From a press release:

Webster from Abbott and Steinhausen

Steve Webster celebrated his return to Silverstone with a provisional pole in today’s Superside qualifying. But fellow British rider Steve Abbott was breathing down his neck as the Superside Championship thundered around the former aerodrome in Northamptonshire.

“It takes some time to learn the track,” said Webster’s passenger Paul Woodhead. “There’s some fast bits, and there are also some niggly bits, like the chicanes. And there’s also some really fast corners, or ‘big ball corners!’ where you’ve got to be committed to go fast.”

Commenting on the pressure the Liveonscreen.com team were coming under from Steve Abbott and Jamie Biggs, Woody said; “Quite frankly I’d rather it was them than Klaffenbock. We’re happy to fight it out with Steve and Jamie, especially with Klaffenbock down in fifth! Klaffi kept trying to get a tow behind us today, but each time I saw him try I tapped on Steve’s shoulder and he slowed down. Then, when Klaffenbock had passed us, we let him get way ahead and that gave us some clear track to put in our fast lap.”

Steve Abbott was especially pleased with his performance, “We’ve come in second today despite using our ‘middle’ sized 1080cc engine. We’re 13 kph down on top speed but only under half-a-second behind Steve. The outfit is handling really well and we’ll be looking for a little more top speed tonight. I think we’re in a good position for a win tomorrow,” predicted Steve.

Third on the time sheet was pairing Steinhausen and Hopkinson, back in full swing after a spot of upside down grasstracking at Monza.

“What people don’t realise,” pointed out Jorg, “was that we were upside-down at well over 200 kph! And even Trevor didn’t realise until afterwards that he’d dislocated his shoulder in the crash.”

“It takes some time to get your confidence back after an incident like that,” admitted Trevor Hopkinson, “but I think that session’s a sign that we’re getting it together again, if we don’t go even faster tomorrow I’ll be really disapointed.”

Hanks and Biggs brought the Halton Fabrications outfit in fourth fastest, continuing their impressive run of form this season. They’ll be looking for results to back up their qualifying progress in Saturday’s race.

Meanwhile, Klaffenbock, winner of the sensational Monza race, was back in fifth, perhaps suffering from a simple lack of cubes around the fast, flowing Silverstone track.