SGB Championship 2019


The SGB Championship 2019 was the second division of British speedway. The season ran between March and October 2019 and consisted of 12 participating teams. The defending league champions were the Workington Comets, who completed an excellent 2018 season winning three major trophies.

Summary

Four new teams joined the SGB Championship in 2019 with two of them dropping down from the 2018 SGB Premiership league season. These teams were Leicester Lions and Somerset Rebels with Ipswich Witches and Peterborough Panthers moving in the opposite direction. Two teams from the third tier of British speedway the National League Birmingham Brummies and Eastbourne Eagles moved up into this season's league while the Lakeside Hammers did not compete.
On 14 January 2019, the Workington Comets management announced that they would not be competing in the league in 2019 for financial reasons.

Regulation changes

At the Speedway AGM in November 2018, a number of changes were made to the rules and regulations for 2019. The biggest change was the lowering of teams' points averages to 38.00 per team; this was done to reduce the running costs of teams. Riders who started out in the National League would receive a 2.5% reduction on their average. New riders who have previously ridden in the professional leagues in either Poland, Sweden or Denmark would automatically be given a 5.00 average and riders who have never ridden in these leagues would be awarded a 4.00 average. There were a number of line-up changes for the 2019 season. The Leicester Lions and Somerset Rebels dropped down from the SGB Premiership after the 2018 season.

League table

Final Table Up To And Including Friday 4 October

Results

Teams face each other two times: once home and once away.

Play-offs

Home team scores are in bold
Overall aggregate scores are in red

Semi-finals

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Grand final

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Knockout Cup

The 2019 SGB Championship Knockout Cup was the 52nd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams.

KO Cup stages

Home team scores are in bold
Overall aggregate scores are in red
Round 1
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Quarter-finals
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Semi-finals
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Grand final

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Championship Shield

Borders Group
Borders Group Table
Final Table Up To And Including Friday 24 May
Northern Group
Northern Group Table
Final Table Up To And Including Friday 3 May
Southern Group
Southern Group Table
Final Table Up To And Including Wednesday 1 May
Play-offs
Home team scores are in bold
Overall aggregate scores are in red
The best second place team from the three qualifying group stage also qualified for the semi-finals.
Semi-finals
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'''Grand final'''

Riders Championship

Erik Riss won the Riders' Championship. The final was held on 1 September at Owlerton Stadium.
Pos.RiderPtsTotalSFFinal
1

Pairs

The SGB Championship Pairs was held at Oaktree Arena on 20 September. The event was won by Glasgow Tigers.
Semi finals
  • Glasgow bt Sheffield 7–2
  • Leicester bt Birmingham 5–4
Final
  • Glasgow bt Leicester 6–3

Fours

Somerset Rebels won the SGB Championship Fours, held on 23 June 2019, at the East of England Arena.
King beat Cook in a run off for second place.

Teams and final averages

Berwick Bandits
  • 8.09
  • 7.82
  • 7.63
  • 7.67
  • 6.81
  • 6.32
  • 5.71
  • 4.33
27 August Thomas H. Jonasson replaced the injured Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen in the Berwick Bandits team
Birmingham Brummies
  • 8.50
  • 7.60
  • 7.19
  • 6.67
  • 6.24
  • 6.00
  • 5.84
  • 4.36
  • 4.00
  • 4.00
  • 3.43
  • 3.27
  • 3.23
  • 2.81
  • 1.33
7 May Adam Ellis and Nathan Stoneman replaced Kyle Newman and Tobias Thomsen in the Birmingham Brummies team
31 May Tero Aarnio replaced Ulrich Østergaard in the Birmingham Brummies team
1 July Nick Agertoft replaced the retired Zach Wajtknecht and Danyon Hume replaced Nathan Stoneman in the Birmingham Brummies team
23 July Jason Garrity replaced the injured Nick Morris and David Wallinger replaced Danyon Hume in the Birmingham Brummies team
4 August Jordan Jenkins replaced David Wallinger in the Birmingham Brummies team
26 August Tom Perry replaced Jordan Jenkins who quit the Birmingham Brummies team
Eastbourne Eagles
  • 9.32
  • 8.83
  • 8.23
  • 6.59
  • 6.26
  • 5.36
  • 4.37
  • 3.95
  • 3.38
21 May Kyle Newman replaced the injured Tom Brennan in the Eastbourne Eagles team
17 July Jason Edwards replaced Ben Morley in the Eastbourne Eagles team
Edinburgh Monarchs
  • 10.86
  • 8.40
  • 7.82
  • 7.58
  • 6.72
  • 6.20
  • 5.52
  • 5.13
  • 4.46
  • 3.54
  • 3.33
30 May Victor Palovaara replaced the injured Justin Sedgmen in the Edinburgh Monarchs team
15 July Sam Masters and Matt Marson replaced Victor Palovaara and Joel Andersson in the Edinburgh Monarchs team
1 August James Sarjeant replaced Matt Marson in the Edinburgh Monarchs team
Glasgow Tigers
  • 10.72
  • 9.05
  • 8.72
  • 7.19
  • 5.37
  • 4.89
  • 4.54
  • 3.72
  • 2.52
  • 0.33
22 February Kyle Bickley replaced Joe Lawlor in the Glasgow Tigers team
25 May Connor Bailey replaced Luke Chessell in the Glasgow Tigers team
1 August Mikkel B. Andersen replaced James Sarjeant in the Glasgow Tigers team
6 August Sam Jensen replaced the injured Paul Starke in the Glasgow Tigers team
Leicester Lions
  • 9.23
  • 8.82
  • 8.81
  • 7.43
  • 7.30
  • 7.15
  • 6.25
  • 3.35
  • 2.50
10 July Joe Lawlor replaced Jack Thomas in the Leicester Lions team
1 August Ty Proctor replaced the injured Josh Bates in the Leicester Lions team
Newcastle Diamonds
  • 8.33
  • 7.60
  • 6.94
  • 6.93
  • 6.64
  • 5.57
  • 3.41
  • 3.06
  • 2.67
4 March Steve Worrall replaced Nike Lunna in the Newcastle Diamonds team, with them also releasing Victor Palovaara
5 March Simon Lambert was signed to replace Victor Palovaara
29 May Jacob Bukhave replaced Simon Lambert
10 July Ulrich Østergaard replaced Jacob Bukhave
Redcar Bears
  • 9.60
  • 9.00
  • 7.89
  • 6.80
  • 6.31
  • 5.79
  • 5.46
  • 5.41
  • 4.48
  • 4.18
  • 1.65
3 June Ben Barker was released by the Redcar Bears team
4 June Ulrich Østergaard joined the Redcar Bears team
1 July Erik Riss, Kasper Andersen and Tom Woolley replaced Ulrich Østergaard, Jack Smith and the injured Tom Bacon in the Redcar Bears team
Scunthorpe Scorpions
  • 8.13
  • 7.88
  • 7.81
  • 7.39
  • 6.54
  • 6.02
  • 5.57
  • 3.52
  • 3.50
  • 1.09
8 April Danny Ayres replaced Jedd List in the Scunthorpe Scorpions team
29 June Simon Lambert and Ben Barker replaced Josh Bailey and the injured Jason Garrity in the Scunthorpe Scorpions team
Sheffield Tigers
  • 8.82
  • 7.81
  • 7.70
  • 6.41
  • 6.03
  • 5.70
  • 4.95
  • 4.76
  • 4.74
  • 4.58
4 June Josh MacDonald replaced Kasper Andersen in the Sheffield Tigers team
31 July Todd Kurtz and Justin Sedgmen replaced Ty Proctor and the injured Broc Nicol in the Sheffield Tigers team
27 August Broc Nicol replaced Drew Kemp in the Sheffield Tigers team
Somerset Rebels
  • 9.37
  • 9.37
  • 8.63
  • 8.44
  • 5.86
  • 5.33
  • 4.53
  • 2.91
  • 2.58
  • 0.80
26 July Valentin Grobauer quits racing the Somerset Rebels team
28 July Henry Atkins quits racing the Somerset Rebels team
29 July Nick Morris, Nathan Stoneman and Luke Harris replaced resigned riders Valentin Grobauer, Henry Atkins, and Todd Kurtz in the team