Official Peter Hickman Website

Hicky and the FHO BMW team headed North to Knockhill for Round Four of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship after an incredible Isle of Man TT. After the recent two weeks of racing the 37 3/4 mile Mountain course, Hicky needed to recalibrate his brain to short circuit race mode!

Friday FP1 was wet and windy so setting the bike up for a sub-48-sec lap in these conditions was challenging, as it was for all. Conditions were slightly better for FP2 and Hicky improved enough to secure a Superpicks 12 spot for Qualifying. But it wasn’t until FP3 on Saturday morning, that he set his fastest lap, with a 48.050 on lap 19.

Qualifying didn’t go to plan and Peter ended the session with his fastest lap on the last lap with 47.891, the best lap for Hicky so far. Although the top 20 riders were all within 1/2 a second of each other, it was a P14 for Race One. This was going to make it hard for the race.

Race One 20 Laps
Starting alongside Tom Sykes and Leon Haslam back on Row 5, a long way to the front runners, they got away and exchanged places over the following 22 laps. Hicky stayed ahead of Andrew Irwin and Vickers, crossing the line in P13.

Hicky’s fastest lap of the race was 48.009 on lap 8

Race Two 30 Laps
Starting P13 Row 5 alongside teammate Vickers this time.
Not a strong start but Hicky kept clear of trouble into turn 1, losing places he was pushed back to P16.
At the end of lap 2, Peter got caught up with Andy Irwin and both riders went down at the hairpin.
DNF, onto Race 3.

Race Three 30 Laps
This time, starting on row 7, race three was going to be a tough one for Hicky to secure good points.
Battling against Irwin, Sykes and Vickers all lapping within 48 secs. Changing positions over the laps, Peter made up ground and moved up places catching Haslam and Sykes just ahead of him, taking the chequered flag in P12.

Hicky’s fastest lap of the race was 48.002 on lap 6.

Peter Hickman
“It’s been a really tough weekend, getting my head back into gear for short circuits after the Isle of Man TT has been a bit harder than usual, but I think the circumstances of the weekend didn’t fall in my favour.

“The first race was okay, I was 13th, not the best but 10th was only about a second and a half away and we improved the bike overnight. In Sunday’s first race I made a good start but unfortunately, Andy Irwin got tagged at the hairpin and as he fell down I had nowhere to go and hit the back of him and down I went.

“I didn’t make a qualifying time so had to start the last one 19th. However, we finished 12th so we made up seven places and I was right in the battle for 10th. We have made an improvement, it’s just not been our weekend.

“We’ve been a little bit unlucky, it’s not where any of us want to be but this is just the way things go sometimes. We will regroup and have a little break now and get our heads into gear for Brands Hatch.”

Hicky

The Bennetts British Superbike Championship will now take a month-long break before returning to action at Brands Hatch, Kent over the weekend July 22-24.