1995 Academy League

The 1995 Academy League was the second tier/division of British speedway. It was effectively the same division of teams that had competed in the 1994 British League Division 3 but was renamed because the British League Division 1 and 2 had merged.^[1]

1995 Academy League

League	Academy League
Season	1995
Champions	Berwick Bandits
Knockout Cup	Berwick Bandits
Individual	Kevin Little
Division/s above	1995 Premier League
← 1994 (div 3) 1996 →

Summary

Iwade speedway returned under a new promotion and new team name of Sittingbourne Crusaders.^[2] Cleveland Bays withdrew during the season and their results were expunged.

The title was won by Berwick Bandits who had also won the previous season's Division 3 title.^[3][4]

Final league table

Pos	Team	Played	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Bonus	Total
1	Berwick Bandits	12	10	0	2	683	419	20	6	26
2	Stoke Potters	12	9	0	3	605	526	18	4	22
3	Hi-Edge Hitmen	12	7	0	5	575	572	14	3	17
4	Sittingbourne Crusaders	12	7	0	5	555	590	14	3	17
5	Mildenhall Fen Tigers	12	5	0	7	544	563	10	3	13
6	Linlithgow Lightning	12	2	0	10	513	614	4	2	6
7	Devon Demons	12	2	0	10	513	614	4	2	6

Cleveland Bays withdrew.

Fixtures & results

Home \ Away	CB	BER	DEV	HI	LL	MIL	SIT	STO
Cleveland Bays		n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Berwick Bandits	n/a		71–24	68–27	71–24	64–31	63–32	61–35
Devon Demons	n/a	44–52		47–49	66–30	40–56	54–42	44–51
Hi-Edge Hitmen	48–48	52–48	62–34		53–43	50–46	62–34	41–54
Linlithgow Lightning	58–38	42–53	70–25	43–50		46–50	32–62	80–0
Mildenhall Fen Tigers	56–40	18–36	57–39	52–44	66–30		46–50	42–65
Sittingbourne Crusaders	n/a	39–56	61–35	56–40	55–40	50–45		49–47
Stoke Potters	n/a	53–42	69–27	49–47	63–33	60–47	70–25

Source: ^[5]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Academy League Knockout Cup

The 1995 Academy League Knockout Cup was the 28th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams.^[6]

It was only the tier two competition because the Division 1 & 2 had merged, this meant that the newly formed Academy League was tier two of British speedway at the time. Berwick Bandits were awarded the Cup following a first leg final victory, Stoke did not hold the second leg due to rain.

First round

Dates	Team one	Team two	Scores
21/05, 04/06	Mildenhall	Sittingbourne	62-47, 51–56
28/05, 03/06	Linlithgow	Berwick	45-52, 39–69
01/06, 15/06	Devon	Stoke	45-61, 33–73

Semi final

Dates	Team one	Team two	Scores
29/07, 01/10	Stoke	Mildenhall	60-47, 65–42
23/00, 14/10	Berwick	Buxton	66-44, 48–52

Final

First Leg

21 October	[7]	Berwick Bandits Gareth Martin 13 Darren Pearson 12 Chris Readshaw 10 Kevin Little 9 William Beveridge 6 Peter Johnson 6 David Meldrum 1	63–42	Stoke Potters Chris Cobby 16 Glyn Taylor 11 Colin Earl 5 Colin Thorpe 4 Lee Dicken 3 Drew Wheeldon 0 Stephen Read 0 Ade Hoole R/R	Berrington Lough Stadium

Second Leg

26 October	Stoke Potters	not held–(rain)	Berwick Bandits	Loomer Road Stadium

Riders' Championship

Kevin Little won the Riders' Championship, held on 2 September at Long Eaton Stadium.^[8]

Pos.	Rider	Team	Total
1	Kevin Little	Berwick	15
2	Chris Cobby	Stoke	14
3	Andre Compton	Hi-Edge Buxton	13
4	Roger Horspool	Mildenhall	12
5	Paul Gould	Berwick	11
6	Gareth Martin	Berwick	8
7	Greg Daniels	Devon	7
8	David Mason	Sittingbourne	7
9	Simon Wolstenholme	Mildenhall	7
10	Neil Hewitt	Linlithgow	6
11	Ade Hoole	Stoke	6
12	Dean Chapman	Sittingbourne	5
13	Andy Howe	Cleveland	4
14	Mike Bowden	Devon	2
15	Paul Taylor	Linlithgow	1
16	Richard Webb	Hi-Edge Buxton	1
17	Anthony Reason (res)		1

See also

• List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions
• Knockout Cup (speedway)

References

1. "Historic league tables". Speedway Archive.
2. "Academy made up of eight". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 18 March 1995. Retrieved 3 November 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
3. "1995 league tables". Speedway Archive.
4. "BRITISH LEAGUE TABLES - MODERN ERA (1991-PRESENT)". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
5. "1997 fixtures & results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
6. "1995 Academy League Knockout Cup Final". Speedway GB.
7. "1995 season results" (PDF). British Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
8. "Horspool comes fourth". Cambridge Daily News. 4 September 1995. Retrieved 23 June 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.