North Yorkshire sidecar aces Steve Webster and Paul Woodhead are back in front in the World Championship after triumphing in torrential rain at Brands Hatch.

In a commanding performance Webster raced through the rain to record the 55th victory of his career and take a six point lead in the championship with three races to go.

And he beat Jorg Steinhausen and Trevor Hopkinson despite having a slow puncture for the last two laps.

Webster revealed afterwards that his rear tyre was almost flat when he got back to the pit lane after the slowing down lap.

"We were lucky to finish at all," he said. "Jorg really drove well and pushed us all the way, but I knew if we could keep going at the same pace he couldn't pass because of the spray. When you are following someone in those conditions it can be impossible to pass."

Webster 24th consecutive pole position at the off came to nought as he got his almost usual poor start.

Tom Hanks and Phil Biggs lead into Druids, with Webster in the pack in fifth place.

The rain soon started to play its part, with spray from the tyres making vision almost impossible.

By the end of the first lap Steinhausen had taken the lead, with Webster through to third place, as he found routes through the traffic.

By the third lap Webster was through to second place, and then he took the lead from Steinhausen as the outfits streaked across the start-finish line.

Steinhausen re-took Webster at Hawthorn bend and led for a further lap until Webster again forced a way through.

As the rain got heavier it became a battle of attrition, with Steinhausen never much more than a second behind, trying to put pressure on Webster to make an error.

"I'm just glad we finished with no drama. When it's wet you heart is in your mouth all the time," said Webster.

"There is one fast line around the track and if you get one inch off it you're out of control.

"It was difficult to get the lead from Jorg, because if we didn't find a way through early there would be no way past because of the spray.

I knew Jorg was right behind us, but I also knew he couldn't see to get past us. It's hard to race when someone is pressing you like that all the time, but we hung on."

The passenger also has a much more difficult job in such conditions.

"It's much more technical," said Woodhead. "You have much greater influence and control on moving the bike around and you have to be very smooth and ensure your weight is giving the best grip for the conditions. But Steve drove really well and we kept them at just the right distance all the way through."

Steinhausen said: "We were really pleased with second place, because we couldn't use our race engine after we had some problems. We had to use the spare. We had more grip than I expected so it was quite fast for the conditions.

"We pushed hard from the first lap, but Webbo knows more lines around here than me.

"We nearly caught him a couple of times, but it was impossible to see a way past because of the spray. I was waiting for him to make a mistake,- but he didn't make one," added the 2002 Championship runner up.

A distant third place went to Klaus Klaffenbock and Christian Parzer, but the win for Webster lifts him to 116 points, six over Klaffenbock. with Steinhausen third with 81.

Round seven of the championship is at Assen, Holland - Webster's favourite track - on September 7.

Updated: 11:05 Monday, July 28, 2003