The 2015 National League was the seventh season of the National League, the third tier of British speedway. The Cradley Heathens were the defending champions after winning the competition in 2014.
Cradley finished the 2015 season in third place, as the Birmingham Brummies won the championship title. With 14 wins from 18 matches, the Brummies won the title after a 47–42 victory at the Mildenhall Fen Tigers in September, and ultimately finished 6 points clear of the Eastbourne Eagles.
Teams The 2015 season featured 10 teams, one more than in 2014. The Scunthorpe Stags and Devon Demons did not compete in 2015, whilst the Birmingham Brummies, Eastbourne Eagles and Rye House Raiders all joined the league. National League co-ordinator Peter Morrish expressed his excitement ahead of the new season, with the addition of the Brummies and Eagles especially – two teams with extensive Elite League experience – it was expected to be one of the most exciting National League seasons in years.
Final league table Club Home Away 1 Birmingham Brummies (C) 18 8 0 1 4 2 0 2 1 867 758 +109 48 2 Eastbourne Eagles 18 9 0 0 2 1 1 2 3 908 726 +182 42 3 Cradley Heathens 18 8 0 1 1 2 0 3 3 839 745 +94 37 4 Coventry Storm 18 8 0 1 1 2 0 2 4 816 774 +42 36 5 Rye House Raiders 18 6 1 2 1 2 0 1 5 797 766 +31 30 6 King's Lynn Young Stars 18 7 0 2 0 1 0 0 8 797 847 −50 24 7 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 18 7 0 2 0 0 0 1 8 730 879 −149 22 8 Buxton Hitmen 18 5 0 4 0 1 0 2 6 774 862 −88 20 9 Stoke Potters 18 4 1 4 0 2 0 0 7 765 838 −73 19 10 Kent Kings 18 4 0 5 0 0 1 4 4 766 864 −98 18
Fixtures & results
Final Leading averages
Rider Team Average Adam Ellis Birmingham 10.14 Rob Branford Rye House 10.14 Bradley Wilson-Dean Eastbourne 9.83
National League Knockout Cup The 2015 National League Knockout Cup was the 18th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier three teams. Eastbourne Eagles were the winners.
First round Date Team one Score Team two12/04Mildenhall 38-52 King's Lynn15/04King's Lynn 54-35 Mildenhall06/04Rye House 42-45 Stoke19/04Stoke 44-45 Rye House Quarter-finals Date Team one Score Team two19/07Buxton 51-39 Kings Lynn 21/08 Kings Lynn 53-37Buxton 16/05Stoke 35-43 Cradley 27/05Cradley 57-33Stoke20/05Birmingham 47-42 Eastbourne 21/06Eastbourne 50-39Birmingham11/05 Kent 52-38 Coventry 15/05Coventry 45-45 Kent Semi-finals Date Team one Score Team two29/06 Kent 28-42Eastbourne01.08 Eastbourne 50-40Kent07/10 King's Lynn 39-51 Cradley14/10 Cradley 57-33 King's Lynn Final
Riders' Championship Ben Morley won the Riders' Championship. The final was held on 26 September at Rye House Stadium.
Pos. Rider Team Total1 Ben MorleyKent 15 2 Danny Ayres Kent 12 3 Robert Branford Rye House 12 4 Kyle Hughes Rye House 11 5 Adam Ellis Birmingham 11 6 Liam Carr Buxton 10 7 Ryan Blacklock Buxton 10 8 Tom Stokes King's Lynn 8 9Danny Halsey Mildenhall 7 10 Zach Wajtknecht Birmingham 7 11 Marc Owen Eastbourne 6 12 Rob Shuttleworth Coventry 5 13 Jon Armstrong Stoke 3 14 Connor Mountain Mildenhall) 2 15 Lee Payne Stoke 1 16 Ryan Kinsley King's Lynn 0
Pairs The National League Pairs Championship, was held at King's Lynn Stadium, on 5 September 2015. The event was won by Ben Morley and Danny Ayres of the Kent Kings.
Group APosTeamPtsRiders1Rye House 28Branford 14, Hughes 142King's Lynn 20Stokes 13, Bailey 73Eastbourne 15Wilson-Dean 9, Owen 64Stoke14 Armstrong 14, Payne 05Coventry 13Knuckey 11, Baseby 2
Group BPosTeamPtsRiders1Kent 23 Morley 12, Ayres 112Cradley21Clegg 12, Perks 93Birmingham 20Wajtknecht 12, Perry 84Mildenhall14Halsey 11, Mountain 35Buxton 12Carr 7, Blacklock 5
Semi finals Kent bt King's Lynn 7–2 Cradley bt Rye House 7–2
Final Kent bt Cradley 7–2
Fours Birmingham won the National League Fours, held on 14 June 2015 at Brandon Stadium.
Group APosTeamPtsRiders1 Birmingham18Ellis 6, Perry 5, Wajtknecht 4, Chapman 32 Coventry 14Greenwood 6, Ritchings 5, Crang 2, Shuttleworth 13 Eastbourne8 Wilson-Dean 4, Owen 3, Mason 1, Andrews 04 King's Lynn7 Kinsley 3, Bailey 2, Sokes 2, Cockle 0
Group BPosTeamPtsRiders1 Kent 16 Ayres 5, Morley 5, Baseby 3, Shanes 32 Rye House 16Hughes 6, Priest 5, Chessell 3, Woods 23 Cradley 9Harris 3, Perks 3, Williamson 2, Mogridge 14 Mildenhall 7 Halsey 4, Coles 2, Kingston 1, Mountain 0
FinalPosTeamPtsRiders1 Birmingham15Ellis 5, Perry 4, Wajtknecht 4, Chapman 22 Coventry 15Greenwood 6, Ritchings 4, Crang 3, Shuttleworth 23 Kent13Morley 6, Ayres 3, Baseby 2, Shanes 24 Rye House4Hughes 2, Chessell 1, Priest 1, Woods 0 Ellis beat Greenwood in run-off
Riders & averages Unless otherwise stated, all listed riders were declared at the start of the 2015 National League season.
Birmingham Brummies
Adam Ellis 10.14 Zach Wajtknecht 9.51 Tom Perry 8.58 Josh Bates 8.46 Sam Chapman 5.18
Adam Kirby 3.77 Harvie Banks 3.00 Alex Wilson 3.00 Robert Parker 3.00
Buxton Hitmen
Tony Atkin 8.18 Ben Hopwood 8.00 Liam Carr 7.73 Ryan Blacklock 6.84 Steve Jones 4.96 David Speight 4.69 Tom Woolley 4.68
Adam Extance 4.48 David Holt 3.44 Cameron Hoskins 3.00 Ryan Macdonald 3.00 Paul Bowen 3.00 Sam Darroch 3.00 Jack Parkinson-Blackburn 3.00
Coventry Storm
Luke Crang 8.44 Dan Greenwood 8.29 Darryl Ritchings 7.32 Martin Knuckey 6.78 Rob Shuttleworth 6.23
Mark Baseby 5.88 Jamie Halder 3.00 Conor Dwyer 5.44 Callum Walker 3.00
Cradley Heathens
Max Clegg 9.72 Matt Williamson 8.69 Ellis Perks 7.14 Nathan Greaves 7.08
Arron Mogridge 4.94 Michael Neale 4.85 Luke Harris 3.00 Tyler Govier 3.00
Eastbourne Eagles
Bradley Wilson-Dean 9.83 Ben Hopwood 8.00 Marc Owen 7.25 Danny Warwick 7.01 David Mason 6.96 Daniel Spiller 6.63
Georgie Wood 5.90 Richard Andrews 5.18 Mattie Bates 4.86 Gary Cottham 4.70 Kelsey Dugard 4.49 Niall Strudwick 3.00
Kent Kings
Ben Morley 9.63 James Shanes 7.85 Danny Ayres 7.05 Aaron Baseby 6.37
Danno Verge 3.00 Jamie Couzins 3.00 Adam Shepherd 3.00 Ben Basford 3.00
King's Lynn Young Stars
James Cockle 8.59 Tom Stokes 7.10 Jake Knight 6.00 Scott Campos 5.65 Josh Bailey 6.02
Ryan Kinsley 5.13 Shane Hazelden 6.00 Layne Cupitt 3.00 Adam Portwood 3.00
Mildenhall Fen Tigers
Danny Halsey 8.24 Connor Mountain 7.07 Jack Kingston 5.84 Connor Coles 5.61 Tom Bacon 4.42
Luke Ruddick 3.30 Liam Rumsey 3.05 Stefan Farnaby 3.00 Nick Laurence 3.00 Connor King 3.00
Rye House Raiders
Robert Branford 10.14 Kyle Hughes 8.67 Luke Priest 6.88 Brendan Johnson 6.21 Luke Chessell 5.88
Alfie Bowtell 3.95 Danyon Hume 3.79 George Hunter 3.47 Sam Woods 3.27
Stoke Potters
Lee Payne 8.00 Jon Armstrong 7.74 Danny Phillips 6.38 Chris Widman 4.73
Ryan Terry-Daley 4.72 Shaun Tedham 4.50 Paul Burnett 4.46 Sam Ward 3.00
Development Leagues Midland Development League Pos team P W D L Pts 1 King's Lynn 18 13 2 3 28 2 Belle Vue 18 13 1 4 273 Buxton 18 11 1 6234 Peterborough 16 10 0 6205 Long Eaton 17 9 1 7196 Coventry 16 6 1 9137 Scunthorpe 18 6 0 12128 Milton Keynes 17 5 1 11119 Wolverhampton 17 5 1 111110 Stoke 16 3 0 136 Northern Junior League Pos team P W D L Pts 1 Northside 10 8 1 1 172 Berwick 10 8 0 2 163 Workington 10 5 1 4 114 Redcar 10 4 0 6 85 Castleford 10 3 0 7 66 Newcastle 10 1 0 9 2
See also List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
Notes
References