The Buxton Hitmen were a

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

team in the British

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

(formerly the Conference League) from 1994 to 2018. The club stopped racing in the National League after the 2018 speedway season.

History

Origins & 1990s

View North East from Buxton Raceway Speedway Track - geograph

In 1994, a team called Hi-Edge Hitmen began racing on the Buxton Raceway. Promoted by Barry Watson and former England rider

Chris Morton Christopher John Morton, MBE (born 22 July 1956) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from England. He earned 115 international caps for the England national speedway team and 7 caps for the Great Britain team, making him the third most capp ...

, the team's inaugural season was in the 1994 British League Division Three in which they finished in sixth place. The following year they finished third in the 1995 Academy League before joining the Conference League (division 3). The speedway promotion agreed with the stock car promotion that a separate speedway track could be built adjacent to the main circuit. The team was then renamed the Buxton Hitmen from the 1996 Speedway Conference League season. The first season on the new track in 1996 ended with an eighth-place finish. Two Buxton riders, Mike Hampson and

Jon Armstrong Jon Thomas Armstrong (born 1 August 1974) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from England. Career Armstrong started racing in the British leagues during the 1992 British League season, when riding a couple of times in the reserve berth fo ...

won consecutive Riders' Championships in 1996 and 1997 respectively.

2000s

2007 Oxford v Buxton conference league speedway

During the 2002 Speedway Conference League season the team won their first silverware when winning the Conference League Knockout Cup. They comfortably defeated the Rye House Raiders 99–81 on aggregate in the final, with William Beveridge scoring a 15-point home leg maximum and Aidan Collins scoring 17 in the away leg. The remainder of the decade was spent in mid-table positions, with the highlight being the Riders' Championship successes by James Wright in 2004 Adam Roynon in 2006 and

Craig Cook Craig William Cook (born 21 May 1987) is a motorcycle speedway rider from England. Career Born in Whitehaven, Cook's speedway career began in 2008. In 2009, Cook won the National League Riders Championship, held on 26 September at Rye House St ...

in 2009.

2010s

Their best season was 2010, when they achieved the treble. After finishing second in the regular season table behind Dudley Heathens during the 2010 National League speedway season they won the playoffs, defeating

Newport Wasps Newport Wasps were a British motorcycle speedway team based at Somerton Park and then the Hayley Stadium in Newport, Wales, Newport, South Wales, from 1964 to 2012. The Wasps logo incorporates the traditional black and amber colours of the City ...

in the final. They also won the Knockout Cup and National Trophy. The treble winning team included riders such as

, Nick Morris,

Robert Branford Robert Branford may refer to: * Robert Branford (speedway rider) Robert Peter Branford (born 23 November 1993) is an Australian former motorcycle speedway rider. Career Born in Adelaide, South Australia, he is the son of former Australian rid ...

and Jason Garrity. The Hitmen struggled to compete in the league in the following years, finishing last in 2016 and enduring a disastrous campaign during 2018. After the 2018 season, the speedway club chairman Jayne Moss withdrew the club at the National League AGM, following financial struggles. The speedway team has not raced since. In the 25 years that the team raced they always competed in the third division.

Honours

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

Knockout Cup 2002 * National League Champions 2010 *

National League Knockout Cup The National League Knockout Cup is a motorcycle 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 (1996-2 ...

2010 *

National Trophy National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

2010

Season summary

Notable riders

Riders previous seasons

2007 team * * * * * * * * 2008 team * * * * * Also rode: * 2009 team * * * * * * * Also Rode: * * * * 2010 team * * * * * * * * 2018 team * Ben Wilson *

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 Chart ...

* Connor Coles * Tom Woolley * Lewis Whitmore * Corban Pavitt * Kieran Douglas

References

{{Speedway National League

Hitmen Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, monet ...

Speedway Conference League teams Sport in Derbyshire National League speedway teams 1994 establishments in England 2018 disestablishments in England Sports clubs and teams established in 1994 Sports clubs and teams disestablished in 2018