From a press release issued by the Superside FIM Sidecar World Championship:

Friday 27 September 2002

Steve Webster keeps the pressure on

Webbo on provisional pole for showdown Superside race

With the title hanging in a balance and with no less than five teams in with a chance of taking the title, the tension in the Superside paddock is almost visible.

Steve Webster holds the initiative on the track, if not in the points, he’s been fastest again today, but Jorg Steinhausen has closed the time differential down since this morning’s free practice.

“It’s all going to plan,” said Webbo, “but now it is all much closer. We’ll have to try some new things tomorrow, new rubber, and different settings. Tonight we’ll go over the outfit really carefully to make sure everything is absolutely top dollar.”

For Webster this weekend presents quite a different scenario to previous years, he stands a chance of taking the title, but it’s a pretty slim one. “Yes, it is very different this year,” confirmed Webbo. “There’s no pressure on us, it’s very difficult for us to win the championship, but you never know!”

Second fastest in the session Jorg Steinhausen was happy with his progress, “Everything has gone so well today,” smiled Jorg. “In the morning session Webbo was a few seconds quicker than us, but now we’ve closed right up on him. What’s more important is that the 1.58 lap was quite relaxed, we didn’t feel like we were pushing really hard, there’s more to come yet. The engine feels strong enough to follow the faster bikes. We had some problems with the brakes overheating this morning. Because this circuit is so different to Assen the brake bias is completely different, but we’ve got that right now. I wish this session had been the race, then it would be all over and we’d be champions! Now I need to think hard about my riding, there are one or two areas I can go faster. Then I need to sleep!”

Tom Hanks and Phil Biggs managed to improve on their morning time substantially, coming down below the two-minute mark. “That was much better,” said Hanks, “we started to get a move on. We’re now using our 1000cc motor, we’ve used up the big ones. In the morning we developed a pretty severe water leak on the big engine so now we’ve got the 1000 for the rest of the weekend. But then we’ve only used the big motor twice this year, at Lausitzring and Misano, so it’s no big deal.” The leak was traced to a cracked engine case.

Klaus Klaffenbock was fourth quickest, and was another rider happy with his bike, “We had a few problems with the brake bias this morning but nothing major,” he said. “But we’ve closed the gap on Webbo so I don’t think he will be disappearing in the race even if he wants to.”

Although Webbo and Klaffi stand little chance of grabbing the title, they can have a big influenced on the outcome. “For me the most important thing in the race is to get the best possible finish,” said Klaffi, “I have some contracts that pay only if I am in the top three! So I’ll be looking after myself first. But, if it comes to it, there are some people who I would be prepared to help to win the title.”

Steve Abbott dropped off the pace a bit in qualifying finishing fifth fastest, “We’ve had brake problems,” explained Abbott. “We came in for tyres and discovered the front brake was binding, but we can sort it. Everything else is perfect. We tried our spare motor this afternoon and that’s working well.”