Awards galore for ace Hicky

The rider has been awarded the the Motorcycle News Racer of the year award plus the MCN Road Racer of the year title.

Following an online vote by MCN readers, Hickman was presented with his award at the MCN Motorcycle show in London after votes were counted and he was well ahead of the other nominees, including multi-world champions Marc Marquez and Jonathan Rea and British Superbike champion Leon Haslam.

Former recipients include Mike Hailwood, Barry Sheene, Joey Dunlop and Carl Fogarty, so Hickman is in good company.

“It is a real honour to win this award, especially given who has won it before,” Hickman said. “To be voted for by the readers of MCN makes it even more special.”

Other awards the Lincolnshire rider has won this year include Bike Sport News Road Racer of the Year, plus he held off a challenge from multi-World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea to take the Overall Rider of the Year award, as well, securing 32.6 per cent of the vote to Rea’s 17.53 per cent.

In the Road Race vote Hickman recorded more than 50 per cent of the votes, recording more votes than the rest of the nominees put together.

At the Cornhill Motorbike awards ceremony in Belfast, Hickman was named IFS International Road Racer of the year after an amazing season with Smiths Racing on the roads, taking victories at the North West 200, Isle of Man TT, Ulster Grand Prix and Macau Grand Prix.

Hickman won the award from Dean Harrison and Michael Dunlop.

More recognition came from the Motorsport Media Awards where he took top honours from Leon Haslam and both he and the Smiths Racing BMW team have received an honour from the manufacturer by winning the BMW Combined Road Race Challenge for 2018.

Last year brought Hickman a double victory and record breaking final lap of 135.452mph in the Senior Race at the Isle of Man TT races and saw him deliver on what many experts had felt he was capable of ever since he made an impressive and record-breaking TT debut back in 2014.

His first victory came in record-breaking style in the RL360 Superstock Race, where he shattered the lap record with a stunning lap that averaged 134.403mph.

He went on to record two more podiums in the Monster Energy Supersport races before he produced a record breaking performance in the final race of the TT festival, the six lap PokerStars Senior TT.

It was a close run affair between Hickman and Dean Harrison with just a few seconds between the two going into the final 37.73 mile lap, but Hickman was not to be defeated and made sure of the win with his record-breaking final lap.

Hickman was successful at the other high profile road races with victories at the North West 200, Ulster Grand Prix and Macau Grand Prix to secure the achievement of winning at every International Road Race in 2018.

He also finished fifth in the British Superbike championship.