The 2015 National League was the seventh season of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

, the third tier of British

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta *Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana Types of races and race cours ...

. The

Cradley Heathens Cradley Heathens was a motorcycle speedway team from Dudley, England. The team was founded in 1947 and competed at the top level of British speedway until its closure in 1995. It was revived as Dudley Heathens in 2010, competing in the National L ...

were the defending champions after winning the competition in 2014. Cradley finished the 2015 season in third place, as the

Birmingham Brummies Birmingham Brummies are a British speedway team founded in 1928. They were inaugural members of the Southern League in 1929. The team have twice finished runner-up in the highest tier of British speedway, during the 1952 Speedway National Le ...

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 The Mildenhall Fen Tigers are a British speedway team, founded in 1975 and currently riding in the National Development League. History 1971–1989 The original track was built in 1971 on farm land owned by Terry Waters, with chef Bernie Kla ...

in September, and ultimately finished 6 points clear of the

Eastbourne Eagles The Eastbourne Eagles were a British speedway team, based at Arlington Stadium, near Eastbourne, England, that raced in the SGB Championship. History Speedway was initially introduced to Eastbourne in 1929. During their first league season th ...

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

and

Rye House Raiders The Rye House Rockets were a speedway team based at Rye House Stadium, Hoddesdon, England. They competed in various British speedway leagues from 1954 to 2018. History Rye House began life in 1934 hosting open meetings. Whilst at Hackney in 1 ...

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

Final Leading averages

National League Knockout Cup

The 2015

National League Knockout Cup The National League Knockout Cup is a speedway third tier Knockout Cup competition in the United Kingdom. The competition was previously known as the Academy League Knockout Cup (1995) and the Conference League Knockout Cup (1996-2008) until it ...

was the 18th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier three teams.

were the winners.

First round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Riders & averages

Unless otherwise stated, all listed riders were declared at the start of the 2015 National League season.

Birmingham Brummies

Adam Ellis Adam Ellis (born 21 March 1996) is a British grasstrack and speedway rider and former British champion. Biography Born in Marmande, France, Ellis began grasstrack racing in 2009, going on to finish second in the 250cc French Grasstrack Champ ...

10.14 *

Zach Wajtknecht Zach Wajtknecht (born 8 February 1998) is a British speedway rider. Career At an early age Wajtknecht became a double World Champion, twice triumphing in the FIM 125cc Grasstrack Youth Gold Trophy. He followed up these successes by being crown ...

9.51 * Tom Perry 8.58 * Josh Bates 8.46 *

Sam Chapman Samuel Blake Chapman (April 11, 1916 – December 22, 2006) was an American two-sport athletic star who played as a center fielder in Major League Baseball, spending nearly his entire career with the Philadelphia Athletics (1938–1941, 1945–1 ...

5.18 *

Adam Kirby Adam Kirby (born August 1988) is a Group 1-winning British jockey. He was brought up in Kirtling near Newmarket, on the Cambridgeshire/Suffolk border, where he still lives, and started riding out for James Fanshawe aged 12. He served his ...

3.77 * Harvie Banks 3.00 * Alex Wilson 3.00 * Robert Parker 3.00

Buxton Hitmen

Tony Atkin Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leag ...

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 Conor James Dwyer (born January 10, 1989) is a former American competition swimmer and Olympic gold medalist. He competed in freestyle and medley events, and won a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. 4×200-meter freestyle relay team a ...

5.44 * Callum Walker 3.00

Cradley Heathens

Max Clegg Max Clegg (born 11 April 1997) is a British speedway rider. Career Born in Brighouse, Yorkshire, Clegg started racing in grasstrack at the age of seven, moving on to speedway in his teens and becoming team mascot for Sheffield Tigers.

9.72 *

Matt Williamson Matt Williamson is an American football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Missouri Western State University in Saint Joseph, Missouri from 2017 to 2022. After playing four years for the Missouri Western Griffons, ...

8.69 *

Ellis Perks Ellis George Perks (born 18 March 1997) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from England. In 2019, he became the first ever rider to win all three tiers of the British Speedway leagues in the same season; the Premiership, Championship and Nati ...

7.14 *

Nathan Greaves Nathan Robert Greaves (born 24 February 1998, Sheffield) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from England. Career Greaves started his British speedway career for the Cradley Heathens in 2013. He raced with Swindon Robins as a fast track reserv ...

7.08 * Arron Mogridge 4.94 *

Michael Neale Michael C. Neale (born 10 March 1958) is a British behavior geneticist and professor at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is known for his research in the field of psychiatric ...

4.85 * Luke Harris 3.00 * Tyler Govier 3.00

Eastbourne Eagles

Bradley Wilson-Dean Bradley Wilson-Dean (born 26 October 1994) is a New Zealand motorcycle speedway rider. Career Wilson-Dean began riding speedway at the age of 12 in New Zealand and progressed to riding 500cc machines in 2011 when he was 15. The same year he rod ...

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 James Shanes (born 17 March 1997) is a British speedway rider and also competes in Grasstrack and Longtrack speedway. He is a four times British Masters Grasstrack Champion, 2 times European Grasstrack Champion and world long track competitor. ...

7.85 *

Danny Ayres Danny Ayres (16 August 1986 – 1 February 2020) was a speedway rider who rode in Great Britain. Career Danny Ayres began his career in motocross and converted to speedway relatively late, in 2014. He rode for various teams, including Kent Kin ...

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 Sir James Cockle FRS FRAS FCPS (14 January 1819 – 27 January 1895) was an English lawyer and mathematician. Cockle was born on 14 January 1819. He was the second son of James Cockle, a surgeon, of Great Oakley, Essex. Educated at Charte ...

8.59 * Tom Stokes 7.10 * Jake Knight 6.00 * Scott Campos 5.65 * Josh Bailey 6.02 * Ryan Kingsley 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 John Heddens Kingston (born April 24, 1955) is an American politician who served as U.S. representative for in southeast Georgia, serving from 1993 to 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party and was part of the House leadership (2002–06) ...

5.84 *

Connor Coles Connor Coles (born 7 September 1994) is a speedway rider from England. Speedway career Coles began his speedway career riding for Rye House Raiders during the 2012 National League speedway season and then moved to Kent Kings for the 2013 Nati ...

5.61 *

Tom Bacon Tom Oliver Bacon (born 25 February 1993) is a British speedway rider. Career Bacon began his British career riding for the Mildenhall Fen Tigers in 2015. In 2017, he signed for Peterborough Panthers, where he spent two seasons with the club for ...

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 Robert Peter Branford (born 23 November 1993) is an Australian speedway rider. Career Born in Adelaide, South Australia, he is the son of former Australian rider Darrell Branford.Kyle Hughes 8.67 * Luke Priest 6.88 *

Brendan Johnson Brendan Van Johnson (born June 24, 1975) is an American attorney who served as the 40th United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota. He is the son of former U.S. Senator Tim Johnson and currently is a partner at Robins Kaplan LLP, a ...

6.21 * Luke Chessell 5.88 * Alfie Bowtell 3.95 *

Danyon Hume Danyon Hume (born 25 July 1996) is a speedway rider from England. Career He began his British speedway career riding for the Rye House Raiders during the 2015 National League speedway season. The following year in 2016, he signed for Ipswich ...

3.79 * George Hunter 3.47 * Sam Woods 3.27

Stoke Potters

* Lee Payne 8.00 *

Jon Armstrong Jon is a shortened form of the common given name Jonathan, derived from "YHWH has given", and an alternate spelling of John, derived from "YHWH has pardoned".Danny Phillips 6.38 * Chris Widman 4.73 * Ryan Terry-Daley 4.72 * Shaun Tedham 4.50 *

Paul Burnett Paul Burnett (born 26 November 1943) is an English radio disc jockey. Early career Burnett began his radio career while in the Royal Air Force in the Persian Gulf in 1964. In 1966 he joined offshore radio station, Radio 270, broadcasting off S ...

4.46 * Sam Ward 3.00

Development Leagues

Midland Development League

Northern Junior League

Notes

References

{{United Kingdom Speedway Seasons

Speedway National League The current National Development League formerly the National League was formed in 2009 as the third division of speedway in the United Kingdom, replacing the Conference League. It follows the same rules and regulations as the SGB Premiership an ...

Speedway National League