Peter Hickman

Despite a crash in the first of three races at Brands Hatch that damaged his number one machine, Louth racer Peter Hickman switched to his second bike and completed the two races on Sunday in fourth place to pick up a further 26 points to maintain his second position in the Mirror.co.uk British Superbike Cup.



Qualifying had gone fairly well for the 22 year old Lincolnshire rider who had a race against time to get dialled in after fitting a new engine and he managed to qualify the Ultimate Racing Yamaha in 16th place for a fourth row start to the set of three races at the Brands Hatch Big Bash meeting.



But the opening race on Saturday was a disaster for Hicky who crashed out of contention on lap seven of 18 when the back swung round on him as he rounded Druids Hairpin – race over.



“It’s been a bit of a testing weekend for us so far,” said Hicky. “I was really looking forward to my races here at Brands Hatch; I have always gone well on the full GP circuit and was anticipating breaking into the top 10 in the main British Superbike championship. But unfortunately nothing is going my way this weekend, the mapping on the engine isn’t right because we have only had the new engine a few days so I am getting nowhere fast, it’s very frustrating.



“In the first race I lost the rear end going into Druids and it spun straight round on me. The bike ended up on its side in the gravel with the engine revving its head off and although I got to it fairly quickly to switch it off it has done the whole bottom end and run itself dry.”



With the number one bike sidelined because of the damage caused in the crash, Hicky was forced to revert to the track bike he used at Mallory Park in the previous round. Although running a standard engine Hicky went out in Sunday’s two races purely to try and pick up some valuable points to protect his second place in the Mirror.co.uk Cup.



Hicky ran in fourth place for the majority of the 20 laps of race one before moving through to third on the penultimate lap but on the final circulation he was pushed wide and forced to run across the grass at Hawthorne to end the 20 lap affair in fourth place.



The second race went much the same way with Hicky moving through to take up second position for a while before losing out to the faster bikes on the straights. He persevered through the 20 laps to bring the Ultimate Racing Yamaha R1 home in fourth place once again to consolidate his second place in the Cup.



“It’s a bit of a shame really that we could only manage fourth again,” said Hicky. “In the first race I was third for a while but they just passed me going in a straight line. Literally nobody has passed me round a turn all weekend; it’s always been down the straight, basically because we are on a standard engine.



“It’s my home round next at Cadwell Park so hopefully we can find the funds to get the bike up and running. We really do need to find a sponsor to help as we are really struggling. We had the problem at Mallory where we snapped the crank and ruined the engine and unfortunately my crash yesterday finished the new engine off. We have spent around £12,000 in the last two weeks that we haven’t got so we need to find some money. If we could get the engine done properly I know I can run within the top 10 of the main British Superbike championship so if there is anyone out there that would feel able to help in any way please get in touch.”



The next round is on home tarmac at Cadwell Park , just a few miles from Hicky’s home in Louth. Free practice and qualifying take place on Saturday and Sunday with racing set for August Bank Holiday Monday, (August 21st.)