Hickman completes a tough Daytona 200
The Louth based PHR Performance by Peter Hickman Racing team suffered a dramatic few days at the Daytona 200 race in America last week with Davey Todd forced to withdraw following a crash during qualifying and Peter Hickman soldiering on to finish 29th after he too suffered crashes and a technical problem.
Hickman was running well during qualifying and in 12th position when he suffered a high speed crash. Although unhurt it was a hectic few hours for the team to get the bike up and running for the Time Attack. Unfortunately after just one lap Hickman crashed again which brought the red flag out. Again he was unhurt apart from some bruising and the team did well to get the Triumph Street Triple 765RS prepared for the 200 mile Daytona race the next day.
After the second crash Hickman said: “I am a little bit sore but apart from that I am ok. The team did a fantastic job getting the bike ready after the first crash and we made it out into the Time Attack, although we did miss the first couple of laps; but then I had this massive high-side.
"Looking at the video you can see a little blue haze of water coming out of the belly pan and thats what fired me over the top. After watching the footage it makes me feel a lot better because I had no idea why I highsided. But now I can understand it was an issue with the bike and not me. Its no one’s fault, just one of those things.”
Despite the problems Hickman did start the 58 lap race from 12th place on the grid and made a strong start but a multi bike crash brought the red flag out after just two laps with Hickman having to take evasive action to avoid a fallen rider.
At the restart and with the race reduced to 56 laps Hickman was well down the field but fighting for position within the top 20. After the first pit stop Hickman made it through the field to 11th and was looking to move into the top 10 but when he went in for his second pit stop there was an issue with the wheel quick release system which cost the team 12 minutes. It looked like game over but eventually the problem was resolved and Hickman rejoined the race albeit seven laps down in 29th position.
Hickman commented: “ A massive thank you to the team for their hard-work over the weekend. It was tougher than expected but we finished the race and the boys were awesome. Thanks to all our sponsors and supporters who have helped make this possible.”