MOTORCYCLING: Superbiker Hicky endures difficult weekend at Thruxton

He was denied a top five finish in the first race but went on to complete race two in sixth position.

Suffering from technical problems throughout the weekend with the JG Speedfit Kawasaki, Hicky, who lives near Cadwell Park, managed to get through to the second stage of qualifying and although he set his fastest ever lap around the Hampshire circuit, he just missed out going forward into the one lap challenge by .007sec and started the first race from 10th position.

The first race turned out to be dramatic with Hicky mixing it with the front runners and up into fifth place on lap nine. But the race was red flagged and the re-run over 12 laps was taken from positions on lap eight when Hicky was in eighth place.

At the restart, he was sixth on the first lap but gradually dropped back as his tyre began to disintegrate and he finished the race in 12th place. Hicky said: “I feel robbed; that was my worst ever result here at Thruxton. We were racing on the softer tyre and it just wouldn’t do the 26 laps. Rules meant that we couldn’t change tyres after a red flag.”

As race two got underway, Hicky was determined to do well and began to make up ground from the off. By lap six he had moved from 11th to fifth and was embroiled in a battle for position with Dan Linfoot and his two teammates, James Ellison and Leon Haslam.

Hicky did, however, manage to hold his ground and crossed the finish line in a very close sixth place to pick up 10 championship points to add to the four from race one. Unfortunately, it was not enough to maintain his ninth position in the rider standings and he dropped a place to 10th on 96 points.

Disappointed with the weekend, Hicky said “I was probably the strongest of the three during practice but during the races I just couldn’t seem to catch a break. The opening part of that first race was going well and exactly how I thought it would, but with the red flag and the countback it meant by the time I started the re-run my tyre had already done 14 laps and I just wasn’t able to match my earlier pace.

“The second race went better and the bike felt good but starting from 13th meant I had to use my tyre a little more to get towards the front and just slipped back to sixth on the last lap. It’s not great but it’s definitely more where we need to be, so I’m happy.”

The next round is at Brands Hatch where Hicky will be hoping for a good weekend with no problems in order for him to secure two strong results and regain his ninth position in the standings in the run up to the top six shoot-out.