SWINDON finally surrendered their Elite League Best Pairs crown as Jason Crump completed a magnificent weekend double at Blunsdon last night.

Crump, winner of Saturday night's British Grand Prix, got his hands on another piece of silverware as he partnered Belle Vue teammate Simon Stead to victory over the Robins pair of Leigh Adams and Sebastian Ulamek in the Grand Final, dashing the hopes of the majority of the large Abbey Stadium crowd.

The Aussie, the runaway leader in the world championship standings, and young Brit Stead gave a faultless demonstration of team riding as they secured the all-important second and third places to clinch a 5-4 win over the home pairing.

It was sweet revenge for the Aces, who were beaten finalists when Adams and Lee Richardson took the honours at Peterborough last year.

But the last-race heartbreak was particularly rough on Swindon skipper Adams, who shrugged off his own British Grand Prix blues to go through the card with six heat wins, including the final itself.

However, Polish ace Ulamek found himself stuck behind Crump and Stead and despite a battle with the latter the two actually touched machines on the back straight of the first lap was unable to make up the single place that would have guaranteed an extra two points and a hat-trick of Best Pairs' wins for Alun Rossiter's men.

The Robins team boss, who had seen Adams lift the title with Charlie Gjedde and Richardson in 2004 and 2005 respectively, admitted: We did everything but win really and of course it's disappointing.

I thought we had a plan (for the final) and obviously they had a plan too and our plan didn't work.

We know what the scoring system is like and there are no complaints from us.

We've won it two years on the trot and we have got the final again and that's something to be proud of.'' Rossiter added: He (Crump) is in tremendous form at the moment and we just didn't start well enough in the final which did the damage.

But Leigh was outstanding for us yet again and I know he's a little bit disappointed at the moment. But I can't complain about Seb. He gave it 110 per cent.'' Ulamek, who gave solid support to the unbeatable Adams, added: It was very close in the end, but that's part of racing. I wanted to do a good job for Leigh because he is the best but it wasn't enough in the end.'' With the 11 teams split into one group of five and the other of four, only the top finishing side in each would progress to the Grand Final.

As expected, the Robins pairing started strongly, claiming maximum points in their first three Group A rides, against Coventry, Wolverhampton and Ipswich respectively.

With Eastbourne doing the same against Wolves and Ipswich, the heat 23 battle between Swindon and the Eagles the clubs meet again in the Elite League tonight - was already shaping up as the pivotal clash in the section.

However, the south coast duo of David Norris and 2003 world champion Nicki Pedersen then gave up a 7-2 deficit to Peterborough to leave Robins in charge.

A heat win over Coventry kept Eagles in the hunt and it was all down to that heat 23 when Ulamek trailed in last as Robins lost 5-4 to Peterborough in the 18th.

Needing a comfortable heat win, Pedersen sprang out of the gate but Adams and Ulamek tucked in behind before Swindon's super Aussie sent the home crowd wild by passing the Eagles rider on lap two to book the hosts' place in the final.

In the four-strong Group B, the battle for first place was between Belle Vue and Poole, with ex-Swindon man Crump maintaining his Cardiff form with a faultless performance from his four rides.

Poole could have snatched the final spot from them, but paid for their inability to record more than one race win and, despite clinching a 5-4 heat 25 win over Arena Essex, were eliminated on wins recorded.

And the Aces' final gameplan worked to perfection as they let Adams soar away for the four-point win, the home skipper looking behind helplessly as Crump and Stead held off Ulamek for a combined five points and the title.

Delighted Stead said: Jason did a lot of the hard work early on but I got better as it went on and we got the right result in the end.''

Group A: Swindon (Leigh Adams 20, Sebastian Ulamek 11) 31; Peterborough (Hans Andersen 15, Niels-Kristian Iversen 11) 26; Eastbourne (Nicki Pedersen 15, David Norris 10) 25; Coventry (Scott Nicholls 11, Rory Schlein 12) 23; Ipswich (Kim Janssen 7, Piotr Protasiewicz 10) 17, Wolverhampton (Ronnie Correy 2, Fredrik Lindgren 11) 13. Swindon qualify for Grand Final

Group B: Belle Vue (Jason Crump 16, Simon Stead 5) 21, Poole (Bjarne Pedersen 9, Antonio Lindback 12) 21, Reading (Greg Hancock 10, Matej Zagar 9) 19, Oxford (Todd Wiltshire 13, Adam Skornicki 2) 15, Arena Essex (Leigh Lanham 2, Joonas Kylmakorpi 12) 14. Belle Vue qualify for Grand Final on race wins.

HEAT DETAILS

  • Heat 1: N Pedersen, Norris, Lindgren, Correy, 65.69 (Eastbourne 7 Wolverhampton 2)
  • Heat 2: Adams, Ulamek, Nicholls, Schlein, 66.03 (Swindon 7 Coventry 2)
  • Heat 3: Iversen, Janssen, Protasiewicz (f.rmtd), Andersen (f.rtd), 67.67 (Peterborough 4 Ipswich 5)
  • Heat 4: Crump, Zagar, Stead, Hancock, 66.69 (Belle Vue 6 Reading 3)
  • Heat 5: Lindback, Wiltshire, B Pedersen, Skornicki, 65.85 (Poole 6 Oxford 3)
  • Heat 6: Adams, Ulamek, Lindgren, Correy, 65.66 (Wolverhampton2 Swindon 7)
  • Heat 7: N Pedersen, Norris, Protasiewicz, Janssen, 67.45 (Ipswich 2 Eastbourne 7)
  • Heat 8: Andersen, Nicholls, Schlein, Iversen (f.rmtd, rtd), 66.49 (Coventry 5 Peterborough 4)
  • Heat 9: Crump, Kylmakorpi, Lanham, Stead (f.rtd), 66.94 (Belle Vue 4 Arena Essex 5)
  • Heat 10: Hancock, Lindback, B Pedersen, Zagar, 66.97 (Reading 4 Poole 5)
  • Heat 11: Adams, Ulamek, Janssen, Protasiewicz, 65.86 (Swindon 7 Ipswich 2)
  • Heat 12: Nicholls, Schlein, Correy, Lindgren, 66.74 (Wolverhampton 2 Coventry 7)
  • Heat 13: Andersen, Iversen, Norris, N Pedersen (rtd) (Eastbourne 2 Peterborough 7)
  • Heat 14: Wiltshire, Kylmakorpi, Skornicki, Lanham, 67.09 (Oxford 6 Arena Essex 3)
  • Heat 15: Crump, B Pedersen, Lindback, Stead, 66.33 (Belle Vue 4 Poole 5)
  • Heat 16: Lindgren, Protasiewicz, Janssen, Correy, 67.11 (Wolverhampton 4 Ipswich 5)
  • Heat 17: N Pedersen, Schlein, Norris, Nicholls, 66.73 (Eastbourne 6 Coventry 3)
  • Heat 18: Adams, Andersen, Iversen, Ulamek, 66.31 (Swindon 4 Peterborough 5)
  • Heat 19: Crump, Stead, Wiltshire, Skornicki, 66.96 (Belle Vue 7 Oxford 2)
  • Heat 20: Zagar, Hancock, Kylmakorpi, Lanham, 67.56 (Reading 7 Arena Essex 2)
  • Heat 21 (re-run): Schlein, Protasiewicz, Nicholls, Janssen (f.ex), 67.69 (Coventry 6 Ipswich 3)
  • Heat 22: Andersen, Lindgren, Iversen, Correy (rtd), 66.97 (Wolverhampton 3 Peterborough 6)
  • Heat 23: Adams, N Pedersen, Ulamek, Norris, 66.49 (Swindon 6 Eastbourne 3)
  • Heat 24: Wiltshire, Hancock, Zagar, Skornicki, 67.58 (Reading 5 Oxford 4)
  • Heat 25: Kylmakorpi, Lindback, B Pedersen, Lanham, 67.41 (Poole 5 Arena Essex 4)

GRAND FINAL

  • Heat 26: Adams, Crump, Stead, Ulamek, 66.02 (Swindon 4 Belle Vue 5)

Key Race points: 1st 4, 2nd 3, 3rd 2.