Peter Hickman

Two third places at Cadwell Park were sufficient for Louth rider Peter Hickman to maintain his second place in the British Superbike Cup in round nine of the British Superbike championship on Monday.



In front of a 40,000 strong Bank Holiday crowd Hicky put in some exceptional laps during free practice and qualifying to secure a fifth row grid position in 14th place. (With four machines usually place on each row Hicky would have started from row four but the nature of the Cadwell Park circuit deems it necessary to reduce this to three per row.)



“The whole weekend has gone fairly well so far,” said Hicky. “We had a few issues in first practice and holed a radiator but other than that the bike has been working really well. I have made a few changes to the bike and am now really looking forward to the race. I have never been the best of qualifiers so to get 14th was really good, another 0.2s would have put me in the top 10 so we are not far away at all.”



Hicky completed the first half of race one in 14th place moving past Karl Harris to 13th on lap 11 and he looked to maintain that position to the end. But he didn’t reckon with Tommy Bridewell who shot past on the very last lap to claim 13th leaving Hicky to finish in 14th place – just a fifth of a second adrift. Being the third privateer over the finish line he claimed third place in the Cup.



The second race looked to be going much the same way. By lap 10 Hicky had moved into 13th place but then began a charge and moved ahead of Karl Muggeridge before again being passed by Bridewell. A couple of riders ahead pulled out towards the end of the race thus promoting Hickman to 11th, once again taking third place in the Daily Mirror.co.uk Cup.



“I am not so happy now,” said Hicky. “I really wanted to come here and win both races and its not quite happened. I was hoping that with Cadwell not being such a power circuit it would not make much difference with the other bikes being a bit faster than me but it didn’t turn out that way. I was making up the time around the turns but as soon as the tyres begin to go off I just couldn’t keep it going. I am running that hard at the start of the race that by the second half I am finding it a real struggle.



“I would like to say a big thank you to everyone in the team, especially my dad who is working so hard for me. It is onto Croft next and I am looking forward to it, maybe we can get a couple of wins there instead!”



This set of results gives Hickman a total of 17 points in the main British Superbike championship and 289 points in the Cup where he continues to hold a strong second place.



The next round is at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire on September 13 where Hicky will continue his quest for that elusive win in the Daily Mirror.co.uk Cup.