Peter Hickman

Ultimate Racing rider Peter Hickman from Louth in Lincolnshire collected a second and third place at Silverstone in round 11 of the Mirror.co.uk British Superbike Cup on Sunday, also picking up a further four championship points in the main British Superbike series.



Although the Cup has already been decided with Gary Mason running out the victor, there is still a lot at stake for Hicky as he is defending his runner up spot in the championship although with 75 points on offer at the final round Hicky has a 72 point advantage over the third placed rider Martin Jessopp and a good result in the first of the three races at Oulton Park could see him clinch that position.



Hickman was plagued with mechanical problems during qualifying but brushed them aside to claim 18th place and a fifth row grid position for the start of the two 20-lap races on Sunday.



In the first encounter he made steady progress through the field to end his campaign in 15th place in the overall results and third in the Cup.



Race two saw Hicky make good headway in the early stages to take up 14th position mid race. He edged nearer and nearer to Karl Harris who was circulating some distance ahead and finally made a move on him on the final lap to secure 13th place and the runner up spot in the cup.



“That’s two more podium finishes for me,” said Hicky. “But I still haven't quite made it up to the top step. I am leaving it a little bit late now but I have three chances left in the final round at Oulton!



“In the first race I didn’t get off the line too well which hindered my progress for a few laps. By the time I had made my way onto the back of the group from 10th to 17th my tyres were pretty much shot and i struggled to make passes. I ended up 15th which gave me a point but not really where i wanted to be.''


“Race two was lucky, i got off the line better but then on the first lap Tristan Palmer’s engine went pop on the back straight. I was on the outside so I knew I couldn’t run off and ended up running into the gravel and tipping off. Luckily I got the bike back up but it took me a while to get it started. Luckily the race was red flagged so I managed to get back to the pits and the guys in the garage soon had it sorted for me. On the restart things went much better, I got a better start and everything went well. If I could have got past Harris a bit sooner than the last lap then I could have latched onto the back of Tom Bridewell and maybe challenged him for the win.



“We snapped a crank in qualifying which put us on the back foot but it’s thanks to everyone who helped me this weekend and got me out there again. It’s on to Oulton Park now and hopefully we can go a lot better and maybe secure that elusive win.”



The final three races in the series take place at Oulton Park over the weekend of October 9/10/11 when Hicky will have three chances to claim a race win and runner up spot in the Cup.