EASINGWOLD'S three-wheeled hero Steve Webster knows he must win at Brands Hatch tomorrow to bolster his Superside Sidecar World Championship hopes.

He gets back on the glory trail with Team Castrol Suzuki team-mate Paul Woodhead after a five-week absence desperate for victory.

Brands is the sixth race in this year's nine-round championship and the North Yorkshire duo trail table-toppers Klaus Klaffenbock and Christian Parzer by just three points.

Webster said: "With it being a 'home' round there is a lot of pressure on us to do well and we'll have lots of visitors over the weekend, so it is very important we do well."

The North Yorkshire pairing know they simply must beat Klaffenbock to take the lead in the Championship as there are only three more races to go after Brands.

A determined Webster said: "We've got to win - whatever it takes. If I get a good start and get away with a good gap it might make for a boring race, but we must get maximum points.

"But it might turn out that we get boxed in and have to fight until the last corner. I might try to have a race plan but once the race starts anything could happen.

"Klaffy, Steve Abbot and Tom Hanks are all as desperate as me to win, and it can be a tough circuit to pass on but we'll do all we can to get the result we need.

"Brands Hatch is a tough circuit, but it is one I know well and it seems to suit us. It's been altered a bit this year, and what was a fairly hairy corner at Dingle Dell has been straightened out a bit.

"Hopefully it should now be a bit safer - and maybe even a bit quicker. It is hard work, but I really do enjoy Brands."

In the five-week gap since Misano, Webster has been preparing engines with top tuner Stuart Johnston, and will have three 185bhp Suzuki GSXR1000 motors at his disposal tomorrow.

"We had a problem with tyres at Misano when the rear overheated. I have to hold my hands up, I should have known better," admitted Webster.

"It's been about three years since I've cooked a tyre, and maybe I got a bit complacent. I should have remembered to try to save it, but when it starts sliding you end up trying even harder, and it's a vicious circle.

"But that's one of the things that keeps me going. I've been racing for 23 years now and I'm still learning, and there are still new challenges to face."

It will be Webster's sixth visit to Brands Hatch for a World Championship race and his record is pretty good. He's been on pole every time, and after finishing second at both races in of 2000, has won there for the last two years.

He holds the fastest lap at the Kent circuit with a time of one minute 30.247 seconds.

Tomorrow's 19-lap race over the 4.221-kilometre track will also be Webster's 168th World Championship race entered, and his 37th with Woodhead in the chair.

Updated: 10:06 Friday, July 25, 2003