Louth racer Peter Hickman chasing spot in end of season Showdown

Hickman said: “After the strong start on Friday the weekend didn’t go quite how we wanted, but we move onto Thruxton Race Circuit in two weeks’ time.

“The FHO Racing BMW team now goes back to headquarters and I head onto World SBK at Most.”

Free practice at Brands Hatch went very well and Hickman finished the three sessions in fourth place overall.

But he wasn't able to maintain that form in qualifying and started the first of three races from the fifth row of the grid as 13th fastest rider.

He made up places throughout the 15 lap race to finish in 11th position, just 0.047s away from the top 10.

Starting race two once again from the fifth row Hickman started well but another rider caught his brake lever and went down.

This pushed Hickman off the track and across the grass.

By the time he returned to the track he was in last place with a lot of work to do to catch the pack.

But he got his head down and picked off the slower riders one by one until he reached 12th place at two thirds distance.

However, the gap to the front runners was too great and he had to be content with 12th place at the flag.

In the final race on Sunday Hickman started from a much better grid position and got a good start, moving straight up into ninth place.

By lap four he was up to seventh but on lap 11 of 20 he was passed by Kyle Ryde and remained in eighth place to the chequered flag.

The points accrued from the three races were sufficient to move Hickman up to ninth place in the rider standings and he is now just a few points away from a place in the top eight who go through to the end of season Showdown.

Hickman will stand in for the injured Michael Van Der Mark in the BMW Motorrad World Superbike Team at Most in the Czech Republic this coming weekend having raced as a wildcard in the Donington Park round of the WSB just two weeks ago with his FHO Racing team.