Heading to Scotland for round five of the 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship, Peter Hickman and the Gloucester based Smiths Racing BMW team knew they had a challenge ahead.
While the weather was unusually good for the circuit, Peter struggled again with the Pirelli tyres and found himself in 16th position after qualifying.
With an opening 30-lap race ahead of him, Peter knew he needed to keep up the consistency of finishing in the points. It was tough taking on the 1.2 mile Fife circuit, and with limited overtaking opportunities and the top 12 riders being separated by less than a second, he needed to dig deep to produce a result.
A great start gave a much-needed boost to 31-year old Hickman, pushing him straight into the points. Riding hard, he managed to bring ‘Eileen’ home in 10th position. This gave him a better grid position for race two.
Starting from 12th Peter managed to hold the position then push into 11th. As the race continued it began to look as if he wouldn’t improve the position, however, digging deep and with just a few laps remaining, he fought for P10 and held it until the chequered flag.
With the two top ten finished, Peter now moves up into 11th place in the championship, edging him closer to a Showdown position.
Peter Hickman: “This has been a tough weekend for both myself and the team. Everyone has worked so hard to work out what it is we are missing to get the extra speed we need. Unfortunately we just couldn’t find it, and as a result, we qualified quite far down the pack. Given that position though, we did well to take two tenth places. Consistency is essential and ensuring you take points at every round helps creep you up to where you want to be. It could have been a lot worse. Time to work hard and ensure Brands Hatch is better!