The 2024 SGB Cab Direct Championship season was the 77th season of the second tier of British Speedway and the 7th known as the SGB Championship.
Summary Nine clubs competed in the Championship during 2024, with Workington replacing Birmingham following their respective league changes. Edinburgh once again remained in the league despite problems surrounding their home venue.
The league format was the same as in 2023, with each team racing against each other twice (home and away), meaning a total of 16 fixtures each during the season. The Cab Direct Knockout Cup and the BSN Series also both returned for 2024, both following the same formats as in 2023.
The top four teams qualified for the playoffs. The points limit for team construction was reduced from 40 to 38 points. Glasgow defended the Championship title that they won in 2023, while Scunthorpe defended the knockout cup and Poole defended the BSN Series.
Poole Pirates won the league title for the third time in four years, defeating Oxford Cheetahs in the play off final and overturning a first leg deficit of 12 points. The second leg was subject to controversy following the exclusion and subsequent retirement of Luke Killeen, which effectively ended Oxford's title hopes. Oxford manager Peter Schroeck cited weak refereeing by Michael Breckon. However, Poole rider Tom Brennan starred in the second leg win with 13 points.
The same two teams met in the Knockout Cup final, which resulted in an anti-climax as Poole won easily and consisted of a second leg that saw Oxford field just two riders due to injuries and having to call on five guest riders (believed to be a record).
League Regular season League table
https://britishspeedway.co.uk/2024-championship-table-fixtures-results/ Club Home Away 1 Poole Pirates (C) 16 7 0 1 6 1 1 790 650 7 34 +140 2 Oxford Cheetahs 16 8 0 0 2 2 4 784 654 8 30 +130 3 Scunthorpe Scorpions 16 8 0 0 2 0 6 752 684 5 25 +68 4 Workington Comets 16 7 0 1 2 0 6 709 731 4 22 -22 5 Glasgow Tigers 16 7 0 1 1 0 7 703 734 4 20 -31 6 Redcar Bears 16 5 0 3 2 0 6 707 733 4 18 -26 7 Edinburgh Monarchs 16 5 0 3 0 0 8 688 749 2 12 -61 8 Plymouth Gladiators 16 4 0 4 1 0 7 674 761 2 12 -87 9 Berwick Bandits 16 4 0 4 1 0 7 663 575 1 11 -112
Fixtures & results
Play Offs
Home team scores are in bold Overall aggregate scores are in red
Grand Final
First Leg
Second Leg
Knockout Cup The 2024 SGB Championship Knockout Cup is the 56th edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams and the 7th edition under the SGB Championship Knockout Cup name.
Home team scores are in bold Overall aggregate scores are in red
Final First Leg
Second Leg
BSN Series Scottish Group
Fixtures
Table
Club Home Away 1 Edinburgh Monarchs (Q) 4 2 0 0 1 0 1 191 168 2 8 +23 2 Glasgow Tigers 4 1 1 0 0 0 2 176 183 1 4 -7 3 Berwick Bandits 4 2 0 0 0 0 2 172 188 0 4 -16
Northern Group
Fixtures
Table
Club Home Away 1 Workington Comets (Q) 4 2 0 0 1 0 1 192 168 2 8 +24 2 Scunthorpe Scorpions (Q) 4 2 0 0 1 0 1 183 177 1 7 +6 3 Redcar Bears 4 0 0 2 0 0 2 165 195 0 0 -30
Southern Group
Fixtures
Table
Club Home Away 1 Poole Pirates (Q) 4 2 0 0 1 0 1 210 149 2 8 +61 2 Oxford Cheetahs 4 2 0 0 0 0 2 161 198 0 4 -37 3 Plymouth Gladiators 4 1 0 1 0 0 2 168 192 1 3 -24
Knockout stages
Home team scores are in bold Overall aggregate scores are in red
Final First leg
Second leg
Pairs Championship The 2024 edition of the SGB Championship Pairs took place on Friday 16 August, at Oxford Stadium, Oxford. The event was won by Redcar Bears.
Qualifying heats Pos Team Pts Riders 1 Glasgow Tigers 26 Anders Rowe 14, Chris Harris 12 2 Oxford Cheetahs 24 Sam Masters 14, Scott Nicholls 10 3 Poole Pirates 22 Richard Lawson 13, Ben Cook 9 4Redcar Bears 20 Charles Wright 14, Danny King 6 5 Edinburgh Monarchs 17 Josh Pickering 15, Michele Paco Castagna 2 6 Scunthorpe Scorpions 17 Michael Palm Toft 9, Kyle Howarth 8 7 Berwick Bandits 13 Lewis Kerr 10, Drew Kemp 3 8 Plymouth Gladiators 12 Dan Thompson 9, Ben Barker 3 9 Workington Comets 11 Troy Batchelor 7, Antti Vuolas 4
Semi-finals Team One Team Two Score Result Redcar Glasgow 7-2 Wright 4, King 3, Rowe 2, Harris 0 Oxford Poole 7-2 Nicholls 4, Masters 3, Lawson 2, Cook 0
Final Team One Team Two Score Result Redcar Oxford 7-2 King 4, Wright 3, Masters 2, Nicholls X
Riders' Championship The 2024 edition of the SGB Championship Riders Championship took place at the Ecco Arena in Redcar on Sunday 15 September. It was won by Josh Pickering.
Pos. Rider Pts Total SF Final1 Josh Pickering (Edinburgh) 3,1,3,2,2 11332 Ben Cook (Poole) 2,0,3,3,3 11-23 Richard Lawson (Poole) 3,2,2,3,3 13-14 Antti Vuolas (Workington) 0,1,2,3,3 9205 Drew Kemp (Berwick) 2,2,R,1,3 816 Danny King (Redcar) 3,3,2,2,0 1007 Sam Masters (Oxford) 3,3,3,0,F 98 Chris Harris (Glasgow) 2,3,1,1,1 89 Jason Edwards (Redcar) 1,2,1,2,2 810 Tom Brennan (Poole) 2,1,0,2,2 711 Ashton Boughen (Oxford) 1,3,2,0,- 612 Dan Thompson (Plymouth) 1,1,3,1,R 613 Charles Wright (Redcar) E,2,1,R,2 514 Leon Flint (Berwick) 0,0,0,3,1 415 Simon Lambert (Scunthorpe) 1,0,R,1,1 316 Freddie Hodder (Berwick) -,-,0,F,1 117 Danny Phillips (Unattached) -,-,-,1,R 118 Michael Palm Toft (Scunthorpe) 0,R,-,-,- 0
Leading averages Rider Team Average 1 Richard Lawson Poole 9.96 2 Josh Pickering Edinburgh 9.76 3 Sam Masters Oxford 9.75 4 Chris Harris Glasgow 9.62 5 Tom Brennan Poole 9.59 6 Ben Cook Poole 9.56 7 Scott Nicholls Oxford 9.24 8 Craig Cook Workington 9.02 9 Charles Wright Redcar 9.01 10 Troy Batchelor Workington 8.80 averages include league, play offs, knockout cup & bsn series, min 6 matches
Squads & final averages Averages include 2024 Championship, Knockout Cup and BSN Series matches.
Berwick Bandits (C) 8.12 7.34 7.09 6.41 5.46 5.36 1.81
Edinburgh Monarchs 9.76 7.80 (C) 7.55 7.03 5.76 4.00 2.37
Glasgow Tigers (C) 9.62 8.07 7.76 7.45 6.29 4.61 4.45 4.34 3.33 0.50
Oxford Cheetahs 9.75 (C) 9.24 7.39 7.19 5.73 5.02 2.20
Plymouth Gladiators 8.26 (C) 6.69 6.67 6.44 6.18 5.46 5.35 3.54
Poole Pirates 9.96 9.59 (C) 9.56 7.94 5.69 5.14 4.79 1.73
Redcar Bears (C) 9.01 8.31 7.18 5.83 5.57 5.51 5.13 3.53
Scunthorpe Scorpions 8.00 7.87 7.81 (C) 7.10 6.94 5.56 5.50
Workington Comets (C) 9.02 8.80 7.28 7.06 6.71 4.97 2.61 1.78
See also List of United Kingdom speedway league champions Knockout Cup (speedway)
References