British Superbikes: Hickman pleased with day's work at Brands Hatch

Peter Hickman recorded two top eight finishes at Brands Hatch EMN-160523-104609002

And the Louth rider recorded seventh and eighth place finishes in his two races at Brands Hatch on Sunday.

It was difficult to switch from racing at more than 200mph on public roads in Ireland to a more sedate pace on the short and twisty Indy circuit but Hickman took it in his stride.

In the three-stage qualifying, Hicky completed the first session in a comfortable seventh place, but missed out by a fraction of a second on the final stage with 10th place in stage two.

The top nine riders go through to battle it out for pole position but Hicky was left to start the first race from the head of the fourth row, his best-ever grid position on the Indy circuit in a PB of 45.7secs.

Hicky completed the first lap in eighth place before passing John Hopkins. He got within 0.2secs of Michael Laverty, but was unable to make a pass and remained in seventh place throughout the 30-lap affair to claim nine championship points.

The Lincolnshire rider began the second race from the third row, but was boxed in at the first corner and slipped to ninth on the first lap.

He dropped a further place on lap three and remained there until the midway stage when he retook ninth place.

With five laps left he passed Luke Mossey and crossed the finish line in eighth to pick up a further eight championship points.

“I’m really happy with today, he said. “The shorter Indy track has never been one of my favourites so walking away with two top eight places is fantastic; if you had told me that at the start of the weekend I would have taken it.

“We made some changes to the bike ahead of race two which was a definite improvement so we know what direction we need to go with on the bike at Knockhill, too.”

Hickman returns to the Isle of Man for next week’s TT races where he will contest the Superbike and Superstock races on the JG Speedfit Kawasaki, plus the Supersport events on the Trooper Beer-sponsored Kawasaki.

He will also contest the lightweight race for John Burrows on the Cookstown B E Racing Kawasaki E R 6.