Peter Hickman

Lincolnshire rider Peter Hickman got his season off to a good start by scoring a championship point in the first British Superbike championship race of the new season at Brands Hatch on Easter Monday. But he was unable to add to his tally in leg two when his Ultimate Racing Yamaha R1 developed a technical fault on the first lap causing him to retire.



Free practice on Friday was a washout. It was raining pretty hard and Hickman didn’t see the point in going out to maybe slide off in the tricky conditions. He explained: “I thought it best to wait until Saturday when the weather was more promising. Unfortunately I only completed two laps in the dry on Saturday morning before having to come in with a split radiator but once we got that replaced I made it through the third free test without a hitch.



“Sunday it was wet once again but I was going well and was circulating within the top 10 for a long time. I decided to call it a day half way through the session and conserve my energy for the qualifying laps later in the day.”



Just as the pace was hotting up Hicky was caught out by a shower of rain, and unable to utilise his new tyre. He finished in 21st place in the first of the three sections of qualifying - just one place away from entry into the second part which was for the top 20 riders - and was to start his first race from a sixth row grid position. But he was pleased to discover that his privately run Ultimate Racing Yamaha R1 qualified ahead of former World and British champion Neil Hodgson who was riding last year’s British Championship winning Yamaha.



As race one got underway Hicky made progress, moving up to 20th place in the early stages. His challenge was boosted when a rider ahead blew his engine and retired. Some of the riders held back as they thought the race would be red flagged but Hicky kept his head down and made the most of the opportunity to overtake them. He was soon up into 15th place where he remained until the chequered flag.



“That was good to get a point from that first race,” said Hicky. “I knew we were on the back foot before we started because of the crash in March so I am happy enough with that. I did make up a lot of ground when Michael Laverty blew the engine. I remember from an earlier race thinking the red flag would come out and lost ground when I was wrong so this time I kept going. As it turned out there was no oil on the track and the others who hesitated lost out so it paid off for me.”



Hicky’s progress in race two was short-lived, he had only completed half a lap when the Ultimate Racing Yamaha decided it had enough and stopped.



“I thought I was going to add to my points tally in that second race,” said Hicky. “But the bike just stopped and refused to budge. I don’t know what the problem is until we get home and strip it down but it will be up and running for the next round.”

The next round is at Thruxton on 18th April