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 Club Home Away 1 Leicester Lions 20 10 0 0 1 4 0 3 2 961 816 50 +145 2 Glasgow Tigers 20 9 0 1 1 5 0 1 2 945 818 48 +127 3 Redcar Bears 20 8 0 2 1 2 0 2 5 917 858 36 +57 4 Somerset Rebels 20 8 0 2 1 2 0 2 5 912 880 36 +32 5 Berwick Bandits 20 9 0 1 0 0 0 3 6 884 912 30 -28 6 Sheffield Tigers 20 8 0 1 0 0 0 2 6 878 921 30 -43 7 Scunthorpe Scorpions 20 6 1 3 1 1 1 1 6 899 898 29 +1 8 Edinburgh Monarchs 20 9 0 1 0 0 0 1 9 887 890 28 -3 9 Eastbourne Eagles 20 8 0 2 0 1 0 0 8 862 891 27 -29 10 Newcastle Diamonds 20 7 0 3 0 0 0 1 9 852 913 22 -59 11 Birmingham Brummies 20 5 1 4 0 0 1 0 9 782 982 18 -200
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
Grand final
Leading averages Rider Team Average Sam Masters Edinburgh 10.86 Craig Cook Glasgow 10.72 Charles Wright Redcar 9.60 Chris Harris Somerset 9.37 Rory Schlein Somerset 9.37 Edward Kennett Eastbourne 9.32 Scott Nicholls Leicester 9.23 Rasmus Jensen Glasgow 9.05 Erik Riss Redcar 9.00 Richard Lawson Eastbourne 8.83
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
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Grand final
Championship Shield
Borders Group
Borders Group Table Final Table Up To And Including Friday 24 May
Club Home Away 1 Glasgow Tigers 6 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 291 249 15 +42 2 Berwick Bandits 6 3 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 287 252 14 +35 3 Edinburgh Monarchs 6 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 252 287 6 -35 4 Newcastle Diamonds 6 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 249 291 3 -42
Northern Group
Northern Group Table Final Table Up To And Including Friday 3 May
Club Home Away 1 Leicester Lions 6 3 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 304 234 17 +70 2 Scunthorpe Scorpions 6 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 254 296 9 -32 3 Sheffield Tigers 6 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 268 268 7 = 4 Redcar Bears 6 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 250 288 6 -38
Southern Group
Southern Group Table Final Table Up To And Including Wednesday 1 May
Club Home Away 1 Eastbourne Eagles 4 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 206 154 10 +52 2 Somerset Rebels 4 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 177 183 6 -6 3 Birmingham Brummies 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 157 203 0 -46
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
Grand final
Riders Championship
Erik Riss won the Riders' Championship. The final was held on 1 September at Owlerton Stadium.
Pos. Rider Pts Total SF Final1 Erik Riss 3 1 3 3 2 12332 Danny King 1 2 3 1 310223 Ryan Douglas 3 2 3 3 1 12-14 Sam Masters 3 3 1 3 212-05 Jake Allen 2 2 1 2 3 1016 Adam Ellis 3 1 2 3 0907 Richard Lawson 2 3 2 1 1 98 Chris Harris 2 3 2 2 099 Rasmus Jensen 0 0 3 2 3 810 Todd Kurtz 1 0 1 1 3 611 Nick Morris 1 3 FX 2 R 612 Zaine Kennedy 0 1 2 1 1513 Steve Worrall 1 1 1 R 2514 Jye Etheridge 0 2 0 0 2 415 Josh Auty 2 FX 0 NS NS 216 Joe Lawlor (res)0 1117 Craig Cook R R R NS NS 018 Tom Woolley (res) 0 00 f=fell, r-retired, ex=excluded, ef=engine failure t=touched tapes
The following did not partake in the meeting even though they had qualified Edward Kennett (Eastbourne Eagles), Scott Nicholls (Leicester Lions), Charles Wright (Redcar Bears)
Referee's Official Group Stage Result Score Sheet
Pairs
The SGB Championship Pairs was held at Oaktree Arena on 20 September. The event was won by Glasgow Tigers.
QualifyingPosTeamPtsRiders1Glasgow 25 Jensen 13, Cook 122Birmingham 22 Ellis 13, Aarnio 93Leicester 21 Douglas 12, Nicholls 94Sheffield 20 King 14, Howarth 65Scunthorpe 20 Allen 13, Barker 76Redcar 19 Stewart 13, Riss 6
QualifyingPosTeamPtsRiders7Eastbourne 18Lawson 12, Kerr 68Newcastle 15Worrall S 12, Bjerre 39Somerset 15 Morris 8, Schlein 710Edinburgh 13Wells 8, Heeps 511Berwick 10Jonassen 10, Etheridge 0
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.
QualifyingPosTeamPtsRiders1 Eastbourne 15Kennett 6, Kerr 6, Lawson 2, Newman 12 Glasgow 15Jensen 6, Starke 5, Cook 3, Vissing 13 Sheffield15 Proctor 6, King 4, Howarth 3, Kemp 1, Nicol 14 Somerset 14 Harris 6, Covatti 4, Schlein 3, Kurtz 15 Edinburgh 13 Andersson5, Heeps 5, Palovaara 2, Wells 16 Leicester 12 Worrall 4, Douglas 4, Nicholls 2, Bates 2
Qualifying (cont)PosTeamPtsRiders7 Newcastle 11 Worrall 5, Jorgensen 4, Wethers 2, Bjerre 08 Redcar 10 Wright 5, Palm Toft 4, Stewart 1, Greaves 0, Bacon 09 Scunthorpe 10 Ayres 3, Auty 3, Allen 2, Nielsen 210 Berwick 9Doolan 3, Summers 2, Jakobsen 2, Garcia 2, Etheridge 011 Birmingham 8 Aarnio 4, Ellis 3, Coles 1, Lawlor 0
FinalPosTeamPtsRiders1 Somerset 22 Covatti 8, Harris 7, Schlein 6, Kurtz 12 Glasgow 19Cook 9, Jensen 5, Starke 4, Vissing 13 Sheffield 19 King 7, Proctor 4, Nicol 4, Howarth 4, Kemp 0 4 Eastbourne 12 Lawson 6, Kennett 4, Kerr 2, Newman 0
King beat Cook (who fell) 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
See also List of United Kingdom speedway league champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References