Hickman returns to racing at Donington Park
After four months sidelined with injury from his crash at the Isle of Man TT races Louth racer Peter Hickman returned to racing when he rode in three of the four races at Donington Park in round eight of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship.
With no expectations of top results Hickman decided to race at Donington Park as there were to be four short sprint races instead of the usual one sprint race and two longer races.
Hickman has made good progress in his recovery and the shorter races at Donington were ideal for him to make baby steps on his return to racing.
He took his time to adjust and completed qualifying for a start from the seventh row in the opening race on Saturday. He was steady away making up places and was running in 20th place when the red flag brought the race to an end on lap 11.
Race two went much the same way with Hickman crossing the finish line in 21st place and he shaved another second from his lap times.
It was raining when the third race got underway on Sunday and Hickman erred on the side of caution and decided he would sit it out.
The sun was back out for the final race and Hickman was back on the grid. This time he completed the race in 18th place and said: “to be honest I was here to improve my riding fitness and give the 8TEN Racing team as much feedback and data as possible as well as just enjoying racing again as I always have,”
Meanwhile Harrison Dessoy was racing in the Sportbike championship for the PHR Performance by Peter Hickman. But his race ended prematurely when, while leading the race, his bike suffered a technical issue and he was forced to retire. The non finish drops him down to fourth in the rider standings on 186 points.