Abbott: It was a shame I messed up the start...

"Second place - It were all right weren't it?" - so said reigning Sidecar World Champion Steve Abbott in his usual understated fashion.

Abbott was speaking about his demon ride with passenger Jamie Biggs to second place in the opening round of the 2003 series at Valencia, Spain on March 1st, behind former champs Steve Webster/Paul Woodhead.

The Eastern Racing Team - backed by one of the UK's largest domestic airlines, Eastern Airways - had, over the Winter, ditched the British built Windle chassis that Abbott had developed over the past 10 years, for the more popular Swiss made LCR version. However, with subtly different handling characteristics they were left with a lot of work to do.

"Abbo" explained that the brakes felt much better, but the general feel and steering in the right hand corners was very different to what he was used to, and didn't give him the confidence to push to the absolute limit in Valencia.

"We'd only managed one day of track testing before we went to Spain, and what with switching from the Windle to the LCR, and also changing to the new Suzuki GSXR1000 motor for this year, we had a lot of set up work to do in a short space of time. So to qualify third on the grid was a great start for us and the team, and showed that we weren't too far off the mark straight away." said the Derbyshire ace.

"But I wasn't comfortable in the machine, and that has a big effect on how hard you can push," he concluded.

Engine tuners Maxsym of Banbury had persuaded the team to run the new Suzuki engine this season, rather than the title winning FZR based Yamaha from last year.

Guy Heathcote, Maxsym's Commercial Director, said: "It makes more sense for us to focus our technological expertise on the latest equipment, rather than try and compete again with an engine that was conceived over ten years ago. We're happy with the level of performance that we got from the engine on the test bench, but we know there's still more to come.

"So the feedback from actual race conditions will help us deliver exactly the right kind of power that Steve needs out on the track. But to get second first time out was fantastic for the team and all the guy's here at the factory."

In the race itself, the first of 9 rounds that run alongside the World Superbike Championship, Abbott by his own admission, made a "complete pigs ear" of the start and left himself and Jamie with a lot of work to do in the 18 laps. In true World Champions style the pair clawed their way through the traffic over the first part of the race, but by the time they'd got through to a clear fourth place the front runners were well way.

During the final few laps however, Abbott and Biggs relentlessly hunted down the 2001 champions Klaus Klaffenbock / Christian Parzer on their LCR-Yamaha R1 machine. Despite being balked by back-markers at one point, the determined pair audaciously rode around the outside of the flagging Austrian duo at the final corner to claim the runner up position on the sprint to the chequered flag - albeit some 10 seconds behind the dominant Webster and Woodhead.

"I just got my head down and tried to put in consistent fast laps. It was a shame I messed up the start though, 'coz we could lap at the same pace as Webbo - although I realise he wasn't exactly being tested. It would have been good to be running right behind him and get a better idea of exactly how competitive the new machine is, and what we need to work on for the next race," Abbott concluded.

This year the sidecar series isn't following the Superbikes to the overseas races. The Superside teams rejoin the circus for their second round at the ultra fast Monza circuit in Italy on May 17th. This should give the Eastern Racing Team valuable time to fine tune the chassis and the engine into a formidable race-winning package.

Words: yangimotorsport / Picture: walzpics.com