More TT Podiums For Smiths And Hickman
Peter Hickman and the Smiths Racing BMW team enjoyed another excellent day of racing at the 2017 Isle of Man TT Races today with the 30-year-old Lincolnshire ace taking a brilliant second place in the RL 360 Quantum Superstock TT for his third podium from three starts.
The four-lap race got underway on time at 10.45 this morning and despite slight issues with the bike cutting out intermittently, a strong opening lap of 130.538mph placed the Louth rider in second place having overhauled the fast-starting Michael Rutter on a similar BMW S1000RR.
That placed him just 4.5s behind Ian Hutchinson on yet another BMW but although he closed the gap to 4.1s on the nine-mile run to Glen Helen, Hutchinson gradually pulled clear. A second lap of 130.396mph maintained Peter’s second place position and at half race distance he was 6.7s behind Hutchinson but 5.8s clear of third placed Dan Kneen.
Positions remained the same on lap three and with another 130mph+ lap on his fourth and final lap, Peter took his second runner-up spot of the festival and third podium in total. The results mean that Hutchinson now leads the Joey Dunlop Championship on 61 points but Hickman remains in second and well in contention on 56 points.
Later in the afternoon, ‘Hicky’ switched to the KMR/IEG Kawasaki of former TT winner Ryan Farquhar for the Bennetts Lightweight TT over four laps and he had another great ride to take third, with the help of the Smiths Racing Team, behind race winner Michael Rutter and runner-up Martin Jessopp.
Peter Hickman: "In the Superstock race, I was a lot faster on the opening lap to Glen Helen than I had been in the previous two races, which made life a bit easier and it’s a lot better seeing P3 on my first pit board as opposed to P7. The bike was cutting out a bit on the first two laps which made things a bit tricky but after the pit stop it cured itself. Conditions were a lot better than I expected and the wind wasn't as bad as I thought so it was an enjoyable race. Hutchy's on fire on the Superstock bike so it was always going to be tough to get the better of him but I was delighted to be on the podium once more. The team did a great job as always and I’d also like to thank Rebecca and Alan Smith for giving me the opportunity to ride Ryan’s bike and with four podiums from four races what more can I ask for?"
Rebecca Smith, Team Manager: “What can I say, it was another great ride by Peter in the Superstock race and to have a 100% record of podium finishes from three races is superb. He did have a bit of trouble with the bike cutting out, the cause we’ve yet to identify, but credit where credit’s due and both Peter and the team deserve a lot of praise. We lost a bit of time at the pit stop but the team did what they had to do and second place again was nothing short of brilliant. We are also delighted for Peter and Ryan with their result in the Lightweight TT, well done to them.” Pictures courtesy of Stephen Davison/Jon Jessop Photography
