2022 National Development League speedway season

2022 National Development League speedway season
LeagueNational Development League
ChampionsLeicester Lion Cubs
Knockout CupLeicester Lion Cubs
Pairs ChampionshipLeicester Lion Cubs
Riders ChampionshipJordan Jenkins
Highest averageDan Thompson
Division/s aboveSGB Premiership
SGB Championship

The 2022 National Development League was the third division/tier of British speedway for the 2022 season.[1] It is a semi-professional development league, containing the junior sides of many SGB Premiership and SGB Championship clubs.

Summary

Eight clubs competed for the League Championship, with Armadale, Belle Vue, Berwick, Kent, Leicester and champions Mildenhall all returning.[2][3] Kent would switch venues from Central Park Stadium to the Iwade Speedway Stadium and would only enter the Royals in the National League.[4] Oxford and Plymouth would also enter junior sides, taking the total to eight sides[5]

The Championship Play Offs also returned in 2022 to determine the League Champions, as would the Knockout Cup. Leicester Lion Cubs dominated the season by winning the league and successfully defending their National League Knockout Cup title (from 2019) and winning the Pairs Championship.[6]

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Locations of the 2022 National Development League teams

Regular season

League Table

Pos. Club M Home Away F A Pts +/−
W D L 4W 3W D 1L L
1 Leicester Lion Cubs 14 7 0 0 3 0 1 0 3 708 547 35 +161
2 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 14 5 0 2 3 0 1 1 2 674 573 30 +101
3 Berwick Bullets 14 7 0 0 1 1 0 1 4 668 583 29 +85
4 Oxford Chargers 14 5 1 1 1 2 0 0 4 652 600 26 +52
5 Belle Vue Colts 14 7 0 0 0 1 0 1 5 682 572 25 +110
6 Kent Royals 14 5 1 1 1 1 0 0 5 590 667 23 -77
7 Plymouth Centurions 14 2 0 5 0 0 0 1 6 536 721 7 -185
8 Armadale Devils 14 2 0 5 0 0 0 0 7 499 746 6 -247

Fixtures & Results

Home \ Away ARM BEL BER KEN LEI MIL OXF PLY
Armadale 51–36 38–52 42–48 36–53 38–50 42–48 51–39
Belle Vue 69–21 50–40 64–26 50–40 64–26 57–33 58–32
Berwick 56–28 55–35 53–37 49–41 48–42 50–40 67–23
Kent 55–35 47–43 46–44 50–40 45–45 42–47 47–43
Leicester 65–25 59–32 52–37 56–34 49–40 51–39 57–32
Mildenhall 60–27 41–47 57–33 57–32 39–50 55–32 56–34
Oxford 65–25 48–41 50–39 60–29 45–45 39–51 50–39
Plymouth 50–40 53–37 44–45 38–52 40–50 35–55 34–56
Source: [7]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

League Scoring System

  • Home loss by any number of points = 0
  • Home draw = 1
  • Home win by any number of points = 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

Championship Play Offs

Semi-finals Grand Final
          
1 Leicester Lion Cubs 44 52 96
4 Oxford Chargers 46 38 84
Leicester Lion Cubs 52 62 114
Mildenhall Fen Tigers 37 28 65
3 Berwick Bullets 46 22 68
2 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 43 67 110

Home team scores are in bold
Overall aggregate scores are in red

Final

First Leg

27 October [8] Mildenhall Fen Tigers
Jason Edwards 16
Luke Muff 9
Ashton Boughen 5
Alex Spooner 4
Josh Warren 2
Jack Kingston 1
James Shanes r/r 		37–52 Leicester Lion Cubs
Dan Thompson 14
Joe Thompson 10
Connor Coles 8
Max Perry 7
Vinnie Foord 6
Mickie Simpson 5
Tom Spencer 2 		Mildenhall Stadium
Referee(s):
Mick Bates

Second Leg

4 November [9] Leicester Lion Cubs
Max Perry 11
Dan Thompson 11
Joe Thompson 11
Tom Spencer 10
Vinnie Foord 7
Mickie Simpson 7
Max James 5
Connor Coles r/r 		62–28 Mildenhall Fen Tigers
Jason Edwards 17
Ashton Boughen 5
Tom Woolley 3
James Laker 2
Bailey Fellows 1
James Jessop 0
James Shanes r/r 		Adrian Flux Arena

Knockout Cup

The 2022 National Development League Knockout Cup was the 23rd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier three teams. It returned after being cancelled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1][10]

Semi-finals Grand Final
          
1 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 51 42 93
4 Kent Royals 39 48 87
Mildenhall Fen Tigers 29 27 56
Leicester Lion Cubs 55 61 116
3 Berwick Bullets 27 41 68
2 Leicester Lion Cubs 63 49 112

Home team scores are in bold
Overall aggregate scores are in red

Final

First Leg

15 October [11] Leicester Lion Cubs
Dan Thompson 12
Joe Thompson 11
Connor Coles 10
Mickie Simpson 7
Vinnie Foord 7
Max Perry 4
Tom Spencer 4 		55–29 Mildenhall Fen Tigers
Jason Edwards 8
Josh Warren 7
Luke Muff 5
Alex Spooner 4
Lee Complin 4
James Laker 1
Jack Kingston r/r 		Paul Chapman and Sons Arena
Referee(s):
Seth Perkin

Second Leg

27 October [12] Mildenhall Fen Tigers
Jason Edwards 13
Luke Muff 8
James Laker 4
Alex Spooner 2
Josh Warren 0
Jack Kingston DNR
James Shanes r/r 		27–61 Leicester Lion Cubs
Tom Spencer 12
Max Perry 12
Dan Thompson 11
Joe Thompson 9
Vinnie Foord 7
Mickie Simpson 5
Max James 5
Connor Coles r/r 		Mildenhall Stadium
Referee(s):
Mick Bates

Pairs Championship

The National League Pairs Championship, was held at Beaumont Park Stadium, on 20 August 2022. The event was won by Joe Thompson and Dan Thompson of the Leicester Lion Cubs.[13]

Semi-finals

Team one Team two Score Result
Leicester Oxford 7-2 D. Thompson, J. Thompson, Jenkins, Hagon
Armadale Plymouth 5-4 Roynon, Kelly, Woolley, Naylor (f.exc)

Final

Team one Team two Score Result
Leicester Armadale 7-2 D. Thompson, J. Thompson, Kelly, Woolley

Leading Averages

Rider Team Average
1 Dan Thompson Leicester 10.81
2 Jason Edwards Mildenhall 10.50
3 Alfie Bowtell Kent 10.30
4 Ben Morley Kent 10.00
5 Nathan Stoneman Oxford 9.73
  • averages include NDL, KO Cup, min 6 matches

Riders' Championship

The 2022 edition of the National Development League Riders Championship, took place on Sunday 25 September at The Eddie Wright Raceway, Scunthorpe.[14]

Pos. Rider Total
1 Jordan Jenkins 14
2 Max Clegg 13+3
3 Jason Edwards 13+2
4 Lee Complin 11
5 Ben Morley 10
6 Dan Thompson 10
7 Joe Thompson 9
8 Jack Kingston 9
9 Tom Woolley 7
10 Jack Smith 7
11 Ben Trigger 5
12 Jody Scott 4
13 Harry McGurk 3
14 Luke Harrison 2
15 Mason Watson 2
16 Luke Crang 1
17 Jack Shimelt (res) 0

Squads & final averages

[15]

Armadale Devils

  • England Lee Complin 8.28
  • Scotland William Lawson 7.29
  • England Tom Woolley 7.12
  • England Danny Phillips 6.95
  • England Josh Embleton 4.80
  • England Elliot Kelly 4.38
  • Scotland Gregor Millar 3.85
  • England Kyran Lyden 2.50
  • Scotland Lewis Millar 1.68

Belle Vue Colts

Berwick Bullets

  • England Kyle Bickley 9.44
  • Scotland Greg Blair 8.16
  • England Luke Crang 7.17
  • Scotland Ace Pijper 7.11
  • England Mason Watson 5.32
  • England Ben Rathbone 4.50
  • Scotland Kieran Douglas 3.87

Kent Royals

  • England Max Clegg 12.00
  • England Alfie Bowtell 10.30
  • England Ben Morley 10.00
  • England Joe Alcock 8.19
  • England Connor King 6.14
  • England Danno Verge 5.55
  • England Sam Woolley 4.22
  • England Jamie Halder 3.52
  • England Chris Watts 2.61
  • England Sam Woods 2.00

Leicester Lion Cubs

Mildenhall Fen Tigers

  • England Jason Edwards 10.50
  • England Jack Kingston 7.06
  • England Sam Bebee 7.02
  • England James Shanes 7.00
  • England Alex Spooner 6.83
  • England Josh Warren 6.21
  • England Luke Muff 5.88

Oxford Chargers

Plymouth Centurions

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "2022 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE". Official British Speedway website. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
  2. ^ "2022 National League clubs". Official British Speedway website. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  3. ^ "Colts reveal full side". Official British Speedway website. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  4. ^ "STATEMENT FROM KENT SPEEDWAY". Kent Speedway. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  5. ^ "Centurions enter the NDL". Plymouth Speedway. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  6. ^ "LIONS CUBS WIN KO CUP". Leicester Speedway. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  7. ^ "2022 National Development League Table, Fixtures & Results - British Speedway Official Website". 9 December 2021.
  8. ^ "MIldenhall Fen Tigers vs Leicester Lions Cubs scorecard" (PDF). Speedway GB.
  9. ^ "Lion Cubs crowned champions". British Speedway. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  10. ^ "2022 National Development League KO Cup - British Speedway Official Website". 9 December 2021.
  11. ^ "Knockout Cup final first leg". British Speedway. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  12. ^ "MIldenhall Fen Tigers vs Leicester Lions Cubs scorecard" (PDF). Speedway GB.
  13. ^ "National League Pairs @ Leicester". British Speedway. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  14. ^ "Major Events - British Speedway Official Website". 19 February 2021.
  15. ^ "2022 teams E" (PDF). Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 16 October 2022.