Leonard Glanfield leaves the scene and Londoner's Fred Mockford (Left) and Cecil Smith take control, two men who had promoted at both Crystal Palace and Birmingham.
The Exeter public welcome the move, though a small group of opponents were openly hostile. An injunction was made to block the venture, but was overruled. The first night is rained off, but the following evening, an open meeting is staged and won by Ron Johnson. A week later, Exeter, riding in Red & White hoops, lose to Coventry 23-28 and are whitewashed in the return leg, 45-9.
Riders in the Coventry side included Lew Lancaster, Jack and Norman Parker, Tom Farndon, Wimot Evans and George Allbrook.

Two defeats by Coventry and a Home defeat by West Ham were followed by a draw. Then on May 21st, Exeter beat the famous Wembley Lions 39-15. Scorers for Exeter included Beer (7+1), Addison (7+1), Stokes (7+1), Johnson (6+3), Buckland 6 and Swift 6.

Crowds start to grow again and even ladies events are staged. An unofficial Test match is staged against an Australian side, England are beaten 24-28, although in a rematch 3 weeks later, the score is reversed as England win 30-24. In that match at Exeter, Colin Watson was named as Captain and he went on to beat the long standing track record held by Billy Lamont, reducing the time of 76.4 down to 75.4 (Flying Start).

The Exeter Open Championship, which had been rained off in September, was restaged on Saturday, 11th October, but was a big dissapointment as seven of the top billed riders failed to materialise and the meeting fails to produce the kind of racing expected. Several injuries during the meeting didn't help, and it was finally won by Ron Johnson who beat Phil Bishop and collected the £50 prize money.

Elsewhere in 1930

With the passing of two hectic summers of speedway racing, the promoters began to learn about organisation and presentation. The 1930 season saw a strengthening of league racing in the South, and the introduction of Test matches against Australia were staged. Other attractions such as the London Cup and the London Riders Championship were held, plus the first-ever showpiece Wembley Final for the Star Championship.

Vic Huxley was unquestionably the rider of the year, and the mighty Lions of Wembley were beginning to show their claws, easily topping the Southern League in 1930 with 41 points, and who had so many riders on their books that they fielded a reserve side called the Cubs. Runners up this year were Southampton who totalled some 35 points with Stamford Bridge in third place. Wembley also beat Belle Vue who were the Northern Champions in a home-and-away series, so could possibly claim to be the first ever British Champions. They also went on to beat Stamford Bridge to win the London Cup 105-86 on aggregate.

Other changes included the introduction of the 3-2-1 scoring system that is used today. Leicester Stadium had switched from Northern League to the Southern League, and Kings Oak (High Beech) were also newcomers to the Southern League, with a team that included riders such as Phil Bishop, Jack Barnett, George Bishop and Jack Sharp

The first ever London Riders Championship was won by Jack Ormston (pictued Left), but Vic Huxley won just about all of the many other trophies that were up for grabs in those early years including the Star Championship, gaining revenge over Frank Arthur who had beaten Vic in winning the title the previous year.

Such was the dominance of Vic Huxley that he won the following in in the 1930 season. The West Ham Derby, Wembley Grand Prix, West Ham Trophy, Harringay Championship, Stamford Bridge Championship, Wimbledon Championship and the Southampton Derby.

The Northern League was a season remembered as a fiasco, with many teams completing less than half their fixtures. The victorious Belle Vue team included Frank Varey, Arthur Franklyn, Eric and Oliver Langton, Dusty Haigh and Bob Harrison. On Sunday, June 29th, a number of riders, masked to avoid recognition stage a meeting at the Audenshaw trotting track in Lancashire without an ACU licence. Over 12,000 pay to enter whilst an estimated 5,000 get in free after crashing the barriers. As a result, 34 riders and nine officials were suspended.