EASINGWOLD sidecar ace Steve Webster had to settle for a third place at tarmac-melting Misano.

His back tyre overheated with only five laps to go and cost him a San Marino victory in what was the closest race of the season in the Superside World Championship.

Extreme temperatures - 53 degrees on the tarmac and mid 30s air temperature combined with a new abrasive track surface proved too much for the rubber to bear.

Webster and passenger Paul Woodhead had led the race from the third lap but was never quite able to shake off Jorg Steinhausen and Trevor Hopkinson.

With Webbo forced to slow down because of tyre trouble, the German team pounced with five laps to go and went on to take a fourth career win.

Webster said: "We had to go too fast to early on and there was just no grip left towards the end. When Jorg came past there was nothing I could do. It was very, very hard work with the heat, and there was nothing left at the end when we needed it."

With Steinhausen on different grade rubber, he soon was able to make a couple of seconds on Webster, and with two laps to go Tom Hanks and Phil Biggs were able also pass Webster.

Hanks' efforts to catch Steinhausen nearly paid off and Hanks just missed first place by less than half a second.

With Webster's tyres fading, it even appeared as though fourth place Klaus Klaffenbock, the series leader, might also catch him, but the Austrian had also made the same tyre selection as Webster and was unable to take the advantage.

The last time Webster finished a race in third was back in 1998 in Croatia.

"I'm disappointed but we still finished in front of Klaffy so we managed to pull his championship lead back to just three points, so it's not a complete disaster," explained Webster.

Tom Hanks and passenger Phil Biggs rode a brilliant race, working their way up from sixth at the end of lap one to second and only just lost out at the flag by 0.422s to Steinhausen.

Hanks said: "It is not in my nature to conserve my tyres but that's what they told me to do and it has paid off. I actually thought there was another lap to go."

The proposed sixth round of the Superside World championship - scheduled for Sunday July 20 at the A1-Ring, Zeltweg, in Austria - will now not go ahead.

The Superside World championship will now comprise of nine rounds and the next event will take place at Brands Hatch, on July 26.

Updated: 11:27 Monday, June 23, 2003