Dudley Heathens
| Cradley Heathens | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Club information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track address |
Monmore Green Stadium Wolverhampton |
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| Country | England | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1947, 2010 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Closed | 1995 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team manager | Will Pottinger | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team captain | Tom Perry | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | National League | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www |
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| Colours | Green, white and red | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cradley Heathens are 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 League, reverting to the Cradley Heathens name in 2013.
Cradley Heath speedway team was formed in 1947 and first raced at Dudley Wood Stadium on 21 June 1947 after a number of away appearances prior to the opening of the newly built stadium. After closure at the end of the 1952 season the track reopened in 1959 for one unlicensed meeting and in 1960 the Heathens entered the newly formed Provincial League. The club then operated continuously, - at top flight level from 1965 -, until 1995 when they were evicted by the new landlords who had bought the stadium to redevelop into housing. The team survived for one additional year, competing at the Loomer Road Stadium in Stoke in 1996 under the name 'Cradley and Stoke' Heathens. The club was one of the most successful in the sport throughout the 1980s, winning the British League in 1981 and 1983 and eight Knockout Cup competitions. Seven Speedway World Championships were won by Cradley riders between 1981 and 1996.
Supporters of the club campaigned to resurrect speedway in the local area. Plans were submitted to Dudley Council for a new site. The Birmingham Brummies promoter, Tony Mole and Bob Edwards (on behalf of supporters group, CRASH – Cradley Raising Aid Saving Heathens) led the planning application and it was hoped that the team would return to racing in 2009. There was an online petition to show support for the application which was linked from the Cradley Heath Speedway website.
The Heathens returned in 2010 but with a changed name. The Cradley name was changed to Dudley Heathens temporarily until a new stadium could be found to call their own. They joined the National League and their home meetings were initially shared between two stadiums – Monmore Green (home track of the Wolverhampton Wolves) and the Perry Bar Stadium (home track of the Birmingham Brummies). The team manager was Will Pottinger, and the club was promoted by Sky Sports Speedway presenter Nigel Pearson, and now by Chris Van Straaten & Gary Patchett. Between 2011 and 2014 home matches were solely at Monmore Green, however at the end of the 2014 season it was announced they would be unable to continue racing at Monmore Green and a deal was quickly agreed to go back to the Perry Barr Stadium in Birmingham for the 2015 season. This proved short lived and at the end of the 2015 season, an agreement was reached for Wolverhampton Wolves and Cradley Heathens to ride on alternate Monday's at Monmore Green.
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