The 2014 season of the National League, the third tier of British speedway was contested by nine teams. The Cradley Heathens won the title. The Isle of Wight Islanders were missing from 2012, and the Scunthorpe Stags and Devon Demons have joined the league.
Final table Pos Team PL W D L Pts1 Cradley Heathens 16 15 0 1 512 Coventry Storm 15 11 0 4 353 Kent Kings 16 10 1 5 344 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 15 10 0 5 325 King's Lynn Young Stars 16 8 1 7 306 Stoke Potters 15 8 0 7 257 Devon Demons 13 3 0 10 108 Buxton Hitmen 16 2 0 14 79 Scunthorpe Stags 16 1 0 15 2 PL = Matches; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; Pts = Total Points
SCORING SYSTEM Home loss by any number of points = 0 Home draw = 1 Home win by between 1 and 6 points = 2 Home win by 7 points or more = 3 Away loss by 7 points or more = 0 Away loss by 6 points or less = 1 Away draw = 2 Away win by between 1 and 6 points = 3 Away win by 7 points or more = 4
Fixtures & results
Play Offs Top four teams race off in two-legged semi-finals and final to decide the championship. Cradley Heathens defeated Coventry Storm in the final.
Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two05/10 Mildenhall 41-48 Cradley03/10 Coventry 54-39 Kent30/09 Cradley 68-27 Mildenhall22/09 Kent 49-44 Coventry Final
Final Leading averages
Rider Team Average Lewis Rose Kings Lynn 10.82 Steve Worrall Cradley 10.46 Paul Starke Cradley 9.75
National League Knockout Cup The 2014 National League Knockout Cup was the 17th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier three teams. Cradley Heathens were the winners for the second successive year.
First round Date Team one Score Team two19/05 Kent 56-36 Devon15/03 Devon38-51 Kent Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two25/07 Coventry 60-34 Buxton29/06 Buxton 40-55 Coventry24/06 Cradley 59-33 Mildenhall23/06 Kent 50-40 Stoke18/05 Mildenhall 39-49 Cradley Heath05/07 Stoke 58-32 Kent06/04 Scunthorpe 37-56 Kings Lynn02/04 King's Lynn 67-24 Scunthorpe Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two27/09 Stoke 49-40 Kings Lynn17/09/ Kings Lynn 54-39 Stoke26/09 Coventry 27-32 Cradley Heath09/09 Cradley Heath 63-28 Coventry Final
Riders' Championship Danny Halsey won the Riders' Championship. The final was held on 28 September at Rye House Stadium.
Pos. Rider Team Total1 Danny Halsey Mildenhall 14 2 Steve Worrall Cradley 13 3 Ben Morley Kent 12+3 4 Joe Jacobs Mildenhall 12+25 Jon Armstrong Stoke 9 6 Dan Greenwood Coventry 8 7 Marc Owen King's Lynn 7 8 James Cockle King's Lynn 7 9Luke Chessell Stoke 6 10 James Sarjeant Coventry 6 11 Paul Starke Cradley 6 12 Max Clegg Cradley 6 13 Ben Hopwood Stoke 5 14 Tom Woolley Buxton 3 15 Danno Verge (res) Scunthorpe 316 Arron Mogridge Scunthorpe 2 17 Benji Compton Kent 0
Pairs The National League Pairs Championship, was held at Mildenhall Stadium, on 15 June 2014. The event was won by Ben Wilson and Jon Armstrong of the Stoke Potters.
Group APosTeamPtsRiders1Stoke21 Wilson 12, Armstrong 92Buxton 16Carr 8, Atkin 83King's Lynn 9Owen 7, Campos 24Coventry 8Terry-Daley 4, Crang 4
Group BPosTeamPtsRiders1Mildenhall 18 Halsey 9, Jacobs 92Cradley 15Worrall S 11, Clegg 43Kent 15 Lambert 10, Morley 54Devon 6Shanes 4, Andrews 2
FinalPosTeamPtsRiders1Stoke17 Armstrong 9, Wilson 82Mildenhall 16Jacobs 12, Halsey 43Kent 12Lambert 9, Morley 34Buxton 8Carr 5, Atkin 4
Fours Cradley won the National League Fours, held on 26 October 2014 at Brandon Stadium.
Group APosTeamPtsRiders1 Coventry 18Nielsen 6, Sarjeant 5, Greenwood 4, Priest 32 Cradley13Starke 5, Greaves 4, Clegg 3, Perry 13 Kent12 Morley 5, Ayres 3, Lambert 3, Baseby 14 Buxton5 Atkin 2, Blacklock 2, Woolley 1, Extance 0
Group BPosTeamPtsRiders1 Mildenhall15Bates 6, Johnson 5, Kingston 4, Phillips 02 King's Lynn 15Cockle 5, Owen 5, Stokes 5, Terry-Daley 03 Stoke 12Armstrong 6, Hopwood 3, Shuttleworth 2, Widman 14 Devon 4 Andrews 2, Shanes 1, Chessell 1, Govier 0
FinalPosTeamPtsRiders1 Cradley18Clegg 6, Greaves 6, Starke 6 Perry 02 Coventry 11Sarjeant 4, Nielsen 3, Priest 2, Greenwood 23 Mildenhall11Bates 4, Johnson 3, Kingston 3, Phillips 14 King's Lynn 8Cockle 4, Owen 2, Terry-Daley 2, Stokes 0
Teams and final averages Buxton Hitmen
Tony Atkin 8.14 Liam Carr 8.00 Adam Extance 5.08 Ryan Blacklock 4.55 Tom Woolley 4.11 Sean Phillips 3.00 Stefan Farnaby 3.00
Coventry Storm
Oliver Greenwood 9.22 James Sarjeant 8.67 Stefan Nielsen 8.38 Luke Crang 7.37 Dan Greenwood 7.27 Luke Priest 6.37 Ryan Terry-Daley 4.68 Martin Knuckey 4.55
Cradley Heathens
Steve Worrall 10.46 Paul Starke 9.75 Max Clegg 8.58 Tom Perry 8.21 Nathan Greaves 7.12 Matt Williamson 6.60 Dan Phillips 4.98
Devon Demons
Tim Webster 8.74 Ben Reade 7.70 Matt Bates 6.27 James Shanes 6.14 Lee Smart 5.76 Luke Chessell 5.62 Richard Andrews 4.41 Danny Stoneman 4.20 Tyler Govier 3.00
Kent Kings
Simon Lambert 9.14 Ben Morley 9.06 Benji Compton 8.95 David Mason 7.38 Aaron Baseby 6.58 Danny Ayres 4.47 Daniel Blake 3.40 Brandon Freemantle 3.00 Jason Garrad 3.00
King's Lynn Young Stars
Lewis Rose 10.82 Darren Mallett 7.40 James Cockle 7.32 Tom Stokes 6.95 Kyle Hughes 6.22 Marc Owen 6.11 Scott Campos 5.53 Josh Bailey 4.07
Mildenhall Fen Tigers
Danny Halsey 9.23 Joe Jacobs 8.63 Josh Bates 7.68 Connor Coles 6.65 Brendan Johnson 6.21 Connor Mountain 5.54 Jack Kingston 4.90
Scunthorpe Stags
Sam Chapman 5.45 Steven Jones 4.90 Arron Mogridge 4.36 Danno Verge 3.57 Reece Downs 3.33 Liam Sanderson 3.00 Ryan MacDonald 3.00 Michael Neale 3.00
Stoke Potters
Ben Wilson 9.04 Jon Armstrong 7.94 Ben Hopwood 7.28 Lee Payne 7.10 Chris Widman 4.81 Rob Shuttleworth 3.75 Adam Kirby 3.68 James McBain 3.00
Development Leagues
Midland Development League Pos team P W D L Pts 1 Milton Keynes 17 15 0 2 302 Rye House 16 11 1 4 233 Belle Vue 17 10 1 4214 Castleford 17 10 0 7205 Stoke 16 9 0 7186 King's Lynn 18 8 1 9177 Coventry 14 7 0 7148 Long Eaton 17 5 1 11119 Sheffield 16 2 1 13510 Buxton 16 1 3 125
Northern Junior League Pos team P W D L Pts 1 Castleford 8 5 1 2 112 Berwick 8 3 4 1 103 Workington 8 4 1 3 94 Northside 8 3 1 4 75 Redcar 8 1 1 6 3
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References