The Speedway Great Britain (SGB) Championship is the second division of speedway league competition in the United Kingdom, governed by the Speedway Control Bureau (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA). It was introduced for 2017 following a restructuring of British speedway.[1]

SGB Championship
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event SGB Championship 2025
SportSpeedway
Founded2017
No. of teams9
Most recent
champion(s)
Poole Pirates
Most titlesPoole Pirates (3)
TV partner(s)British Speedway Network
Sponsor(s)Cab Direct
Domestic cup(s)SGB Championship Knockout Cup
Official websitewww.speedwaygb.co.uk
Notes
League Above
SGB Premiership
League Below
National Development League

Teams

edit

Current teams

edit

Former teams

edit

Champions

edit
Season Champions Second Third Ref
2017 Sheffield Tigers Ipswich Witches Edinburgh Monarchs / Glasgow Tigers
2018 Workington Comets Lakeside Hammers Peterborough Panthers / Glasgow Tigers
2019 Leicester Lions Glasgow Tigers Redcar Bears / Somerset Rebels
2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 Poole Pirates Glasgow Tigers Leicester Lions / Edinburgh Monarchs [2]
2022 Poole Pirates Leicester Lions Edinburgh Monarchs / Glasgow Tigers
2023 Glasgow Tigers Poole Pirates Oxford Cheetahs / Scunthorpe Scorpions [3]
2024 Poole Pirates Oxford Cheetahs Scunthorpe Scorpions / Workington Comets [4]

History

edit

After the 2016 season, the Premier League was renamed to the SGB Championship for the 2017 season. The 2017 edition of the league contained ten teams who met each other twice (home and away). The top four teams at the end of the regular season qualified for the playoffs to decide the champions. All ten of the teams were from the previous season's Premier League.[5]

In 2017, there was a short-lived relegation and promotion race-off between the Championship and the new top tier, the SGB Premiership, with the bottom team from the Premiership going into a playoff with the Championship winners.[1][6] The following year in 2018, the promotion/relegation system was scrapped.[7]

Team building

edit

At the start of the season, teams are built up to maximum points limit. The combined Calculated Match Average (CMA) of the riders declared in the team must not be higher than an agreed figure set at the British Speedway Promoters' Association (BSPA) Annual General Meeting.

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "British Speedway Gets Major Revamp", speedwaygb.co, 3 November 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2016
  2. ^ "Poole Pirates seal SGB Championship after Glasgow Tigers victory". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  3. ^ "Glasgow Tigers to face Poole Pirates in 2023 SGB Championship final". Bournemouth Daily Echo. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  4. ^ "Poole Pirates crowned speedway champions". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  5. ^ "Speedway: Promotion and relegation introduced to revamped competition", BBC, 3 November 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2016
  6. ^ "British Speedway set for big revamp with promotion and relegation", Sky Sports, 3 November 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2016
  7. ^ "MAJOR MOVES ANNOUNCED - British Speedway Official Website".