After the trials and frustrations of Snetterton, Hicky headed to Silverstone knowing that the issues he had experienced at the previous round were now behind him.
The weather wasn’t great on Friday for FP1 and FP2, but Hicky cemented his place into Superpicks Q2 for Saturday with solid lap times, ending up with a lap time of 53.854s giving a P7 overall.
Saturday qualifying and Hicky managed to get a 53.515 lap time to qualify 8th. The times were all very close and more than 7 riders sat within the 53.5 lap time.
Race One – 24 Laps
Starting row 3, Peter knew he needed one point to secure a Showdown place as he headed to the grid.
Getting away well he was up to 5th by the end of lap one and moved up to take 4th, but had a high-speed crash at Becketts as he came underneath Jason. Not the way he wanted the weekend to start!
The FHO BMW Team, worked late into the evening to rebuild the M 1000 RR. Sunday morning warm-up and Hicky’s lap times were similar to Friday, which was a relief with the two 30 lap races later that day.
Race Two – 30 Laps
Due to the crash on Saturday, Hicky started back in P14 on row 5, knowing it was going to be a tough race.
Getting away well and keeping out of trouble this time, Peter spent the race running with Xavi and Skinner. He moved up to 11th and a DNF from Andrew Irwin promoted a frustrated Hickman to 10th at the flag.
Race Three – 30 Laps
Again back down on row 5 to start and Hicky tagged onto the riders around him staying with them, but not able to get by.
The race was red-flagged when Luke Stapleford had an engine fail causing the track to be contaminated at Brooklands.
On the restart for a 15 lap dash race, Hicky was chipping away with consistent lap times. Exchanging places with the riders battling around him as the flag came down to take12th.
Peter Hickman
“I knew coming into the weekend it was going to be a tough one as we have to use the SC Zero Tyre here, it really alters our bikes. To be honest I qualified way better than I expected. The times were so close, I was lucky to get a low 53.5 for 8th, which kept me above the rest on 53.5’s down to Danny Buchan in 13th place.
Race One, I got away well and ended up tangling with Jason O’Halloran, which was really unfortunate, a huge crash and sorry to the team for having to rebuild the bike. It was a mess and the boys did a great job and I went out in warm-up and the bike felt exactly as it always does, so a HUGE thank you to FHO BMW Racing Team, to put a bike together like that and it feels exactly the same is tough, so all credit to them.
Then today, I started a long way back because of the result yesterday, so an uphill battle from thereon. I struggled to pass, didn’t have the grip I needed to be able to go with the pack really. I could only really hang onto the back. So a 10th and a 12th from today, in with the pack just hanging on at the back was all I could do.
I’m happy that we are moving onto Oulton Park in a couple of weeks time, the bike worked really well there for round 1 and we are way further on than we were when we started the season, so looking forward to that.
One positive is we are into the Showdown and a huge thank you to the FHO Racing Team. To be into the Showdown for the first year for this team, I know it’s a team that has evolved from the Smiths Team, but even so, it’s still all brand new and new direction, new bikes, so to get into that Showdown is really fantastic. I’m happy for myself, the Team, the sponsors and all the supporters and let’s hope we can give them all something proper to cheer for from now on”
HICKMAN INTO THE SHOWDOWN!