There was plenty to cheer about at the County Ground in 1989 as Exeter enjoyed one best seasons in the National League. They had a good K.O cup run which brought wins over both Rye House and Stoke before an epic encounter with Berwick that had to go to a replay before Berwick squeezed the Falcons out.

To add to this, Exeter finished the season in their highest-ever National League position, fifth out of the eighteen teams in the league. They were to reach the N.L Fours Finals for the first time, and all in front of crowds which were reported to be more than 20 per cent up. It all added up to a successful year in anybody's book. The big surprise was that Exeter had gone through most the season with virtually the same side as they had used in 1988 when they had finished the season in twelth place.

Riders like Steve Regeling (a mid-season 1988 arrival),Colin Cook, Richard Green, Peter Jeffery and Andy Sell were all back for more so much of the same had been forecsted at the start of the 1989 campaign. However,the fact that it was pretty much the same side didn't mean that new faces hadn't been approached.

The Falcons had been linked with Eastbourne's unsettled Dean Standing and even reached the stage of announcing that they had signed Dane Peter Glanz in February. The move was destined to collapse as Exeter became one of the first victims of a rule implemented by the National League only weeks before which restricted clubs to a maximum of two non-ACU licence holders. Glanz ultimately destined for Mildenhall. Alan Rivett was to be around for only ten official outings before joining Long Eaton and then returning home in mid-season.

With Dave Trownson forced to hang up his riding leathers in favour of the team manager's programme board, Exeter found themselves with one slot still vacant on the eve of the season. It was another Dane who was to fill it, former Falcons British Leaguer Frank Andersen, re-signing for the club he served in 1984. There were no licence problems this time - Andersen was in possession of the all-important ACU licence and Falcons were ready for the off.

The season began in dismal fashion, South Coast rivals Poole demolishing the Falcons to the tune of 121-69 over two legs of an Easter Trophy challenge. But then more dirt was added to the track and the County Ground became a track to be feared once more and Exeter ended up with a 100 per cent home record, their first since 1981 and, indeed, only their second ever since the Falcons entered the National League in 1980.

One Final the Falcons did reach was the N.L Fours at Peterborough - finishing third behind Peterborough and Stoke after ironically edging out KO Cup rivals Berwick in the second semi-final. Pic shows Exeter's Frank Andersen leading peterborough's Mick Poole.

Without an away win since August 1986, the camp were jubilant when they won at Long Eaton which in turn was quickly followed by a win at Mildenhall and a draw at Milton Keyenes giving Exeter seven wins and a draw from eight matches which shot the Falcons up to Fifth place, if only they had found full form from the season's outset.

The season closed with the Bruce Cribb farewell Fours that was won on the night by Berwick and was staged for Bruce Cribb who finally decided to hang up his leathers

Elsewhere in 1989

The was the year in which Ivan Mauger was awarded an MBE in the new years honours list. Simon Wigg won the Commonwealth Final from Mitch Shirra and Neil Collins, whilst Hans Neilsen took the Nordic Final ahead of Jan Pedersen and Erik Gundersen.

Sam Ermolenko won the Overseas Final, he scored 13points to beat Kelvin Tatum (12pts) Ronnie Corey (11pts) and Simon Wigg (11pts) kelvin Tatum however, went on to win the Inter Continental Final at Bradford beating Erik Gundersen, Hans Nielsen and Mitch Shirra.

Peterborough win the N.L Fours Championship scoring 15points, runners up were Stoke (14pts) Exeter were third (12pts) and Eastbourne fourth (7pts). Stoke won the NL Pairs, E.Monaghan and Nigel Crabtree beating Mildenhall's P.Eriksen and P.Glanz in the final.

Shawn Moran won the B.L Riders Championship scoring 15 points to beat second placed Hans Nielsen on 14pts and third placed Brian Karger on 12pts. A young Mark Loram of Ipswich wins the Div 2 Riders final, dropping just a single point from his five rides to beat runner up Kenny McKinna (12pts) and David Blackburn (11pts).

Hans Nielsen (15pts) wins back the World Title beating his Oxford team mate Simon Wigg (12pts) into second with Jeremy Doncaster (12pts) third. Simon Wigg retained the British Championship dropping just one point to finish on 14pts ahead of runner up Kelvin Tatum (12pts) and Alan Grahame (12pts) after run off.

Denmark are finally toppled in the World Team Cup as England take the title in Odsal. The meeting that was marred by a nasty spill that left Denmark's Erik Gundersen fighting for his life on a life support machine. The Final result was England 48pts, Denmark 34pts, Sweden 30pts and USA 8pts.

Some consolation for the Danes when they won the World pairs title for the 5th year running scoring 48pts to beat Sweden (44), England (37), West Germany (36), Finland (31), Hungary (22), Czechoslovakia (25), Italy (15) and Poland (11).

Oxford win the B.L Title scoring 58pts to beat runners up Wolverhampton on 52pts and Cradley Heath third on 51pts. Poole won the National League Title scoring 53 points to beat Wimbledon (48pts) and Berwick (46pts). Berwick beat Poole to win the N.L KO Cup 109-83 on aggregate whilst Cradley beat Wolverhampton in the B.L KO Cup.

Simon Wigg regains the World Longtrack title scoring 38pts to pip Ales Dryml (37pts) and third placed Karl Maier. Gert Handberg is crowned World U21 Champion in Lonigo, he beat Chris Louis in a run off after both had finished on 13 points each. Third spot went to Niklas karlsson who scored 12pts.

Pictured Right, a young Mark Loram lifts the N.L Riders Championship.

The Gold Cup was reintroduced as the B.L dropped to just nine teams. Oxford won the Cup by beating Cradley 102-78 on aggregate in the Final.

Hans Nielsen topped the 1989 B.L averages on 11.14 ahead of Jan O Pedersen on 11.11 and Sam Ermolenko's 10.97.