From a press release issued by series organizers:

Webster and Klaffi in the ascendancy

With the half-way point in the 2003 Superside World Championship already gone, the time is rife to take a look back at the season’s shenanigans in the world of the three-wheeled flying machines.

Steve Webster may lead the series with 94 points – three points clear of Klaus Klaffenböck – but as we have already seen, many factors can disrupt even the best laid plans in the unpredictable realm of sidecar racing.

The colourful Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia, Spain provided the setting for round one. Steve Webster and passenger Paul Woodhead let their title intentions known by recording the first win of 2003 aboard their Castrol Suzuki GSX-R1000 machine.

Reigning world champions Steve Abbott and Jamie Biggs were runners-up, preceding Klaus Klaffenböck and Christian Parzer by only 0.9s in a thrilling finale.

Scots Jock Skene and Neil Miller recorded their best result of the season with a superb fourth place while wild card entry and former 500cc World championship solo rider, Sepp Doppler, chalked up an impressive seventh.

It was a great day for the British boys as Bill Philp and Gary Yendell finished sixth ahead of fellow countrymen, Dan Morrissey and Darren Harper. Andy Peach, in his first year and indeed first race as a driver, managed a highly creditable 12th with passenger Dudley Tomlinson.

The key change to the new season was the introduction of the smaller but lighter 1000cc engines in place of the more powerful 1200cc ones, which were the norm in 2002. Race tyres were, as ever, supplied by Yokohama.

Webster had already run the new engine for part of the 2002 season and his prior testing and set-up experience was to make a telling difference in the races to come.

However, 2001 world champion Klaus Klaffenböck led the championship following a win at Monza, Italy in round two of the championship.

The Austrian said: “It was the perfect race, in the end a very easy race. For sure, it would have gone down to the wire had Webster not retired.”

Klaffenböck and Parzer led once Webster had retired at the Curva Grande on lap eight and never looked back to coast home ahead of Jörg Steinhausen and Trevor Hopkinson.

Steve Abbott, who pipped Klaffenböck to second place in Valencia, suffered from a fuel pump problem but still managed to guide his machine to 14th place and collect two valuable points.

Dutch father and son duo, Martien and Tonnie van Gils, achieved their best result with a magnificent third at the historic Brianza circuit, to go with their podium third at the same track in 2001.

Mike Roscher and Adolf Hänni had their best run of the year in fourth, as did Team M&M’s Rob Fisher and Rick Long with their first top five placement of the year.

Bryan Pedder and Scott Parnell on the other Team M&M machine finished 11th for the second consecutive race and there was another fantastic top 10 result for Gerhard Hauzenberger and passenger Ian Simons (sixth to go with the 10th in Valencia).

The aura of the 3.6 mile-long circuit near Milan seemed to bring out the best in drivers and passengers with a significant proportion recording their best performances of the season.

Sweden’s Billy Gällros and Peter Berglund were not to improve on their seventh at Monza and there was also an eighth for French wild cards, Philippe Le Bail and Christian Chaingneau.

The sidecar jamboree rolled on to round three of the Superside World championship and the twisty Oschersleben circuit in Germany.

Webster maintained his amazing 100 percent pole record and translated his form to the race after a sluggish start. The eight times world champion amazingly re-took the lead by the end of the first lap and put in a series of scintillating lap times to destroy the field.

“It was all about keeping it smooth and closing the gap in the standings. We managed to achieve both goals,” said a delighted Webster, who moved to within 11 points of championship leader Klaffenböck.

Tom Hanks and passenger Phil Biggs crossed the line in fourth and picked up their first points of the season following two retirements, while Austrian wild card Doppler again managed a top 10 placement (tenth for the Gemini Racing driver). Chris Founds and new passenger Frank Heidenreich also registered their best finish of the year in 11th.

Silverstone, GB was the next stop for round four of Superside World championship action and Steve Webster continued his frighteningly consistent form, to make it a hat-trick of wins.

Klaffenböck took second and Jörg Steinhausen got his championship aspirations back on track with a gutsy third after a crankshaft problem had forced him out of his home round at Oschersleben.

Duncan Hendry and Steve Wilson’s ETS Racing team returned to competition at the Northamptonshire track to finish 12th, having missed the two previous rounds.

Rookies Stuart Woodard and Steven English, wild carding at Silverstone for their first taste of world championship action, picked up three points for their efforts in 13th, while Kiwi husband and wife pairing of Barry and Jane Fleury notched up their second successive 14th.

Barely the time to unpack the bags and it was off to the sweltering heat of Misano Adriatico (see photo) on the east coast of Italy for the San Marino round, where the track sizzled under a temperature of 53°c.

Jörg Steinhausen exorcised the ‘heat’ demons of the 2002 race to record his first win of the campaign but had to shrug off a late, inspired rally from Tom Hanks.

“This is our first genuine win bearing in mind our luck at Lausitz last year. It’s been a long time coming,” said a thrilled Trevor Hopkinson.

Webster finished third ahead of Klaffenböck as the Yorkshireman reclaimed the lead in the championship for the first time since Valencia. Steinhausen made up for lost ground, climbing from sixth to third in the table with 61 points.

France’s JNS team of Jean-Noël Minguet and Nicolas Bidault posted their best result of the year with a brilliant eighth ahead of Richard Gatt and Paul Randall whose ninth place was also a season’s best.

There will yet be a few twists and turns in the remaining four rounds of the Superside World championship as the three-wheeled brigade descends on Brands Hatch, Europe in the last week of July to lock horns for round six.