It had been a fair number of years since Smallmead staged an event of this magnitude. In fact we had to go as far back as 1987 when Reading hosted the British Open Pairs, which saw Oxford's Hans Nielsen and Andy Graham take the crown on a baking hot Sunday afternoon. Jan Andersson and Per Jonsson were Reading's representatives that day.

However it was Reading Speedway's turn again on Sunday 20^th June 2004 to stage a major BSPA event, when Smallmead hosted the 2004 PREMIER LEAGUE PAIRS CHAMPIONSHIP.

On a dry Sunday afternoon, where in front of a healthy turn-out of British speedway supporters, the top stars of the Premier League descended on Reading's Smallmead Stadium.

Reading Racers were the pre-meeting favourites to take the title, with Matej Zagar and Danny Bird beating all before them on Premier League tracks across the length and breath of the country leading up to the event.

Unfortunately, just three days before the meeting Zagar was forced to withdraw, as the Slovenian was still feeling the effects of the concussion he had sustained a few weeks earlier when crashing in his World Championship qualifier in Germany.

Thankfully Racers fans spirits were lifted when skipper Phil Morris answered the call and teamed up with Danny Bird to represent Reading in what was one of the top meetings of the season. The meeting saw the top two riders from the ten leading Premier League clubs compete for the title of 2004 Premier League Pairs Champions. The ten pairs were split into two groups of five, who then raced against each using the 4-3-2-0 scoring system. After four rides each the top two pairs from each group would then race in two sudden-death semi-finals, and finally those two semi-final winners would compete in the climax of the evening - the GRAND 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 Chris Neath & Scott Robson and Glasgow's Shane Parker & George Stancl made it through from Group A. Group B saw the home pairing of Bird & Morris and Stoke's Paul Pickering & Alan Mogridge also progress through to the knock-out stage.

With the scoring system of 4-3-2-0 it was even more important not to run a last place in the knock-out stage, 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 Racers pair a 6-3 heat win and thus progression through to join Stoke in the Grand Final.

First up was the battle for third place in the consolation final. Parker won it for Glasgow, but with Rye House pair Neath and Robson second and third, the resulting 5-4 to the Rockets gave the Hertfordshire men third place on the day.

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

The Smallmead crowd erupted, with many supporters invading the greyhound track to show their appreciation to their favourites as they came round for several victory laps.

It was a magnificent finale for the home crowd to see their heroes crowned 2004 BSPA Premier League Pairs Champions. The Smallmead faithful had been starved of any success for the previous five years, and were hoping this was the start of things to come. Both Reading riders were in top form throughout the meeting, and were a class above the rest of the field on the day.Reading Team Manager Ivan Shears said afterwards, "This has been 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."

Sadly that was to be Reading's only trophy of 2004, as they went onto lose the Premier Trophy Final to Exeter later in the season - but more on that another day........