Best result of the season for Hickman at Oulton Park

Hickman returned to the scene of his heavy crash early in season and he was eager to put it behind him and bring home some strong results.

After safely completing his free practice in 11th place Hickman went straight

through to final qualifying where he just missed out on a top 10 start to the first race on Saturday.

Starting from a fifth row grid position he was away to a good start and made up three places on the opening lap. He was very close to Jason O’Halloran and eventually made his pass stick on lap 10 to take up ninth position.

One lap later he found himself in eighth position but with a five second gap to the group ahead. But despite bringing the gap down to just over three seconds he ran out of laps and had to be content with eighth place at the flag which is one place better than at Cadwell three weeks earlier.

Sunday morning brought a dramatic change to the weather with heavy rain delaying track action for over and hour and a half. Once the track was deemed fit to race on Hickman lined up on row four for the start of the Sprint race now run over 10 laps.

Not in contention for the title this year Hickman was not intent on taking any risks and although he made his way forward to ninth mid race he fell back to cross the finish line in 13th position.

The track had dried in places for the third race and most riders opted for intermediate tyres, starting from the fifth row Hickman was 15th on the opening lap and had made his way forward to 10th on lap seven but the rain returned and the race was red flagged on lap eight.

A new race over just five laps ensued with Hickman in the midst of a large group of riders all battling for position. He was up to eighth for a while but crossed the finish line at the end of the five lap dash in 11th place.