2012 National League speedway season explained

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 SYSTEMHome loss by any number of points = 0Home draw = 1Home win by between 1 and 6 points = 2Home win by 7 points or more = 3Away loss by 7 points or more = 0Away loss by 6 points or less = 1Away draw = 2Away win by between 1 and 6 points = 3Away win by 7 points or more = 4

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.^[4]

Semi-finals

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	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

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Final Leading averages

^[5]

width=200	Rider	width=200	Team	width=40	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.^{[6] [7]}

First round

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	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

width=80	Date	width=250	Team one	width=80	Score	width=250	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

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Riders' Championship

Ashley Birks won the Riders' Championship. The final was held on 29 September at Rye House Stadium.^[8]

width=25px	Pos.	width=180px	Rider	width=100px	Team	width=50px	Total
1		Stoke	14+3
2		Rye House	14+2
3	Gary Irving	Scunthorpe	13
4		Dudley	11
5		Buxton	8
6		Kings Lynn	8
7	Lewis Blackbird	Mildenhall	8
8		Mildenhall	7
9		Rye House	6
10		Rye House	5
11		Dudley	5
12		Stoke	5
13	Danny Warwick	Isle of Wight	4
14	Ben Hopwood	Isle of Wight	4
15	Adam Mckinna	Buxton	4
16		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.^[9]

Group A
width=20	Pos	width=80	Team	width=20	Pts	width=200	Riders
1	Mildenhall	20	Blackbird 11, Heeps 9
2	Buxton	17	Wright 10, Branford 7
3	Isle of Wight	11	Warwick 6, Hughes 5
4	Rye House	6	Morley 4, Sarjeant 2

Group B
width=20	Pos	width=80	Team	width=20	Pts	width=200	Riders
1	Scunthorpe	20	Irving 12, Young 8
2	Dudley	13	Bekker 9, Perry 4
3	King's Lynn	12	Kerr 10, Cockle 2
4	Stoke	9	Lambert 9, Reade 0

Final
width=20	Pos	width=80	Team	width=20	Pts	width=200	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.^[10]

Group A
width=20	Pos	width=90	Team	width=20	Pts	width=350	Riders
1	Dudley	21	Roynon 6, Morris 6, Ritchings 5, Bekker 4
2	Stoke	13	Birks 5, Cockle 5, Atkin 2, Carr 1
3	Rye House	9	Morley 4, Sarjeant 3, Chessell 2, Coles 0
4	Isle of Wight	5	Starke 2, Stoneman 2, Walter 1, Hopwood 0

Group B
width=20	Pos	width=90	Team	width=20	Pts	width=450	Riders
1	Mildenhall	23	Blackbird 6, Nielsen 6, Jacobs 6, Halsey 5
2	Buxton	12	Wright 5, McKinna 4, Felton 2, Priest 1
3	King's Lynn	6	Kerr 3, Knight 2, Stokes 1, Johnson 0
4	Scunthorpe	5	Greenwood 3, Phillips 2, Fenwick 0, Young 0

Final
width=20	Pos	width=90	Team	width=20	Pts	width=350	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

Buxton Hitmen

• Charles Wright 8.53
• Robert Branford 7.54
• Adam McKinna 6.74
• Dean Felton 5.77
• Luke Priest 5.67
• Ryan Blacklock 3.51
• Chris Widman 3.49

Dudley Heathens

• Adam Roynon 11.64
• Tom Perry 9.88
• Ashley Morris 8.51
• Byron Bekker 7.44
• Dan Greenwood 5.90
• Darryl Ritchings 5.84
• James White-Williams 4.88

Isle of Wight Islanders

• Danny Warwick 7.01
• Ben Hopwood 6.16
• Paul Starke 5.70
• Mark Baseby 5.67
• Steve Jones 5.33
• Danny Stoneman 3.83
• Ross Walter 3.00
• Adam Ellis 3.00

King's Lynn Young Stars

• Darren Mallet 7.48
• Lewis Kerr 6.67
• Jake Knight 5.93
• Adam Lowe 5.62
• Brendan Johnson 5.25
• Tom Stokes 5.12
• Scott Campos 4.54
• Lewis Rose 3.00

Mildenhall Fen Tigers

• Cameron Heeps 9.18
• Stefan Nielsen 8.32
• Joe Jacobs 7.94
• Lewis Blackbird 7.01
• Danny Halsey 6.57
• Josh Bates 5.30
• Ryan Terry-Daley 3.00
• Joe Graver 3.00

Rye House Raiders

• Jason Garrity 9.42
• James Sarjeant 7.87
• Ben Morley 7.82
• Luke Chessell 4.59
• Shane Hazelden 4.57
• Connor Coles 4.30
• Brad Tokley 3.00

Scunthorpe Saints

• Jerran Hart 9.04
• Steve Worrall 8.36
• Gary Irving 8.17
• Tom Young 7.04
• Oliver Greenwood 6.57
• Max Clegg 4.54
• Danny Phillips 3.00
• Tommy Fenwick 3.00

Stoke Potters

• Ashley Birks 9.66
• Tony Atkin 7.75
• Ben Reade 7.70
• James Cockle 6.24
• Liam Carr 3.61
• Richard Andrews 3.41
• Liam Rumsey 3.00

Development Leagues

Midland Development League

width=20	Pos	width=200	team	width=20	P	width=20	W	width=20	D	width=20	L	width=20	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^[11]

Anglian Development League

width=20	Pos	width=200	team	width=20	P	width=20	W	width=20	D	width=20	L	width=20	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

width=20	Pos	width=200	team	width=20	P	width=20	W	width=20	D	width=20	L	width=20	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

Notes and References

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