IT'S back to the track for North Yorkshire's sidecar star Steve Webster tomorrow as he gets the 2002 season underway at Valencia in Spain tomorrow.

It is Webbo's 20th season of World Championship racing, in a career that has seen him become the most successful sidecar racer ever with no less than eight World Championships to his name.

Even at 42 the desire to be No 1 is burning fiercely as Webster and passenger Paul Woodhead start the fight to regain the FIM Sidecar World Championship he lost last year to long time rivals Klaus Klaffenbock and Christian Parzer.

Once again the Easingwold ace lines up with the Team Liveonscreen ensemble, racing the brutally powerful 1200cc GSXR Suzuki powered outfit.

He said: "I'm really looking forward to getting out there again, and we're going to do everything we can to get that title back. I want the No 1 back on the front of my bike again. It's great starting the season with a team and set-up we know, and we'll have so much data from last year for setting up the bike, which is always a head start at every track."

It's a ten round series this year with the British round moving from Donington down to Silverstone. Webster hasn't raced there since 1986, and the track has been completely redesigned since.

South Africa has also replaced Australia on the calendar.

Pre-season testing, however, has not quite gone to plan.

"We went down to Val de Vienne, near Bordeaux, last week to hopefully get some dry and sunny track time but it rained all day, though we managed to paddle round for a few laps."

Machinery remains the same - a Swiss built LCR chassis, powered by 1200cc Suzuki engines prepared by Webster and top engine tuner Stuart Johnson. Power is around 200bhp at 11,200 rpm - good enough for over 175mph where space permits the nine-miles-per-gallon beast full rein.

Webster will have a new team-mate on the second-string outfit. Stuart Muldoon, of Glasgow, eighth in 2001, joins in place of Ian Guy. Muldoon gives platform space to Guy's old passenger Andy Peach. Webster's passenger Woodhead started his World Championship career with Muldoon in the 1990s.

But Webster's avowed intention is to knock Austrian ace Klaffenbock off that No spot.

Since winning the title last year at Assen, Holland, Klaffenbock has decided to plough a new furrow. After having used 1200cc Suzukis practically identical to Webster for the last two seasons with no mechanical breakdowns, Klaffenbock has moved to 1000cc Yamaha power.

Klaffenbock's intention is to get race know-how with the new motor in anticipation of a rule change in 2003 reducing engine capacity. Webster has had GSXR1000 engines provided by Suzuki GB, and will be working on their development during the season with a view to racing them in the latter stages of the campaign.

Webster's other rivals include Steve Abbott, who will race with a new team powered by FZR Yamaha engines, and Jorg Steinhausen, who battled against a back injury for most of last season.

Last year, in the season opener at Valencia, Webster was second behind Klaffenbock but still managed to notch a lap record despite the team's lack of preparation time.

On Sunday he's planning to go one better and get the season off to a winning start.

Updated: 10:59 Saturday, March 09, 2002