Rather against the odds perhaps, the Armadale Devils' pair of Tom Woolley and Elliot Kelly finished runners-up tonight in the National Development League Pairs behind the home duo of brothers Dan and Joe Thompson.

Team captain Woolley is an ideal partner and he was a very happy man on his way out of the stadium. "The track was a little bit tricky to start with and we had a bit of a discussion at the start and decided we needed to keep our heads. We did that, we picked up some points when others made mistakes. We also had some very good rides, Elliot rode very well, and we looked after each other.

"If you avoid last places then you progress forward. We were maybe a little bit fortunate in one ride but you have to take the good with the bad."

Tom was particularly delighted for his young partner who had dropped out of the sport at the start of the season, but returned recently with the Devils. "Elliot rode his socks off, he was really good. He rode with a smile on his face and enjoyed every minute of it. I think it's going to give him a lot of confidence going forward."

The Devils were first out in heat 3 against Berwick, quite a fancied pair, but Woolley raced to a win and crucially, Kelly grabbed third place on the final bend by passing Crang. That 6-3 was to prove crucial.

In heat 5 Devils lost out 2-7 to Leicester, but that was not too serious a setback as the twins scored 7-2 against everyone else also!

Their third outing in the qualifiers was against Belle Vue, another much-fancied pair, and a great ride by Tom Woolley kept Colt Harry McGurk at the back to give the Devils a 5-4. That gave them second place in Group A with 13 points, one ahead of Berwick.

Winners of Group B were Plymouth's Adam Roynon and Rhys Naylor, with Oxford second. So the semi final featured Plymouth v Armadale, and when Naylor fell off that meant that the Devils just had to stay steady in the rerun and finish behind Roynon. That they did.

As expected, the Thompsons won the final 7-2 but Elliot Kelly did give them a run for it early in the race. Elliot is undergoing a career revival with the Devils and this excellent result will be a big help.