SGB Championship 2024 explained

Competition:	SGB Championship
Competitors:	9
Domesticcup1:	Champions
Domesticcup1 Winners:	Poole Pirates
Domesticcup2:	Knockout Cup
Domesticcup2 Winners:	Poole Pirates
Domesticcup3:	BSN Series
Domesticcup3 Winners:	Poole Pirates
Domesticcup4:	Pairs
Domesticcup4 Winners:	Redcar Bears
Domesticcup5:	Riders' Championship
Domesticcup5 Winners:	Josh Pickering
Highest Average:	Richard Lawson
League Above:	SGB Premiership
Leagues Below:	2024 NDL
Prevseason:	2023
Nextseason:	2025

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.^[1]

Summary

Nine clubs competed in the Championship during 2024,^[1] with Workington replacing Birmingham following their respective league changes.^{[2] [3]} Edinburgh once again remained in the league despite problems surrounding their home venue.^[4]

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.^[1] 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.^[5] 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.^[6] However, Poole rider Tom Brennan starred in the second leg win with 13 points.^{[7] [8]}

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).^{[9] [10]}

League

Regular season

League table^[11]

	Club		Home			Away
			width=28		width=28		width=28							width=28		width=28		width=28
1	Poole Pirates (C)	16	7	0	1	6	1	1	790	650	7	34	+140
2		16	8	0	0	2	2	4	784	654	8	30	+130
3		16	8	0	0	2	0	6	752	684	5	25	+68
4		16	7	0	1	2	0	6	709	731	4	22	-22
5		16	7	0	1	1	0	7	703	734	4	20	-31
6		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 LegSecond 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 LegSecond Leg

BSN Series

Scottish Group^[12]

Fixtures

Table

	Club		Home			Away
			width=28		width=28		width=28							width=28		width=28		width=28
1	Edinburgh Monarchs (Q)	4	2	0	0	1	0	1	191	168	2	8	+23
2		4	1	1	0	0	0	2	176	183	1	4	-7
3		4	2	0	0	0	0	2	172	188	0	4	-16

Northern Group

Fixtures

Table

	Club		Home			Away
			width=28		width=28		width=28							width=28		width=28		width=28
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		4	0	0	2	0	0	2	165	195	0	0	-30

Southern Group

Fixtures

Table

	Club		Home			Away
			width=28		width=28		width=28							width=28		width=28		width=28
1	Poole Pirates (Q)	4	2	0	0	1	0	1	210	149	2	8	+61
2		4	2	0	0	0	0	2	161	198	0	4	-37
3		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 legSecond 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.^[13]

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
4	Redcar Bears	20	Charles Wright 14, Danny King 6
5	Scunthorpe Scorpions	17	Michael Palm Toft 9, Kyle Howarth 8
6	Berwick Bandits	13	Lewis Kerr 10, Drew Kemp 3
7	Plymouth Gladiators	12	Dan Thompson 9, Ben Barker 3
8	Workington Comets	11	Troy Batchelor 7, Antti Vuolas 4

Semi-finals

width=100	Team One	width=100	Team Two	width=80	Score	width=250	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

width=100	Team One	width=100	Team Two	width=80	Score	width=250	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.^[14]

width=25px	Pos.	width=250px	Rider	width=120px	Pts	width=50px	Total	width=50px	SF	width=50px	Final
1	Josh Pickering (Edinburgh)	3,1,3,2,2	11	3	3
2	Ben Cook (Poole)	2,0,3,3,3	11	-	2
3	Richard Lawson (Poole)	3,2,2,3,3	13	-	1
4	Antti Vuolas (Workington)	0,1,2,3,3	9	2	0
5	Drew Kemp (Berwick)	2,2,R,1,3	8	1
6	Danny King (Redcar)	3,3,2,2,0	10	0
7	Sam Masters (Oxford)	3,3,3,0,F	9
8	Chris Harris (Glasgow)	2,3,1,1,1	8
9	Jason Edwards (Redcar)	1,2,1,2,2	8
10	Tom Brennan (Poole)	2,1,0,2,2	7
11	Ashton Boughen (Oxford)	1,3,2,0,-	6
12	Dan Thompson (Plymouth)	1,1,3,1,R	6
13	Charles Wright (Redcar)	E,2,1,R,2	5
14	Leon Flint (Berwick)	0,0,0,3,1	4
15	Simon Lambert (Scunthorpe)	1,0,R,1,1	3
16	Freddie Hodder (Berwick)	-,-,0,F,1	1
17	Danny Phillips (Unattached)	-,-,-,1,R	1
18	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)

Notes and References

1. Web site: British Speedway AGM Statement . British Speedway . 19 November 2023.
2. Web site: Brummies back in top flight . Birmingham Speedway . 19 November 2023.
3. Web site: Sam McGurk is back for 2024 . Workington Speedway . 19 November 2023.
4. Web site: STELLAR MONARCHS TO ROAR INTO 2024 . Edinburgh Monarchs Speedway . 19 November 2023.
5. Web site: Poole Pirates crowned speedway champions . BBC Sport . 10 October 2024.
6. Web site: Cheetahs: Kileen injuty costly . British Speedway . 10 October 2024.
7. Web site: Pirates win Cab Direct Championship . British Speedway . 10 October 2024.
8. Web site: Poole Pirates crowned speedway champions . BBC . 25 October 2024.
9. Web site: Cheetahs runners-up again . British Speedway. 25 October 2024.
10. Web site: Poole Pirates beat Oxford Cheetahs to Championship Knockout Cup . Oxford Mail . 25 October 2024.
11. https://britishspeedway.co.uk/2024-championship-table-fixtures-results/
12. Web site: BSN Series . British Speedway . 13 January 2023.
13. Web site: Charles Wright helps Redcar Bears pull off incredible comeback . Cumbria Crack . 22 August 2024.
14. Web site: Riders' Championship scorecard. British Speedway . 16 September 2024.