2017

A disapointing year by Cradley standards

Season Review

Sponsored once again by team partners Motor Market and Dudley Stroke Association the Heathens competed in the National League. Racing meetings at Monmore Green and Perry Barr. The team looked good on paper and their first match against Kings Lynn at Perry Barr seemed to show their potential with a 61-29 win, however the Young Stars withdrew from the league and the score expunged from the table.
The first match at Monmore resulted in a 43-46 defeat against Mildenhall and although they didn't lose again at home until October (against Eastbourne) with one match resulting in a draw (against Birmingham) their away performances were poor. With two wins away from home at Plymouth and Buxton.

L to R. Ryan Burton, Dan Greenwood, Joe Lawlor, Danny Ayres, Conor Dwyer, Luke Harris,
(on bike - captain) Tom Perry (photo by John Hipkiss)

However, injuries to riders and riders being unavailable (for various reasons), cost the Heathens a place in the play-offs. It didn't help that the doubling up of riders in the National League resulted in so many matches with guests for Tom Perry and Danny Ayres.
Coupled with that, Will Pottinger and Gary Patchett were hoping for good performances from the reserves Joe Lawlor and Ryan Burton. However Ryan Burton broke his collar-bone guesting for Scunthorpe on June 25th.

Shelby Rutherford was quickly signed when he wanted a move away from Buxton but he never really settled in and after five matches and his highest score of four points he was dropped in favour of Tyler Govier, it didn't work out for Tyler and after just two matches he was out. This happened at a time when Dan Greenwood got injured and it left Cradley without a number seven and they had to borrow unattached riders to complete the season. With Dan injured an opportunity arose to sign Championship rider Richard Hall, this appeared to be real scoop for the Heathens scoring a twelve point maximum in his first home match and eight paid nine against Birmingham. Richard Hall then aggravated a shoulder injury and rode only one more match for the Heathens despite guesting for other teams.
In the mean time Dan Greenwood had recovered and signed for Kent! With Tom getting injured and Danny Ayres being unavailable on compassionate grounds it was a poor end to the Heathens season. Seventeen different guests were used throughout the season in twenty four matches.
Cradley were out of the KO Cup in the Quarter Final after losing 31-59 at Belle Vue, the Heathens conceded the second leg due to unavailability of a home venue for the return leg.

The Golden Hammer was run on 23rd October with National League superstar Dan Bewley taking the honours with former Heathen Max Clegg second and Ben Morley third in a three man run-off with all three finishing on thirteen points.

Riders Performance Chart

'The Heathens' 2017

Rider	Matches	Rides	Points	Bonus	Total	Aver
Tom Perry	16	80	171	14	185	9.25
Danny Ayres	15	74	155	3	158	8.54
Dan Greenwood	12	48	85	4	89	7.42
Luke Harris	19	82	103	23	126	6.15
Joe Lawlor	19	80	95	16	111	5.55
Ryan Burton	7	29	35	5	40	5.32
Conor Dwyer	18	90	105	16	121	5.38
Tyler Govier	2	4	1	1	2	2.00
Richard Hall	3	14	28	1	29	8.29
Shelby Rutherford	5	19	13	3	16	3.37
GUESTS
Joe Alcock	2	12	3	1	4	1.33
Jon Armstrong	1	5	4	0	4	3.20
Josh Bailey	1	5	8	0	8	6.40
Paul Bowen	2	6	2	0	2	1.33
Jamie Bursil	2	8	2	0	2	1.00
Liam Carr	1	6	12	0	12	8.00
James Cockle	1	4	5	0	5	5.00
Connor Coles	2	11	22	1	23	8.36
Jason Edwards	1	5	6	1	7	5.60
Ben Hopwood	1	6	12	1	13	8.67
Ben Morley	2	9	21	2	23	10.22
William O'Keefe	2	10	8	1	9	3.60
Rob Shuttleworth	1	5	7	0	7	5.60
Alex Spooner	1	5	3	0	3	2.40
Lewis Whitmore	2	4	0	0	0	0.00
Ben Wilson	1	4	10	0	10	10.00
Sam Wright	1	1	0	0	0	0.00

statistics taken from the Cradley Speedway database for NL & KOC matches only.

Final League Table

National League

Team	PL	W	D	L		For	Ag	Pts
Eastbourne	20	14	1	5	--	981	799	49
Belle Vue	20	14	1	5	--	1037	749	47
Kent	20	14	0	6	--	950	814	47
Lakeside	20	11	0	9	--	907	865	36
Mildenhall	20	10	2	8	--	878	873	34
Birmingham	20	9	2	9	--	898	863	33
Cradley	20	9	1	10	--	885	893	31
Plymouth	20	8	1	11	--	848	911	25
Stoke	20	6	1	13	--	764	932	20
Buxton	20	5	1	14	--	787	978	18
Isle of Wight	20	5	0	15	--	751	1009	15

National League Play-offs

Semi-Final 1st leg - Lakeside 53 Belle Vue 37
Semi-Final 2nd leg - Belle Vue 69 Lakeside 21
Aggregate Belle Vue 106 Lakeside 74

Semi-Final 1st leg - Kent 46 Eastbourne 44
Semi-Final 2nd leg - Eastbourne 63 Kent 47
Aggregate Eastbourne 107 Kent 73

Grand Final 1st leg Eastbourne 45 Belle Vue 33
Grand Final Belle Vue 56 Eastbourne 34

Aggregate Belle Vue 89 Eastbourne 79

Belle Vue were crowned NL Champions after beating Eastbourne 89-79

KO Cup

Round 1 - Lakeside withdrew from the KO Cup so Belle Vue awarded full points
Round 1 - 1st leg - Isle of Wight 43 Plymouth 47
Round 1 - 2nd leg -Plymouth 51 Isle of Wight 38
Aggregate Plymouth 98 Isle of Wight 81
Round 1 - 1st leg - Kent 42 Eastbourne 40
Round 1 - 2nd leg - Eastbourne 46 Kent 44
Aggregate Eastbourne 94 Kent 86
Round 1 - 1st leg - Buxton 35 Stoke 54
Round 1 - 2nd leg - Stoke 46 Buxton 44
Aggregate Stoke 100 Buxton 79
Quarter Finals - Belle Vue 59 Cradley 31
Quarter Finals - Cradley Forfeit 2nd leg
Quarter Finals - Birmingham 43 Plymouth 47
Quarter Finals - Plymouth 49 Birmingham 41
Aggregate Plymouth 96 Birmingham 84
Quarter Finals - Eastbourne awarded a bye when
Kings Lynn withdrew from the NL
Quarter Finals - Stoke 50 Mildenhall 40
Quarter Finals - Mildenhall 50 Stoke 40
Aggregate Stoke 90 Mildenhall 90
Draw - Replay required
Quarter Finals Replay - Mildenhall 57 Stoke 53
Quarter Finals - Replay - Stoke 49 Mildenhall 41
Aggregate Mildenhall 98 Stoke 82
Semi Finals - Plymouth 50 Eastbourne 39
Semi Finals - Eastbourne 40 Plymouth 25
Aggregate Eastbourne 79 Plymouth 75
Semi Finals - Mildenhall 53 Belle Vue 47
Semi Finals - Belle Vue 51 Mildenhall 39
Aggregate Mildenhall 92 Belle Vue 88

Final - 1st leg - Eastbourne 59 Mildenhall 31
Final - 2nd leg - Mildenhall 47 Eastbourne 43
Aggregate Eastbourne 102 Mildenhall 78

NATIONAL TROPHY
FINAL
Plymouth 54 Mildenhall 36
Mildenhall 54 Plymouth 34
Agg: Mildenhall 90 Plymouth 90
Jon Armstrong (Mildenhall) beat Josh Bailey (Plymouth) in run-off for National Trophy

GOLDEN HAMMER
Sponsored by F.A.S.T Dudley Stroke Association

Dan Bewley 13
Max Clegg 13, Ben Morley 13, Ashley Morris 12, Broc Nicol 11, Jason Edwards 10, Luke Harris 9, Joe Lawlor 7, Chris Widman 7, Connor Coles 6, Lee Dicken 5, Bradley Andrews 5, Taylor Hampshire 3, Dan Greenwood 3, Conor Dwyer 3, Kean Dicken 0

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