2012 National League speedway season

2012 National League speedway season
LeagueNational League
ChampionsMildenhall Fen Tigers
Knockout CupMildenhall Fen Tigers
IndividualAshley Birks
PairsMildenhall Fen Tigers
FoursMildenhall Fen Tigers
Division/s above2012 Elite League
2012 Premier League

The 2012 season of the National League was the third tier/division of British speedway and was contested by eight teams.[1]

Summary

Newport and Belle Vue did not return from 2011, and Hackney opted to run at Rye House only, renaming the team Rye House Raiders.

Mildenhall Fen Tigers beat Dudley Heathens in the play-off final to become champions.[2]

Final table

Pos Team PL W D L Pts
1 Dudley Heathens 14 13 0 1 42
2 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 14 10 2 2 38
3 Isle of Wight Islanders 14 7 0 7 21
4 Stoke Potters 14 6 1 7 20
5 Rye House Raiders 14 6 0 8 20
6 Scunthorpe Saints 14 6 0 8 17
7 Buxton Hitmen 14 3 1 10 11
8 King's Lynn Young Stars 14 3 0 11 9

[3] 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

Home \ Away BUX DH IOW KL MIL RYE SCU STO
Buxton Hitmen 27–65 40–50 56–37 43–43 60–33 43–46 50–38
Dudley Heathens 69–23 68–22 66–24 54–40 55–16 58–33 58–35
Isle of Wight Islanders 49–44 29–61 53–40 41–49 51–42 55–37 48–42
King's Lynn Young Stars 50–43 42–47 40–50 38–54 52–42 49–46 42–48
Mildenhall Fen Tigers 53–40 53–36 63–30 55–36 49–38 62–29 45–47
Rye House Raiders 53–42 38–53 50–40 51–39 40–50 52–39 49–41
Scunthorpe Saints 44–36 43–46 50–40 48–42 35–56 47–44 50–43
Stoke Potters 56–39 43–47 58–37 53–36 45–45 41–48 57–37
Source: [4]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Play Offs

Top four teams race off in two-legged semi-finals and final to decide championship. Mildenhall Fen Tigers defeated Dudley Heathens in the final.[5]

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
30/09 Mildenhall 58-36 Isle of Wight
16/10 Isle of Wight 45-44 Mildenhall
09/10 Dudley 44-43 Stoke
10/10 Stoke 41-54 Dudley

Final

23 October Dudley Heathens
Ashley Morris 15
Darryl Ritchings 14
Adam Roynon 12
James White-Williams 6
Daniel Greenwood 5
Tom Perry 0
Byron Bekker R/R 		51–37 Mildenhall Fen Tigers
Joe Jacobs 13
Jason Garrity 8
Daniel Halsey 7
Stefan Nielsen 7
Josh Bates 5
Ryan Terry-Daley 5
Lewis Blackbird R/R 		Monmore Green Stadium

24 October Mildenhall Fen Tigers
Joe Jacobs 11
Lewis Blackbird 9
Stefan Nielsen 9
Josh Bates 8
Daniel Halsey 8
Jason Garrity 7
Ryan Terry-Daley 3 		54–39 Dudley Heathens
Adam Roynon 16
Ashley Morris 8
Darryl Ritchings 7
Daniel Greenwood 6
James White-Williams 3
Adam Kirby 3
Sean Phillips 0
Tom Perry R/R 		Mildenhall Stadium

Final Leading averages

[6]

Rider Team Average
Adam Roynton Dudley 11.64
Tom Perry Dudley 9.88
Ashley Birks Stoke 9.66

National League Knockout Cup

The 2012 National League Knockout Cup was the 15th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier three teams. Mildenhall Fen Tigers were the winners for the second successive year.[7][8]

First round

Date Team one Score Team two
13/05 Stoke 49-40 Scunthorpe Saints
08/05 Dudley 65-28 Buxton
07/05 Scunthorpe Saints 47-42 Stoke
06/05 Buxton 36-54 Dudley
02/05 King's Lynn 39-51 Mildenhall
01/05 Isle Of Wight 58-31 Rye House Raiders
15/04 Mildenhall 55-40 King's Lynn
06/04 Rye House Raiders 49-46 Isle Of Wight

Semi-finals

Date Team one Score Team two
15/09 Stoke 44-50 Mildenhall
27/08 Mildenhall 55-39 Stoke
09/08 Isle of Wight 15-21 Dudley
12/06 Dudley 60-32 Isle Of Wight

Final

7 October Mildenhall Fen Tigers
Jason Garrity 14
Joe Jacobs 14
Daniel Halsey 11
Josh Bates 10
Stefan Nielsen 7
Ryan Terry-Daley 5
Lewis Blackbird r/r 		61–33 Dudley Heathens
Joe Haines 13
Tom Perry 10
Darryl Ritchings 5
Daniel Greenwood 3
James White-Williams 2
Byron Bekker 0
Ashley Morris r/r 		Mildenhall Stadium

23 October Dudley Heathens
Adam Roynon 12
Ashley Morris 11
James White-Williams 9
Darryl Ritchings 7
Sean Phillips 1
Daniel Greenwood 1
Tom Perry r/r 		41–32 Mildenhall Fen Tigers
Joe Jacobs 13
Josh Bates 6
Stefan Nielsen 4
Jason Garrity 4
Daniel Halsey 3
Ryan Terry-Daley 2
Lewis Blackbird r/r 		Monmore Green Stadium

Riders' Championship

Ashley Birks won the Riders' Championship. The final was held on 29 September at Rye House Stadium.[9]

Pos. Rider Team Total
1 Ashley Birks Stoke 14+3
2 Jason Garrity Rye House 14+2
3 Gary Irving Scunthorpe 13
4 Tom Perry Dudley 11
5 Charles Wright Buxton 8
6 Lewis Kerr Kings Lynn 8
7 Lewis Blackbird Mildenhall 8
8 Stefan Nielsen Mildenhall 7
9 James Sarjeant Rye House 6
10 Ben Morley Rye House 5
11 Ashley Morris Dudley 5
12 Ben Reade Stoke 5
13 Danny Warwick Isle of Wight 4
14 Ben Hopwood Isle of Wight 4
15 Adam Mckinna Buxton 4
16 Joe Jacobs Mildenhall 3

Pairs

The National League Pairs Championship, was held at Mildenhall Stadium, on 22 July 2012. The event was won by Cameron Heeps and Lewis Blackbird of the Mildenhall Fen Tigers.[10]

Final
Pos Team Pts Riders
1 Mildenhall 20 Heeps 11, Blackbird 6
2 Buxton 14 Branford 8, Wright 6
3 Dudley 12 Perry 10, Bekker 2
4 Scunthorpe 11 Irving 8, Young 3

Fours

Mildenhall won the National League Fours, held on 26 August 2012 at Loomer Road Stadium.[11]

Final
Pos Team Pts Riders
1 Mildenhall 17 Nielsen 6, Jacobs 6, Halsey 3, Blackbird 2
2 Buxton 13 Wright 4, Priest 4, Felton 3, McKinna 2
3 Dudley 10 Morris 5, Roynon 2, Ritchings 2, Bekker 1
4 Stoke 7 Birks 3, Cockle 2, Atkin 1, Carr 1

Teams and averages

Development Leagues

Midland Development League

Pos team P W D L Pts
1 Milton Keynes Knights 12 9 1 2 19
2 Belle Vue Colts 11 7 1 3 15
3 Coventry-Mercia Vikings 11 5 2 4 12
4 Long Eaton 12 5 1 6 11
5 Stoke 12 4 1 7 9
6 Scunthorpe 12 4 0 8 8
7 Sheffield 12 3 0 9 6

Milton Keynes won grand final 21–15[12]

Anglian Development League

Pos team P W D L Pts
1 King's Lynn 10 10 0 0 20
2 Lakeside 10 7 0 3 14
3 Mildenhall 9 5 1 3 11
4 Rye House 10 3 0 7 6
5 Peterborough 10 2 0 8 4
6 Ipswich 9 1 1 7 3

Northern Development League

Pos team P W D L Pts
1 Edinburgh 6 0 0 0 12
2 Redcar 6 4 0 2 8
3 Berwick 6 1 1 4 3
4 Workington 6 0 1 5 1

See also

List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions

References

  1. ^ "Major League Competitions". Speedway Archive.
  2. ^ "Mildenhall Fen Tigers celebrate win". ITV.com.
  3. ^ "British Speedway Official Website".
  4. ^ "2012 fixtures & results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  5. ^ "2012 Play Offs". Speedway Archive.
  6. ^ "2012 Averages" (PDF). Speedway GB.
  7. ^ "National League Knockout Cup Winners". Speedway Archive.
  8. ^ "2012 National League Knockout Cup". Speedway Archive.
  9. ^ "BIRKS WINS NLRC". Rye House Speedway. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  10. ^ Butt, Randall (28 July 2012). "On-Song Tigers". Speedway Star page 26-27.
  11. ^ "2012 Cradley results". Cradley Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
  12. ^ "MK KNIGHTS ARE 2012 MDL CHAMPIONS". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 1 September 2021.

See also