28/6/10 - Mallory Park
After a disappointing non-finish in the first of the two British Superbike races at Mallory Park, Louth rider Peter Hickman bounced back to take 15th place and pick up another championship point in his second outing aboard the Ultimate Racing Yamaha R1 at Mallory Park on Sunday.
Friday’s free practice was going well for Hicky until the latter stages of the second session when he highsided at Edwina’s chicane landing heavily with the bike following through.
Although winded and bruised Hicky escaped relatively uninjured but the same could not be said for the bike. The Ultimate Racing Yamaha suffered some serious damage and the team did a fantastic job to get the bike up and running in time for qualifying on Saturday when Hicky rode through to 16th position to earn a place in the second session which determined the grid positions for the first race.
He was unable to maintain his position and ended the second section in 19th place and started the first 30-lap affair from a fifth row grid position.
“I am a bit battered and bruised after my crash yesterday, it was a big crash but luckily I got away with just a few bruises. The boys did a great job for me to get the bike up and running so thanks to them for their hard work. The times are close but I am just not quite close enough and seem to be stuck in a bit of a rut. But we will see how the race goes on Sunday, I have some different things to try out in warm-up and we will see what happens.”
But things didn’t quite go to plan for Hicky as the bike developed an oil leak which forced him out of the race after just seven laps.
Although he didn’t complete the race he did post a quick lap time and this put him up a row for the start of race two where he set off from row four top make steady progress and complete the 30 laps in 15th place.
“I got away fairly well in the first race and was just getting settled into my rhythm when I was shown a black and orange flag and had to pull in. We discovered the problem, it was the oil cooler that was leaking and it was lucky that the marshals spotted it before I either crashed or took someone else out. I would rather that happen than me fall off or cause someone else to but it was a disappointing end to my race. It was all down to the crash on Friday, we seem to have been having a few problems ever sine then.
“In race two I got away to a cracking start but unfortunately got punted at the first turn by Steve Brogan when he crashed and I ended up running across the grass to rejoin the race a long way back. After that I got my head down and picked off a few riders and ended up in 15th.
“I would like to thank the boys for their hard work this weekend, what with the crash and then the problem with the oil in the first race they worked really hard to get the bike ready for the second outing.”
It’s a quick turn around for the team as the round is at Knockhill in Scotland this weekend, July 4. Free practice and qualifying take place over Friday and Saturday ahead of the two races that are provisionally set to run over 30 laps at 12.30pm and 4.15pm.
