28/09/08 Busy weekend for Hicky at Silverstone!
A busy weekend was in store for Louth rider Peter Hickman who was a last minute entry into the British Superbike championship and rode to two strong finishes for Red Viper Racing plus scored a fourth place in his regular championship campaign in the Metzeler National Superstock series.
Hicky was drafted into the Red Viper Honda squad to sub for regular rider Aaron Zanotti who is sidelined with injuries sustained in a crash at Croft in the last round of the series.
The last time that Hicky rode a Superbike was at Mallory last year so he took his time to acclimatise himself to a return to slick tyres and a more powerful machine.
“It’s the first time I have ridden a Honda so it’s taken me a few laps to get used to the different handling,” said Hicky. “But apart from my starting procedure I seem to have adapted quite well.”
Throughout free practice Hicky progressed up the order and was circulating well within the top 20 during qualifying. The new qualifying procedure saw Hicky excel and he made it through to the second phase where he claimed 19th position for a start from a fifth row grid position.
Although he made a poor start and dropped back to 26th on the opening lap of race one, Hicky soon got to grips with the Honda and made excellent progress through the backmarkers to complete his race in 14th place and pick up two championship points on his first attempt.
Race two saw the 21-year-old rider make a slightly better start and progress through to finish in 16th place, just missing out on a points scoring finish.
“Its been a bit hectic as I havent been out of my leathers all day!” said Hicky. “It’s gone really well for me today in the Superbike class. I had a bit of a problem with the Honda as I found it really hard to get off the line at the start and found myself dropping from 19th to near enough last both times. I also had a problem with a misfire in race two, we are not quite sure what it was but I had oil all over my boot so its thrown oil out from somewhere. Other than that the team has worked really well all weekend so I was really chuffed, especially to score two championship points as I havent ridden in the Superbike class for over a year.”
Hicky also contested the penultimate round of the Superstock championship on the Ultimate Racing Yamaha R1 where he qualified in fifth place for a second row start.
He didn’t get away to the best of starts and was circulating in eighth place for the first few laps before making his way forward. He made a beautiful pass on Victor Cox to move up to sixth place and was elevated to fifth when another rider crashed ahead of him.
He continued to hunt down Richard Cooper and gradually reeled him in to claim fourth place on lap 13. By this time the leaders were too far ahead to make any further progress and Hicky had to be content with fourth place at the chequered flag.
“I am pleased with fourth place,” said Hicky. “The bonus for me is that the other three riders who were chasing for third place in the championship either crashed or made a mistake and didn’t score points at all so I find myself 12 points clear and third in the championship so I am pretty happy with that!”
Hicky now turns his attention to the European Superstock championship where he has a wild card ride with Ultimate Racing in the penultimate round of the series at Magny Cours in France on Sunday. He then returns to the UK to travel directly to Brands Hatch for the final round of the National Superstock Championship and is on standby with Red Viper Racing in case ex-Vivaldi rider Aaron Zanotti is still not fit enough to ride in the British Superbike class.
