HICKY WINS BEST NEWCOMER AWARD AT NW200

[Mago]

Racing for the first time on the roads Peter Hickman from Louth in Lincolnshire completed all his qualifying and four races within the top 16 to win Best Newcomer Award at the North West 200 Road Races in Northern Ireland.

 

Hicky found himself without a ride in the British Superbike championship this year but instead of sitting around waiting for something to come up he turned his attention to road racing and joined the Paul Shoesmith Ice Valley team entering  both the NW200 and the Isle of Man TT races on an S1000RR BMW to see how he fared.

 

The weather remained fine and dry for Tuesday practice and Thursday final practice and first races and Hicky lined up towards the back of the first wave of riders to set off around the 8.9-mile Causeway Coast public road course at the start of the first six-lap Superstock race on Thursday evening. He moved from 19th on the first lap to 13th on lap two. As he gained in confidence he moved further forward to 11th on the penultimate lap and crossed the finish line at the end of lap six in a fine ninth place which far exceeded his expectations.

 

The weather on Sunday took a turn for the worse and Hicky set off in the first Superbike race in wet conditions. He decided to err on the side of caution and took it steady through the five laps crossing the finish line in 16th position.

 

The six-lap Superstock race was stopped after three laps because of an incident at Metropole and a result declared with Hicky being awarded 16th place.

 

The final outing was the Blue Ribbon North West 200 Superbike race which, because of all the delays was reduced from seven to five laps. But Hicky rode well and once again far exceeded his expectations with a finish in 13th place.

 

Because he was the top finishing newcomer in all four races he was awarded the Best Newcomer Trophy and said:

“I have had an amazing time at the Northwest 200 this week. I learnt an awful lot and increased my speed with every outing putting in my fastest lap in the final race of the week. Considering I was riding a Superstock bike and finished 13th in the Superbike race I was well happy. I did take it steady in the wet races; although I really wanted to crack on but kept reminding myself it is just my first year so steady away.”

 

Hicky now moves on to the Isle of Man TT races travelling over to the Island to prepare for the two week festival where practice gets underway on May 24.