NORTH Yorkshire sidecar aces Steve Webster and Paul Woodhead are closing in on the Eastern Airways British Sidecar Championship, with just two rounds, four races and 100 points left to go.

The Team Castrol Suzuki stars are at Knockhill, Scotland, tomorrow for the penultimate round.

It is their third visit to the hilly, and bumpy, Scottish track this season, and the one thing Webster is praying for is decent weather.

The opening round of the series in May was cancelled after an accident in an earlier solo event, and the return visit in July was marred by atrocious weather.

Recalled Easingwold-based Webster: "We had everything that weekend, winds, horizontal rain, hailstones - it was unbelievable. I don't mind racing in the rain too much - it's just that I prefer it when it comes straight down."

As a regular and popular fixture on the calendar for many years, despite it's often unpredictable and sudden climatic changes, the 1.3 mile track is well known to top sidecar crews.

"We've all raced there many times, so everyone knows the quick way round, and there won't be much time differences over the top six in qualifying. It can be a hard circuit to pass on, and if you're leading you can block out whoever is behind," added Webster.

"We'll need a couple of good starts to make sure Tim Reeves and Derek Brindley don't get away from us early on."

Webster has two 15-lap championship races, and the meeting also hosts the 20-lap Jock Taylor Memorial race, giving three outings tomorrow.

Going into the meeting Webster and Woodhead are on 266 points, holding a 47-point advantage, and if results go their way, they could actually take the title this weekend.

Nearest challenger Reeves on 219 needs to beat Webster to keep alive his hopes until the last round at Mallory Park in two weeks.

But if Webster can manage to win both races tomorrow, he'll go 57 points clear even if Reeves gets two seconds. That would give the North Yorkshire star the title with the 50 points left at Mallory Park irrelevant to the outcome.

Updated: 10:41 Saturday, October 02, 2004