Swindon Robins may have come second in the regular season, but tonight against the Ipswich Witches they were by far the best team, losing only two heats all night as they took their fifth GB championship and second in three years.
Swindon brought with them an eight point advantage from the meeting in Ipswich on Tuesday and never looked in doubt having doubled their lead to 16 points after only Heat 5.
Three riders scored a paid maximum - Jason Doyle (14+1), Tobiasz Musielak (12+3) and Rasmus Jensen (11+1, pictured riding for Hallstavik Rospiggarna who hosted the Sweden SGP in July).
The Witches made a smart signing in bringing in SGP rider Niels Kristian Iversen as soon as his season had finished with the financially troubled Motala Piraterna in Sweden. And he certainly helped their cause with a 1.808 heat average prior to the finals.
But tonight the Dane had a nightmare start when he touch the tapes and was disqualified in the very first heat. He ended up with a hugely disappointing five points on a night when they needed him to score in double figures. In the end it was only reserve rider Jake Allen who would do so with 11. Australian Allen has, in fact, topped the scoring in all but one of the Witches post season matches.
The Ipswich team should be proud that they made it to the final in this their first season back in the Premiership. But in the end their main contribution was removing Poole Pirates in the semis, a Poole team which is also in financial difficulty and has this week applied to be part of the Championship division in 2020.
But for the Robins it was a well deserved victory as they won this home tie 62-27 to take the 2019 SGB Premiership title by an impressive 111-68.
