MOTORCYCLING: Hicky leads Riders Cup after two top five finishes at Donington

Round 10 proved an exceptional weekend for Hicky as he showed fantastic pace during the three practice sessions.

“It’s been a really good weekend for us,” Hickman said.

“We have been pushing at the front in every practice session and we’re walking away with some great results.

“For some reason in that opening race I couldn’t quite get the feeling I wanted from the bike and we’re not sure why as we didn’t make any changes for race two, but it felt like a different machine.

“I’m really happy though, it’s been a very strong round for us and we’re now leading the Riders Cup.”

As it has been all season, the pace this weekend has been scintillating with the top nine under the lap record after practice.

On combined times, Hickman was fourth fastest and shaved a further half a second from his personal best times at Donington Park.

Moving into qualifying and easing through the opening two sessions, Hickman, who lives near Cadwell Park, was the second of the nine Superpole riders out on track, but a huge moment through the first corner ruined his lap and he was to start the first of the two 20 lap races from the third row in ninth position.

He got away to a great start in the first encounter to take up fifth place on the opening lap.

On lap four Jason O’Halloran overtook him on his way to a third place finish but, as the race unfolded, Hickman made a pass on Christian Iddon to take fifth place back once again.

He was involved in a four-way battle throughout the remainder of the race but held his ground to take the chequered flag for fifth position.

Starting the second race from the head of the third row, Hickman again got a perfect start taking up sixth place through the early laps.

Again the action was very close but Hickman remained in control at the front of the group and eventually overtook his teammate James Ellison, who was struggling with tyre wear.

Ahead, his other JG Speedfit Kawasaki teammate Leon Haslam was challenging for the race win, but made a mistake and crashed, gifting fourth spot to Hicky who pulled clear of the following riders to retain the place at the flag.

Hicky claimed a total of 24 championship points from his two races, which elevates him up to seventh place in the rider standings and gave him an eight point lead in the Riders Cup.

The next round is at Assen in the Netherlands over the weekend of September 30-October 2.