Workington Comets will be back at the tapes to defend their treble in 2019.

After a period of uncertainty which saw club owner Laura Morgan debating whether the club could continue despite its success this year, Comets announced they will return to the track.

The club confirmed at the British Speedway Promoter’s Association’s annual general meeting this week that they intend to run next year but Morgan stressed there is still hard work ahead to ensure the club has a long-term future.

Morgan revealed local businesses have come forward to support the club and she held a positive meeting with Allerdale council leader Alan Smith in which he pledged to help them.

She said: “I seriously didn’t think we’d be able to do this but, with the offers of support we have already had, it now looks like we are in a position to start looking at the longer term future of the sport in the town.

“These are tremendously exciting times and we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves as there is a mountain of work to be done and a lot of support still to find.

“But if we can continue in the way we have over the past couple of weeks since our historic finish to the season, then I am confident the speedway will be around in the town for some time, starting unexpectedly with the 2019 season.”

Co-promoter Steve Whitehead added: “Now we have done what we set out to do and won something big, we need to really focus on making sure the speedway is on a sound footing to maximise the revenues we can get by offering exposure for local businesses.”

The AGM brought a number of changes for the SGB Championship, which will be a 12-team league as Somerset Rebels and Leicester Lions drop down to replace Peterborough Panthers and Ipswich Witches. Two teams from the National League will make the step up, while Lakeside Hammers will take a year out.

The team-building average limit has been cut to 38 points, which means Comets will not be able to retain all of their 2018 side, but work has already started to put together a competitive team.