Fantastic Podium For Hickman At Assen
Peter Hickman closed to within eight points of third overall in the 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship after the Smiths Racing BMW rider put in two superb rides to finish third and fourth in the penultimate round at Assen today.
Having qualified in tenth place for the first 18-lap race around the 2.82-mile Dutch circuit, Hickman made a superb start to move up to fourth at the completion of the first lap and the race soon became a four-way battle for the lead between Hicky, Tarran Mackenzie, championship leader Leon Haslam and Jake Dixon.
For much of the race, just one second covered the quartet with Peter sitting in fourth in the main on the Smiths BMW S1000RR, waiting to make his move towards the end of the race. He did just that on the penultimate lap to take third from Dixon but shortly afterwards he made a mistake when he missed a gear, subsequently dropping back to fourth, and with no time to make up the lost ground, he had to settle for the position, only 0.3s off the final podium position.
His pace could be seen as he set the fastest lap of the race – a new circuit lap record – so started the second race later in the day from pole position and a perfect opening lap saw him immediately open up a lead of more than a second.
However, a mid-pack crash brought out the safety car for a number of laps and when racing resumed, his lead had been wiped out. He was still leading at half race distance but having lost the lead to Josh Brookes on lap 11, Haslam pushed him back to third two laps later.
It was still close between the leading trio though and Peter held on to take third place, his third BSB podium of the season. He now sits in fifth overall in the championship with three races to go but he’s now only eight points adrift of third placed Brookes.
Team-mate Sylvain Barrier, meanwhile, was competing on a circuit he knew well from his European Superstock 1000 Championship winning days and lined up in 19th on the grid for the first race. A slightly sluggish start in the opening race saw him lose three places and he eventually finished in 20th place but the Frenchman regrouped well for the second race and scored three more championship points after taking a solid 13th place, despite still carrying a finger injury.
