyy and Les in the Dudley Wood-based side. Cradley Heath had five five speedway riders in their nominated team - Dickyy Tolley, Frank Johnson, Phil Malpass, Les Tolley and Jimmy Wright. The only Skirrow regular was Walt Perry.
Much was made of the fact that at 17-stones in weight, Hughes was the heaviest driver in the league. Much was also made of the fact that Leicester’s Ted Taylor was ‘keen to put on another stone to enable him to match the Coventry driver’s racing weight.’
With five drivers in each each race, the points scoring for heats was rather complex. A winning driver scored four points, three for second, two for third, one for fourth and nil for fifth. Points for the league table were four for a win over both opposing teams, two for a win over one opposing team, three for one win and one draw, and one for one draw.
The first league match at Coventry povided plenty of excitement. In heat two, Derrick Tailby tried to overtake Alan Hunt, with both cars colliding and overturning. They both hit the safety fence, tearing up 30 yards of wire mesh fencing and damaging a lamp standard. In the collision, Tailby’s car climbed over Hunt’s car. While Hunt walked away from the crash, Tailby was carried off on a stretcher but later turned out and won two races.
Lionel Watling was also involved in a spectacular pile-up later in the match when he hit the safety fence and overturned his car. Again, Watling like Tailby and Hunt drove later in the match, won by Leicester 36 from Coventry 32 and Birmingham 21.
At this meeting, Coventry’s Mackereth showed how serious he was about racing by defying his 47 years and 13 years absence from team racing to set the the track record of 76.2 seconds for four laps rolling start over the 375-yard circuit. Mackereth scored seven points and lost more when he had engine failure when second in his thirdd drive. His comment after the meeting was, “I never realised how tiring it was on the wrists.”
The meeting at Leicester the following week was fairly uneventful, with Coventry 37 finishing ahead of Leicester 34 and Cradley Heath 21. Bujt when racing moved on to Cradley Heath on Decdember 15, the fireworks flew again.
Again, Tailby was the thrill-maker. Cradley’s Dickyy Tolley was in the lead when his steering snapped on the last bend and he ran into the safety fence. Tailby moved past Wright to challenge Dickyy’s brother Jim who had gone into the lead. Somehow, a last bend sweep took Tailby into the lead but as he passed the chequered flag he skidded violently into the safety fence, oveturning his car.
After the meeting, Tailby inspected the safety fence, and sadi, “I tore the fence down at Coventry, but neither Dickyy nor I did that to the Cradley fence. My record’s intact!”
Both Birmingham and Cradley were hit by various problems during the match. The reliable Coventry side had Johnnie Reason unbeaten for a second match in their 38 points total. Birmingham scored 29 and Cradley 21.
Leicester’s match on Boxing day, December 24, was the last in the Midland League. The reasons given were the high accident rate and problems getting spares to make the cars raceworthy. And some bad weather, with severe frosts and heavy rain were also making track conditions atrocious. There was a suggestion the Midland League would resume in April 1952 but this never happened.
Going into the final match, Squib Burton dropped out of the Leicester team to let Ron Wilson make his first appearance, while Coventry drafted in pre-World War Two star Johnnie Young for Ron Major who was getting married on the day of the match.
Another newcomer to the league was Phil ‘Tiger’ Hart, the former Birmingham and Wimbledon speedway rider. His speedway career had ended in 1948 after he broke a leg for the second time. In 1937, Hart had joined with Charlie dugard to buy a field at Arlington in Sussex, which became the famous Eastbourne Speedway.
Fittingly, Hart was involved in Birmingham’s only win in the Midland League, his seven points as team captain helping them\ to score 38, followed by Coventry 28 and Leicester 18.
One of the big mysteries surrounding the Midland League was the failure of Spike Rhiando get a team place. He had been a big star in pre-war league racing, and also featured in open meetings leading up to the start of the Midland League. In one meeting at Birmigham, Rhiando had delighted a 25,000 crowd with his daring driving. He also featured in another warm-ip meeting at long Eaton in which Lionel Watling startled the fans by ‘jumping’ his Skirrow over the safety fence.
The speculation for his non-appearance was that he refused to drive the rent-a-Skirrows owned by Hughes. He wanted to drive his own car and asked for more points and start money than that being paid to the other drivers. In the end, Rhiando decided to walkout on midget car racing and sold his car to Huighes for £270.
In the subsequent inquest into the failure of the Midland League, Johnnie reason, arguably the competition’s best driver, said, “The actual format for racing was hard to follow, but once supporters got used to the heat concept they began to enjoy the racing.
“However, there is no doubt that racing was put on at the wrong time of the year with the winter meetings badly hit by the weather.”
Reason added, :Dave Hughes wanted to take midget car league racing to other stadiums when the Midland League folded, but there was never a reasonable profit margin for the promoters.
“However, I felt that staging midget car racing to a speedway meeting formula had potential, especially when it featured such hair-raising events as those involving Derrick Tailby at Coventry and Cradley Heath.”
Reason continued, “I had no problems adapting from riding speedway bikes to driving midget cars - the technique is very similar. Derrick Tailby was the speedway rider who most impressed me in midget cars, while I always respected Arch Handscomb of the midget car brigade.
“Walter Mackereth - dspite being much older than the other drivers was also very good . But, without being big-headed, I held two track records at the finish - one shared with Tailby - and I had the best car in the league. I looked after it and always made sure it was raceworthy.”
Derrick Tailby, who died in 2002, said, “The failure of the league was due to a lack of raceworth cars as well as the weather. The same cars were being use in most races and two drivers would share a car and maintain it. The numbers were changed to fit in with those going out to race.
“Midget car racing as a speedway sport would be attractive if properly promoted. In the days of the Midland League, despite the weather attendances were always good.”
Tailby concluded, “I think you have to be a little mad to drive a midget car but it was good fun. My two crashes, at Coventry and Cradley Heath, were really spectacular - so they told me.
“I won the race at Cradley while upside down after skidding and hitting the safety fence. Our pay rates for such endeavours were not worthwhile, but midget car racing was great fun - for drivers and the fans.”
More than 50 years after the end of the Midland League, there were still people who remembered the competition. The author had contacts with several supporters during 2002.
John Arnold, of Hinckley Road, Wolvey, in Leicestershire, told me, “I used to watch midget car racing at Brandon Stadium (Coventry) in the early to mid-1950s. These were league meetings with teams from Coventry, Leicester, Birmingham and Cradley Heath. There were only a few cars - about six or eight - and they were used by all the teams at any one meeting.
“There were quite a few mechanic al failures and delays during the meetings although the racing was always exciting when it took place! The league season did not last for very long because of the mechanical failures.”
John Arnold, added, “There was a degree of danger with the cars as they were four-wheel drive and if a drive touched the back of the car ahead of him it would climb up over it. I saw this happen at Coventry and also saw a car climb up one of the trackside light standards.
“The only drivers I can remember are Ron Major, Alan Hunt who was the Cradley Heath speedway captain, and an American Spike Rhiando who had his own car which was more reliable than the others used.”
P G Wale, of Styvechale, Coventry, said, “The races were over four cars over four laps and usually only two finished. The reliability of the engines was very poor.”
MIDLAND LEAGUE TEAMS
Drivers and car numbers:
Birmingham: Alan Hunt (51, captain), Phil ‘Tiger’ Hart (50), Roy Pulford (20),Wilf Davis (4), Jim Tolley (54), Jim Martin (16), Lionel Watling (57).
Coventry: Derrick Tailby (33, captain), Dave Hughes (9), Johnnie Reason (30), Walter Mackereth (39), John Yates (37), Ron Major (15), Johnny Young (36).
Cradley Heath: Dickyy Tolley (64, captain), Walt Perry (19), Frank Johnson (11), Les Tolley (62), Phil Malpass (60), Jimmy Wright (28).
Leicester: Squib Burton (40, captain, Arch Handscomb (8), Ted Taylor (25), Vic King (12), Ron Wilson (48), Bob Sivyer (24), Len Williams (46).
Track details:
Coventry, 375 yards, 4-lap rolling start record, Walter Mackereth 76.2 seconds.
Leicester, 380 yards, 4-lap rolling start record, Johnnie Reason and Derrick Tailby, 77.4 seconds.
Cradley Heath, 387 yards, 4-lap rolling start record, Johnnie Reason, 80.4 seconds.
Birmingham, no league matches staged.
CLASSIFIED RESULTS
December 1, 1951, at Coventry: Leicester 36 (Williams 9, Handscomb 9, King 8, Burton 5, Taylor 5), Coventry 32 (Major 8, Tailby 8, Reason 7, Hughes 2), Birmingham 21 (Davis 8, Pulford 7, Watling 3, J Tolley 2, Hunt 1)
December 8, 1951, at Leicester: Coventry 37 (Reason 10, Tailby 10, Mackereth 9, Major 5, Hughes 3), Leicestser 34 (Taylor 12, Williams 7, Sivyer 7, Handscomb 6, Burton 2), Cradley Heath 18 (D Tolley 7, J Tolly 6, Perry 4, Johnson 1, Wright 0).
December 15, 1951, at Cradley Heath: Coventry 38 (Reason 11, Tailby 9, Mackereth 7, Major 7, Hughes 4), Birmingham 29 (Watling 11, Hunt 10, Davis 5, J Tolley 3, Martin 0), Cradley Heath 21 (Johnson 5, Wright 5, Perry 4, L Tolley 2).
December 26, 1951, at Leicester: Birmingham 38 (Pulford 10. Watling 8, Hart 7, J Tolley 7, Davis 6), Coventry 28 (Reason 12, Hughes 5, Young 5, Tailby 4, Mackereth 2), Leicester 18 (Handscomb 8, Williams 6, Wilson 4, Sivyer 0, Taylor 0).
Individual scorers: Johnnie Reason (Coventry) 40, Derrick Tailby (Coventry) 31, Walter Mackereth (Coventry) 25, Arch Handscomb (Leicester) 23, Lionel Watling (Birmingham) 22, Len Williams (Leicester) 22, Ron Major (Coventry) 20, Wilf Davis (Birmingham) 19, Ted Taylor (Leicester) 17, Roy Pulford (Birmingham) 17, Dickyy Tolley (Cradley Heath) 12, Alan Hunt (Birmingham) 11, Dave Hughes (Coventry) 10, Vic King (Leicester) 8, Walt Perry (Cradley Heath) 8, Les Tolley (Cradley Heath) 8, Squib Burton (Leicester) 7, Bob Sivyer (Leicester) 7, Phil ‘Tiger’ Hart (Birmingham) 7, Frank Johnson (Cradley Heath) 6, Jimmy Wright (Cradley Heath) 5, Johnny Young (Coventry) 5, Ron Wilson (Leicester) 4, Jim Martin (Birmingham) 0.
In the final table of an uncompleted league, Coventry had six wins and two draws in eight matches, with 135 race points for, 215 against, and 12 table points.
Birmingham won three and lost three of six matches, with 88 race poits for, 173 against, and six points in the table.
Leicester had the same match results and table points as Birmingham. They scored 88 race points and conceded 174.
Cradley Heath lost all four league matches, scoring just 39 race points and conceding 138. They scored two points in the league table.
The matches not raced were: Coventry v Cradley Heath v Leicester; Cradley Heath v Leicester v Birmingham; Leicester v Cradley Heath v Birmingham; Birmingham v Coventry v Cradley Heath.
All the matches were raced between December 1, 1951 and December 26, 1951.
(c) John Hyam 2009