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.
On 14 January 2019, the Workington Comets management announced that they would not be competing in the league in 2019 for financial reasons.[4]
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.[5]
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.
7 May Adam Ellis and Nathan Stoneman replaced Kyle Newman and Tobias Thomsen in the Birmingham Brummies team[52] 31 May Tero Aarnio replaced Ulrich Østergaard in the Birmingham Brummies team[53] 1 July Nick Agertoft replaced the retired Zach Wajtknecht and Danyon Hume replaced Nathan Stoneman in the Birmingham Brummies team[54] 23 July Jason Garrity replaced the injured Nick Morris and David Wallinger replaced Danyon Hume in the Birmingham Brummies team[55] 4 August Jordan Jenkins replaced David Wallinger in the Birmingham Brummies team[56] 26 August Tom Perry replaced Jordan Jenkins who quit the Birmingham Brummies team[57]
21 May Kyle Newman replaced the injured Tom Brennan in the Eastbourne Eagles team[58] 17 July Jason Edwards replaced Ben Morley in the Eastbourne Eagles team[59]
30 May Victor Palovaara replaced the injured Justin Sedgmen in the Edinburgh Monarchs team[60] 15 July Sam Masters and Matt Marson replaced Victor Palovaara and Joel Andersson in the Edinburgh Monarchs team[61] 1 August James Sarjeant replaced Matt Marson in the Edinburgh Monarchs team[62]
22 February Kyle Bickley replaced Joe Lawlor in the Glasgow Tigers team[63] 25 May Connor Bailey replaced Luke Chessell in the Glasgow Tigers team[64] 1 August Mikkel B. Andersen replaced James Sarjeant in the Glasgow Tigers team[65] 6 August Sam Jensen replaced the injured Paul Starke in the Glasgow Tigers team[66]
10 July Joe Lawlor replaced Jack Thomas in the Leicester Lions team[67] 1 August Ty Proctor replaced the injured Josh Bates in the Leicester Lions team[68]
4 March Steve Worrall replaced Nike Lunna in the Newcastle Diamonds team, with them also releasing Victor Palovaara[69] 5 March Simon Lambert was signed to replace Victor Palovaara[70] 29 May Jacob Bukhave replaced Simon Lambert[71] 10 July Ulrich Østergaard replaced Jacob Bukhave[72]
3 June Ben Barker was released by the Redcar Bears team[73] 4 June Ulrich Østergaard joined the Redcar Bears team[74] 1 July Erik Riss, Kasper Andersen and Tom Woolley replaced Ulrich Østergaard, Jack Smith and the injured Tom Bacon in the Redcar Bears team[75]
8 April Danny Ayres replaced Jedd List in the Scunthorpe Scorpions team[76] 29 June Simon Lambert and Ben Barker replaced Josh Bailey and the injured Jason Garrity in the Scunthorpe Scorpions team[77]
4 June Josh MacDonald replaced Kasper Andersen in the Sheffield Tigers team[78] 31 July Todd Kurtz and Justin Sedgmen replaced Ty Proctor and the injured Broc Nicol in the Sheffield Tigers team[79] 27 August Broc Nicol replaced Drew Kemp in the Sheffield Tigers team[80]
26 July Valentin Grobauer quits racing the Somerset Rebels team[81] 28 July Henry Atkins quits racing the Somerset Rebels team[82] 29 July Nick Morris, Nathan Stoneman and Luke Harris replaced resigned riders Valentin Grobauer, Henry Atkins, and Todd Kurtz in the team[83]