Peter Hickman’s efforts in the Senior TT race were ruined by bad luck as the GBMoto Racing Kawasaki man was forced to retire from a podium position.
Hickman hit the famous Mountain Course fifth and following a strong start, found himself in sixth place at the opening checkpoint of Glen Helen.
The MCE British Superbike rider continued to push his machine to the limits and had forced his way up into third by the time he reached Bungalow for the first time.
Hickman retained his position well into the second lap and he had pulled away from fourth place man, Bruce Anstey.
Disaster struck midway through the lap though and he was forced to retire from the race at Brandywell.
Afterwards, a disappointed Hickman said: “It’s been a bit of a war of attrition this week across every class! It’s not been a bad TT, bit it was certainly a very tough one. It’s my third year here and I was probably due a bit of a tough week as the first two years went with no problems.
“I’m disappointed but its just the way these things go – the team are still newcomers to the TT, but collectively we’ve all learnt a lot and have a really good setting with the bike as shown in that Senior race. My first lap was 131mph froma standing start, whilst in the Saturday Superbike race my flying lap saw us joint the 132mph club so I can’t not be happy with that.”
GBmoto Racing team principal, Mark Smith-Halvorsen added: “After the effort the team has put in this week, to finish this way is gutting. The whole team has worked non-stop and unfortunately we weren’t able to achieve what we know we’re capable of.
“We can still take positives from this week, particularly with Peter’s performance in the Superbike race which saw him become the fourth ever fastest rider around the TT, whilst even in that Senior he was comfortably running in a podium position.”
The team and Hickman will now be looking ahead to the return of the BSB Championship, which heads to Scotland and the Knockhill circuit on the weekend of June 24.
