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."British Speedway Gets Major Revamp", speedwaygb.co, 3 November 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2016
Teams Current teams Berwick Bandits Edinburgh Monarchs Glasgow Tigers Oxford Cheetahs Plymouth Gladiators Poole Pirates Redcar Bears Scunthorpe Scorpions Workington Comets
Former teams Birmingham Brummies (2019–2023) Eastbourne Eagles (2019–2021) Ipswich Witches (2017–2018) Kent Kings (2021) Lakeside Hammers (2018) Leicester Lions (2019–2022) Newcastle Diamonds (until 2022) Peterborough Panthers (2017–2018) Sheffield Tigers (2017–2019)
Champions 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 2022 Poole Pirates Leicester Lions Edinburgh Monarchs / Glasgow Tigers 2023 Glasgow Tigers Poole Pirates Oxford Cheetahs / Scunthorpe Scorpions 2024 Poole Pirates Oxford Cheetahs Scunthorpe Scorpions / Workington Comets 2025 Poole Pirates Gasgow Tigers Redcar Bears / Edinburgh Monarchs
History 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."Speedway: Promotion and relegation introduced to revamped competition", BBC, 3 November 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2016
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."British Speedway set for big revamp with promotion and relegation", Sky Sports, 3 November 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2016 The following year in 2018, the promotion/relegation system was scrapped.
Team building 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 List of United Kingdom Speedway League Champions SGB Premiership
References