Peter Hickman

A second and third place in the Mirror.com Superbike Cup were sufficient for Louth rider Peter Hickman to retain his second place although with Gary Mason taking the win each time he has pulled out an unassailable lead and been crowned the new champion with two rounds remaining.



Qualifying went well for the Ultimate Racing rider who put in a strong performance to claim 14th place on the starting grid.



“Qualifying didn’t go too badly for me,” said Hicky. “But on saying that I equalled my best qualifying of the year with 14th so I am happy with that.”



As race one got underway Hicky was off to a good start slotting into 11th place which he held throughout the 20 laps. Although he was close to Julien Da Costa he was just unable to make a pass on him and settled for 11th place at the flag. He was the second Cup competitor to cross the finish line and picked up a further 20 points in the series plus visited the podium once again.



Race two didn’t go so well for the young rider who was baulked at the start. He dropped down to 16th and although he did make progress to 14th mid-race he was beaten back to 15th when Suzuki rider Sylvain Guintoli made a move forward. But nonetheless Hicky picked up another championship point in the main race along with 16 for third place in the cup.



“I was stuck behind Da Costa in that first race and I just couldn’t get past him, his bike has a lot more grunt than mine and although I caught him on cornering I lost out on power down the straights.” said Hicky. “In the second leg I was baulked at the start when another rider cut across right in front of me. I had to shut off to avoid hitting him and everyone else just swept past me. By the time I recovered the leaders had long gone and I was left to fight it out for 15th place.



“I am disappointed that I am now unable to win the title this year but there is still everything to race for as I can still beat Mason and win a race before the end of the season plus of course I have to defend my second place in the Cup.”



Hicky has an advantage of 59 points over Martin Jessopp in the run up to the final five races but with 125 points still up for grabs he needs to complete his remaining races ahead of his rival to be sure of taking the runner up spot in the cup.



The penultimate round of the British Superbike championship is at Silverstone on September 27 when Hicky will be striving to bring the Ultimate Racing Yamaha R1 home ahead of Jessopp while also looking for the win in the cup to go into the final round at Oulton Park on a high.