SGB Championship 2021

SGB Championship 2021
LeagueSGB Championship
ChampionsPoole Pirates
Knockout CupPoole Pirates
Individualnot held
Pairsnot held
Foursnot held
Highest averageSam Masters
Division/s aboveSGB Premiership 2021
Division/s below2021 NDL

The SGB Championship 2021 was the second tier division, called the SGB Championship, of the British speedway championship in 2021.[1]

Changes from the last edition of the Championship (held in 2019) were the addition of three teams and the loss of two teams. The 2019 Premiership club Poole Pirates, were the biggest profile club to join the league after dropping down from the highest league. Also the Kent Kings and Plymouth Gladiators both joined the league from the National Development League. Sheffield Tigers left the league to move up to the highest division[2] and Somerset Rebels withdrew from the league altogether.[3]

The league started on 21 May with twelve teams participating and race meetings were covered by Eurosport.[4] Poole Pirates finished top of the regular season table and secured a place in the play off semi finals.[5] Poole duly won their play off semi final against Leicester and would meet Glasgow in the final. Glasgow, who had finished second in the table, defeated Edinburgh in the other semi final despite being eliminated from the Knockout Cup the week before by their Scottish rivals.

Poole became the champions after a 96–84 aggregate win over Glasgow in the play off final.[6] They also sealed the double winning the division 2 Knockout Cup for the third time in their history.[7]

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Locations of the 2021 SGB Championship teams

Final Table

Pos Team P W D L 4W 3W D 1L L F A Pts
1 Poole Pirates 20 10 0 0 3 1 1 2 3 1000 794 49
2 Glasgow Tigers 20 9 0 1 2 3 0 2 3 937 833 46
3 Leicester Lions 20 9 0 1 2 1 1 2 4 970 827 42
4 Redcar Bears 20 7 3 0 2 2 1 2 3 917 851 42
5 Edinburgh Monarchs 20 5 3 2 1 2 1 3 3 910 879 33
6 Scunthorpe Scorpions 20 9 0 1 1 0 0 2 7 908 879 33
7 Birmingham Brummies 20 7 0 3 1 1 1 2 5 882 916 32
8 Kent Kings 20 6 0 4 0 0 3 2 5 839 934 26
9 Berwick Bandits 20 6 0 4 0 0 1 1 8 848 950 21
10 Plymouth Gladiators 20 6 2 2 0 0 0 1 9 826 952 21
11 Newcastle Diamonds 20 5 1 4 0 0 0 1 9 767 989 17
12 Eastbourne Eagles withdrew 26 August, results expunged

League scoring system

  • Home loss by any number of points = 0
  • Home draw = 1
  • Home win by any number of points = 3
  • Away loss by 7 points or more = 0
  • Away loss by 6 points or less = 1
  • Away draw = 2
  • Away win by between 1 and 6 points = 3
  • Away win by 7 points or more = 4

Fixtures & results

Home \ Away BER BIR EAS ED GLA KK LEI NEW PLY PP RED SCU
Berwick Bandits 39–51 n/a 32–58 41–49 47–43 47–43 51–39 57–33 46–44 42–48 54–36
Birmingham Brummies 53–37 n/a 52–38 42–48 46–44 46–44 55–35 54–36 49–41 42–48 39–51
Eastbourne Eagles n/a n/a 44–46 47–43 58–32 41–48 n/a 54–36 45–44 n/a 54–36
Edinburgh Monarchs 50–40 45–45 n/a 41–43 44–44 49–40 58–32 47–42 40–50 45–45 52–38
Glasgow Tigers 54–36 49–41 50–40 44–46 43–23 49–41 55–35 59–31 52–38 52–38 49–41
Kent Kings 57–33 50–40 43–47 46–43 39–51 37–53 56–34 49–41 38–52 41–49 46–44
Leicester Lions 48–41 63–27 56–34 47–43 54–36 52–38 63–27 50–40 43–47 51–39 57–33
Newcastle Diamonds 49–40 44–45 n/a 42–48 48–42 45–45 49–41 45–33 29–61 35–55 52–38
Plymouth Gladiators 51–39 47–42 n/a 50–40 44–46 45–45 43–46 48–42 45–45 46–43 47–37
Poole Pirates 52–38 57–33 n/a 48–42 56–34 58–32 52–38 59–31 55–35 52–38 57–33
Redcar Bears 45–45 48–42 43–47 45–45 47–43 51–39 45–45 39–21 55–35 48–42 47–42
Scunthorpe Scorpions 47–43 52–38 49–41 54–36 51–39 63–27 39–51 57–33 56–34 50–34 46–44
Source: [8]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Play Offs

Quarter Finals Semi Finals Final
               
Scunthorpe Scorpions 36 28 64
Leicester Lions 54 38 92
Leicester Lions 42 40 82
Poole Pirates 48 50 98
Poole Pirates
Bye
Poole Pirates 40 56 96
Glasgow Tigers 50 34 84
Edinburgh Monarchs 51 57 108
Redcar Bears 39 33 72
Edinburgh Monarchs 34 47 81
Glasgow Tigers 56 43 99
Glasgow Tigers
Bye

Home team scores are in bold
Overall aggregate scores are in red

Final

First Leg

2 November [9] Glasgow Tigers
Craig Cook 11
Tom Brennan 10
Ricky Wells 9
Marcin Nowak 7
Broc Nicol 6
Connor Bailey 4
Sam Jensen 3 		50–40 Poole Pirates
Danny King 9
Rory Schlein 9
Benjamin Basso 6
Zach Cook (guest) 6
Steve Worrall 5
Danyon Hume 3
Ben Cook 2 		Ashfield Stadium

Second Leg

4 November [10] Poole Pirates
Rory Schlein 12
Danny King 11
Benjamin Basso 9
Steve Worrall 9
Zach Cook (guest) 7
Ben Cook 5
Danyon Hume 3 		56–34 Glasgow Tigers
Craig Cook 11
Tom Brennan 6
Marcin Nowak 6
Ricky Wells 4
Broc Nicol 4
Connor Bailey 3
Sam Jensen 0 		Wimborne Road

Knockout Cup

The 2021 SGB Championship Knockout Cup will be the 53rd edition of the Knockout Cup for tier two teams.[11]

Tournament

Preliminary Rounds Quarter Finals Semi Finals Final
                    
Glasgow Tigers
BYE
Glasgow Tigers 51 48 99
Berwick Bandits 39 42 81
Berwick Bandits
BYE
Glasgow Tigers 53 35 88
Edinburgh Monarchs 37 55 92
Edinburgh Monarchs 47 52 99
Newcastle Diamonds 43 38 81
Edinburgh Monarchs 54 50 104
Birmingham Brummies 36 40 76
Redcar Bears 46 35 81
Birmingham Brummies 44 55 99
Edinburgh Monarchs 42 33 75
Poole Pirates 47 57 104
Scunthorpe Scorpions
BYE
Scunthorpe Scorpions 38 40 78
Leicester Lions 52 50 102
Leicester Lions
BYE
Leicester Lions 49 35 84
Poole Pirates 41 55 96
Eastbourne Eagles 58 40 98
Kent Kings 32 49 81
Eastbourne Eagles scr
Poole Pirates w/o
Plymouth Gladiators 41 29 70
Poole Pirates 49 61 110

HOME TEAM SCORES ARE IN BOLD
OVERALL AGGREGATE SCORES ARE IN RED
TIE WINNERS ARE IN BOLD

Final

First Leg

23 October [12] Edinburgh Monarchs
Richie Worrall 12
Sam Masters 10
Josh Pickering 7
Drew Kemp 7
Kye Thomson 5
Anders Rowe 1
Jason Edwards (guest) 1 		42–47 Poole Pirates
Danny King 13
Benjamin Basso 13
Steve Worrall 9
Rory Schlein 5
Danyon Hume 5
Ben Cook 0
Connor Bailey (guest) 0 		Armadale Stadium

Second Leg

23 October [13] Poole Pirates
Steve Worrall 13
Rory Schlein 12
Danny King 11
Benjamin Basso 8
Ben Cook 5
Danyon Hume 4
Zaine Kennedy (guest) 4 		57–33 Edinburgh Monarchs
Sam Masters 10
Josh Pickering 8
Drew Kemp 8
Richie Worrall 5
Anders Rowe 2
Kye Thomson 0
Jason Edwards (guest) 0 		Wimborne Road

Teams and final averages

[14]

Berwick Bandits

Birmingham Brummies

Edinburgh Monarchs

Glasgow Tigers

Kent Kings

Leicester Lions

Newcastle Diamonds

Plymouth Gladiators

Poole Pirates

Redcar Bears

Scunthorpe Scorpions

Eastbourne Eagles (withdrew)

See also

References

  1. ^ "SGB CHAMPIONSHIP CLUBS". SGB Championship. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  2. ^ "TAPES UP WITH WAR OF THE ROSES". Sheffield Tigers. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  3. ^ "CLUB STATEMENT: REBELS RELUCTANTLY WITHDRAW FROM 2021 SEASON". Somerset Speedway. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  4. ^ "FIM AND EUROSPORT EVENTS AGREE NEW PARTNERSHIP TO PROMOTE SPEEDWAY GLOBALLY FOR 10 YEARS". Eurosport. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  5. ^ "GRAND PIRATES CONFIRM TOP SPOT". Poole Speedway. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  6. ^ "Poole Pirates seal SGB Championship after Glasgow Tigers victory". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  7. ^ "Poole v Edinburgh - Cup Final 2nd Leg". Poole Speedway. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  8. ^ "2021 fixtures & results" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  9. ^ "First leg scores" (PDF). British Speedway website. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  10. ^ "Second leg scores" (PDF). British Speedway website. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  11. ^ "Results". Official British Speedway website. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  12. ^ "First leg scores" (PDF). British Speedway website. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  13. ^ "Second leg scores" (PDF). British Speedway website. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  14. ^ "Averages". British Speedway. Retrieved 13 January 2023.