2023 National Development League speedway season
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| League | National Development League |
|---|---|
| Champions | Oxford Chargers |
| Knockout Cup | Mildenhall Fen Tigers |
| Riders' Championship | Connor Bailey |
| Highest average | Dan Thompson |
| Division/s above | SGB Premiership SGB Championship |
The 2023 National Development League was the third division/tier of British speedway for the 2023 season.[1] It was a semi-professional development league, containing mainly the junior sides of SGB Premiership and SGB Championship clubs. Leicester Lion Cubs were the defending champions having won the title in 2022.[2] Oxford Chargers won the title, defeating Leicester in a one-off Grand Final.[3]
Eight clubs competed for the National Development League Championship[4] after the addition of the Workington Comets to the league,[5] who raced on the new Northside track.[6] Armadale Devils were renamed Edinburgh Monarchs Academy,[7] while the Plymouth Centurions did not return.
The league points system changed in-line with the SGB Premiership and SGB Championship, with teams scoring two points for a win (home or away), with a bonus point scored for an aggregate win. A 'Super Heat' was also introduced in the event of a tied meeting, with the winners scoring two league points and the losers gaining one point.[8] The top two in the league qualified for the Grand Final. The rider points limit for team construction was 42 points.
Defending champions Leicester Lion Cubs topped the table, however they lost a one-off Grand Final to the Oxford Chargers. The final was initially supposed to be a two-legged affair, however Leicester were unable to stage their home fixture due to bad weather and the BSPA ruled the title would be decided on the outcome of the Oxford leg. Oxford won the final 34–32, with the meeting ending after just 11 heats due to rain. It was the first major trophy Oxford had won since the Cheetahs claimed the Craven Shield in 2005.
Mildenhall Fen Tigers were controversially awarded the NDL KO Cup after Leicester were also unable to host the home leg of the final. Leicester had won the away leg, but the BSPA ruled a 75-0 walkover for Mildenhall in the second leg.
Workington's Connor Bailey won the Riders' Championship, while Leicester's Dan Thompson topped the averages for the second year running.
League
League table
| Pos. | Club | M | Home | Away | F | A | B | Pts | +/− | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | SHL | L | W | SHL | L | ||||||||
| 1 | Leicester Lion Cubs (Q) | 14 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 708 | 543 | 7 | 31 | +165 |
| 2 | Oxford Chargers (Q) | 14 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 710 | 542 | 5 | 27 | +168 |
| 3 | Belle Vue Colts | 14 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 675 | 583 | 6 | 22 | +92 |
| 4 | Mildenhall Fen Tigers | 14 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 592 | 632 | 3 | 19 | -40 |
| 5 | Monarchs Academy | 14 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 614 | 641 | 4 | 16 | -27 |
| 6 | Workington Comets | 14 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 575 | 648 | 2 | 12 | -73 |
| 7 | Kent Royals | 14 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 545 | 684 | 1 | 11 | -139 |
| 8 | Berwick Bullets | 14 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 540 | 686 | 0 | 2 | -146 |
Fixtures & results
Grand Final
| 31 October | [11] | Oxford Chargers Ryan Kinsley 8 Henry Atkins 7 Jordan Jenkins 6 Jody Scott 5 Luke Killeen 3 Jacob Clouting 3 Jason Garrad 2 |
34–32 | Leicester Lion Cubs Dan Thompson 8 Joe Thompson 8 Tom Spencer 5 Ashton Boughen 4 Vinnie Foord 4 Max James 3 Max Perry 0 |
Oxford Stadium Referee(s): Simon Humphrey-Kennett |
Knockout Cup
The 2023 National Development League Knockout Cup was the 24th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier three teams. It was limited to teams that were not also running promotions in the SGB Championship. It ended in controversial circumstances as Leicester were unable to stage their home leg of the final, and the competition was therefore awarded to Mildenhall.[12]
| Semi-finals | Grand Final | ||||||||||
| Kent Royals | 44 | 29 | 73 | ||||||||
| Mildenhall Fen Tigers | 46 | 60 | 106 | ||||||||
| Mildenhall Fen Tigers | 38 | 75 | 113 | ||||||||
| Leicester Lion Cubs | 49 | 0 | 49 | ||||||||
| Workington Comets | 37 | 23 | 60 | ||||||||
| Leicester Lion Cubs | 53 | 49 | 102 | ||||||||
Home team scores are in bold
Overall aggregate scores are in red
Final
First leg
| 8 October | [13] | Mildenhall Fen Tigers George Congreve 11 Ben Trigger 10 Kai Ward (guest) 9 William Richardson 3 Arran Butcher 3 Alfie Bowtell 2 Jody Scott (guest) 0 |
38–49 | Leicester Lion Cubs Ashton Boughen 15 Jacob Hook (guest) 13 Max Perry 12 Tom Spencer 5 Max James 4 Jack Smith (guest) 0 Vinnie Foord 0 |
Mildenhall Stadium Referee(s): Wayne Jarvis |
Second leg
| 30 October | [14] | Leicester Lion Cubs | 0–75 (awarded) |
Mildenhall Fen Tigers | Beaumont Park |
Riders' Championship
The 2023 National League Riders' Championship took place on Sunday 15 October, at Northside Speedway, Workington and was won by Connor Bailey.[15]
| Pos. | Rider | Pts | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Connor Bailey (Workington) | 3,3,3,3,3 | 15 |
| 2 | Max Clegg (Edinburgh) | 2,2,2,3,3 | 12+3 |
| 3 | Jacob Hook (Edinburgh) | 1,3,3,2,3 | 12+2 |
| 4 | Ashton Boughen (Leicester) | 2,3,3,0,3 | 11 |
| 5 | Ben Morley (Kent) | 2,1,2,3,2 | 10 |
| 6 | Sam McGurk (Workington) | 1,2,3,2,1 | 9 |
| 7 | Freddy Hodder (Belle Vue) | 3,2,2,1,1 | 9 |
| 8 | Ben Trigger (Mildenhall) | 0,3,0,3,2 | 8 |
| 9 | Max Perry (Leicester) | 3,0,1,2,0 | 6 |
| 10 | Danny Phillips (Berwick) | X,1,2,2,1 | 6 |
| 11 | Lee Complin (Mildenhall) | 3,2,X,-,- | 5 |
| 12 | Tom Woolley (Kent) | 2,0,1,0,2 | 5 |
| 13 | Jamie Halder (Berwick) | 0,0,1,1,2 | 4 |
| 14 | Luke Muff (Belle Vue) | 1,1,1,1,- | 4 |
| 15 | Jacob Clouting (Oxford) | 1,1,0,1,1 | 4 |
| 16 | Jody Scott (Oxford) | 0,0,0,0,R | 0 |
| 17 | Callum Foy - res (Workington) | -,-,-,0,0 | 0 |
| 18 | Ben Rathbone - res (Berwick) | -,-,-,-,0 | 0 |
- F=fell, R=retired, X=excluded TM=two minute warning excluded
Leading averages
| Rider | Team | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dan Thompson | Leicester | 10.64 |
| 2 | Jordan Jenkins | Oxford | 10.43 |
| 3 | Henry Atkins | Oxford | 10.17 |
| 4 | Connor Bailey | Workington | 10.03 |
| 5 | Joe Thompson | Leicester | 9.82 |
| 6 | Alfie Bowtell | Mildenhall | 9.80 |
| 7 | Max Clegg | Edinburgh | 9.57 |
| 8 | James Pearson | Belle Vue | 9.24 |
| 9 | Jack Smith | Belle Vue | 9.15 |
| 10 | Adam Roynon | Edinburgh | 9.02 |
- averages include league, play offs & knockout cup, min 6 matches
