A MYSTERY misfire robbed sidecar ace Steve Webster of a victory at Donington Park yesterday.

Despite leading for over half the race after starting from pole position there was little Webster, of Alne, near Easingwold, could do to prevent arch rivals Klaus Klaffenbock overhauling him and taking the race win.

However, Webster still leads the championship by four points.

The race had had to be restarted after another outfit blew an engine going into Redgate after only two laps. With oil covering the racing line, the race was immediately stopped.

Because only two laps had been run the restart was deemed a "new" race, but shortened to 18 laps as the teams had only filled with enough fuel for the originally scheduled 23 lapper.

The restarted race was a carbon copy of the first - Webster got a good start and was first into Redgate and immediately set out to put some space between himself and the pack.

After only four laps Webster had pulled out a gap and by the end of lap six was a comfortable 3-5 seconds in front of Klaffenbock, and seemingly in control.

But with eight laps to go Klaffenbock started to reel in Webster, and by lap 11 swept into the lead on the Melbourne loop.

The red OKM sponsored then began to pull away from Webster, as the reigning world champion began to struggle with a misfiring engine.