Reading race to Pairs title.

After an enthralling night's speedway at Reading's Smallmead Stadium, Euphony Racers duo Danny Bird and Phil Morris won the 2004 BSPA Premier League Pairs, beating Stoke's Paul Pickering and Alan Mogridge in the
sudden-death Grand Final.

Rye House's Chris Neath and Scott Robson finished third after defeating Glasgow's Shane Parker and George Stancl in the Consolation Final.

After 22 action-packed heats and each team having ridden four rides each, the top two pairing's from each group progressed through to the sudden-death semi-finals. Rye House's Neath & Robson and Glasgow's Parker & Stancl made
it through from Group A. Group B saw the home pairing of Bird & Morris and Stoke's Pickering & Mogridge also make it through to the knock-out stage.

With the scoring system of 4-3-2-0 it was important not to run a last place, as second and third was worth more points than a win and a last. In the first semi-final Neath won the race for Rye House, but with team-mate Robson
bringing up the rear behind the Stoke Potters duo of Pickering and Mogridge, the men from the Potteries were the first to march on to the Grand Final

In the second semi the Reading pair were slow away from the tapes, but on the first two turns Morris moved up the inside to take third place, and team-mate Bird blasted around the outside of Glasgow duo Parker and Stancl and got himself in front by the end of the first lap. The positions didn't change for the rest of the race giving the Euphony Racers pair a 6-3 heat win and progressed through to join Stoke in the Grand Final.

In the Grand Final the Racers made no mistake when both Bird and Morris shot from the start and led from tapes to flag for a maximum 7-2 heat advantage over the Potters duo of Pickering and Mogridge to the applause of the Smallmead crowd.

It was a magnificent finale for the home crowd to see their heroes crowned 2004 BSPA Premier League Pairs Champions. The Smallmead faithful have been starved of any success for the past five years, and will be hoping this is
the start of things to come.

Reading Team Manager Ivan Shears said afterwards, "This is a great night for Reading Speedway. We haven't had much to cheer about for a while now, but I'm sure this will give the whole club a massive lift, and we can build
on this and go onto bigger things."