CLOSE fought racing gave Team Castrol Suzuki sidecar aces Steve Webster and Paul Woodhead a win and second place in the Mondello Park rounds of the European Airways 2004 British Sidecar Championship over the weekend.

But they were pressed hard in both races by Tim and Tristan Reeves, who secured the victory in race two yesterday to put them level pegging on points in the championship table.

After qualifying on pole, Easingwold-based Webster won Saturday's 15 lap opening race by 5 seconds after overhauling early leader Reeves on the seventh lap.

"It was a tough race - there aren't too many places to pass and it was difficult to find a way through, Tim was fast away and I wasn't surprised that he set such a fast pace early on. But we managed to catch him and eventually got the win" said Webster, whose fastest race lap of 1 min 45.164 knocked 1.2 seconds off his pole time.

Third place went to Bawtry's former World Championship contender and Grand Prix winner Derek Brindley, coming back to the sport after several years out.

If a win in the first leg on the Irish track gave Webster and Woodhead a confidence boost, it made Reeves ever more determined to score a maximum in the second leg, round three of the series.

Reeves was quickly away but came under severe pressure from Webster, however, this time he was able to hold Webster off.

"It might not look like it but there are only really three places to pass on this track. After we beat him on Saturday, Tim knew just where to block us out and he did perfectly, all credit to him. He deserved the win."

Derek Brindley again took the final rostrum place.

The results - a win and runner-up spot for both Webster and Reeves - leaves them tying on 45 points each.

The next race of the 2004 British series is at the World Superbike meeting at Silverstone on June 13.

Updated: 11:13 Monday, May 24, 2004