Hickman up to sixth in the Superbikes championships

Hicky - who lives near Cadwell Park - finished seventh in race one and sixth in the second encounter in Norfolk on Sunday.

The Willoughby rider was never out of the top five during free practice and made it comfortably through to the second phase of qualifying, where the pace quickened.

And although he was 0.7s faster than his previous personal best lap time and on lap record pace, he was only able to secure 10th place and a fourth-row start to the first of two 16-lap races at the Norfolk track.

He said: “I had a good day on Friday in free practice, finishing third on my Smiths Racing BMW.

“The bike feels mint and I recorded a personal best lap time of 1.47.8s.

“Then during qualifying I was faster still, 0.7s faster than ever before - but unfortunately being under the lap record only gets you 10th in BSB at the moment as the class is so competitive.”

As the first race got underway, Hickman was eighth on the first lap but moved ahead of Jake Dixon to settle into seventh position - which he held until with three laps remaining he caught and passed John Hopkins.

But although he pulled clear of Hopkins he couldn’t shake off the attention of Dixon, who followed him through and then nipped past to snatch sixth place from him on the final lap and, with just a 10th of a second separating the two at the line, Hicky had to be content with seventh place.

Starting race two from the middle of the second row, Hickman didn’t get the best of starts and was pushed back in the rush to the first corner.

He was forced back further to 11th by the end of the first lap, but then began to make up ground.

By this time the leading pack had pulled a gap which was impossible to close and Hicky circulated in eighth place through the early laps.

He moved up to seventh on lap 11 and began to hunt down Dan Linfoot some way ahead.

Hickman was within a 10th of a second from him on the final lap and as they exited the final corner Hicky had his wheel in front.

On the dash to the flag he crossed the finish line to snatch sixth place with just three 1000ths of a second separating the two riders.

“It just wasn’t my day today,” he said.

“But a seventh and then a sixth give me sufficient points to move back up into the top six so I have to be happy with that.”

The 19 points scored at Snetterton move Hicky back into the top six on 93 points with the next round being at Brands Hatch over the weekend of July 21-23rd.