THERE was bitter disappointment for Easingwold sidecar ace Steve Webster and passenger Paul Woodhead at Oschersleben, Germany yesterday.

A blown engine cost the world champion both a certain race victory and the championship lead.

With just eight laps to go and with a comfortable nine-second lead, Webster was forced to retire, allowing rival Klaus Klaffenbock to take the victory and go into a 25 point lead in the championship.

With seven races gone, and now just two races and 50 points to go, it's going to be an uphill struggle for Webster to retain his crown, but he was defiant after the race.

"It's not over yet, not by a long chalk. We were leading by a country mile, and then the engine tightened up. We'd got pole, the lap record and we would have won the race.

"We know we're the fastest out there, and we still have chance of winning it yet. There are two tough races to go, and anything can happen yet. Obviously I'm disappointed, but this is racing and this is what happens sometimes. We will not give up until the last race is over."

Early on it had been a typical sidecar battle before Webster got the advantage and built up his leading margin, but his exit from the proceedings gifted Klaffenbock the lead and he stormed through to pick up the 25 points and take that lead into the final two rounds, now knowing two midfield positions will get him the 2001 crown.

The jubilant Austrian said: "This weekend has been unbelievable. We blew up four engines and changed the last one with 20 minutes to go before the start of the race and only finished it with five minutes to go. We were not the fastest on the track - but we were the luckiest."

Webster's failure had also handed Jorg Steinhausen second place, but he was unable to hang on to that position as, after running wide, passenger Trevor Hopkinson was thrown uninjured from the sidecar.

That then allowed Steve Abbott and Jamie Biggs to come through into second place and they closed the gap on Klaffenbock to just 0.360 seconds in an exciting finish. Third, and on he rostrum for the first time were Tom Hanks, passengered by Phil Biggs, who is the brother of Steve Abbott's passenger, Jamie.

The next race is in Assen, Holland next Sunday, September 9.

Sidecar results from Germany: 1 Klaffenbock/Parzer 44:14.005, 2 Abbott/Biggs + 0.360, 3 Hanks/Biggs + 44.823, 4 Guy/Peach + 1.25.738, 5 Van Gils/Van Gils + one lap, 6 Founds/Founds + one lap, 7 Gottlich/Helbig + one lap, 8 Roscher/Neubert + one lap

9 Steenbergen/Buyze + one lap

10 Eilers/Kolloch + two laps

Championship standings after seven rounds: 1 Klaffenbock 120pts, 2 Webster 95, 3 Steinhausen 75, 4 Abbott 73.

Updated: 12:24 Monday, September 03, 2001