HICKMAN PROVIDES SILVERSTONE THRILLER TO OPEN BSB

Changeable skies made for a worrying outlook for the BSB opener but thankfully English rain remained elusive and Hickman was superb to fend-off the former champion to grab a first impressive victory of the campaign. The 29 year old (only two days prior to the meeting) made up for a first race disappointment – a DNF due to a technical problem – and rode the wheels off the Kawasaki ZX-10R to keep Byrne and Christian Iddon at bay with the first six riders split by just over three seconds at the flag.

Just behind, in fourth, was Jason O’Halloran after a tight tussle with another JG Speedfit representative and Pole Position sitter Leon Haslam. The ex-GP and World Superbike man was also forced out of the first sprint with a technical issue and suffered engine braking issues in his dice with O’Halloran. Mechanical gremlins also plagued ePayMe Yamaha duo John Hopkins and Stuart Easton with only the American posting a result thanks to ninth in the initial outing. The final member of the JG Speedfit Kawi crew, James Ellison, had a busy day carving through the pack due to his crash in qualification. The veteran set off from thirtieth on the grid and managed a 13-8 scorecard at Silverstone.

Although Michael Laverty was the first race winner it was Hickman’s somewhat surprising form and sensational finish that created the biggest impact. “What a relief!” ‘Hicky’ said to the official gbmoto website. “The first race was such a disappointment as we knew we had the pace to win, which was a bit of a surprise to us after qualifying sixteenth! It’s a brand new ZX-10R and the team is using new suspension so it’s a big learning curve.” “The second race was brilliant,” he went on. “The last few laps I could hear Shakey’s Ducati behind me, I ran a little deep into the final complex and he came by but there was no way I was going to let him take the win after all the hard work so I pretty much kept the throttle open and close my eyes to the line!” Round two of BSB takes place at Oulton Park on Holiday Monday May 2nd