Peter Hickman secured fifth spot in the 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship following string of top 10 results in the season finale at Brands Hatch.
The Smiths Racing BMW rider started Saturday’s opening race from the second-row, and a strong start saw him move into fourth. Two laps later he moved up to third having overhauled Tarran Mackenzie, however he would eventually fall back to fifth – which is where he finished.
The rain came on the Sunday and would play havoc throughout the second race of the weekend. Hickman started fourth, however, a slide at Graham Hill Bend on the opening lap saw him drop down to 13th. The 31-year-old regrouped and fought his way back through the field, and with other riders falling victim to the rain he was able to cross the line in sixth.
For the final race of 2018 Hickman would start from 11th on the grid. Despite the treacherous conditions, Hickman was able to move up into ninth by the end of the first lap. He enjoyed a brief stint in seventh, but would eventually cross the line back down in ninth.
Looking back over the season, Hickman said that he was happy with fifth spot in the standings:
“It’s certainly been a mixed weekend weather wise and although we fell one place short of where we finished in 2017, I’m pleased with fifth overall and finishing as the top BMW rider once more. I qualified well, for once, and we were fast in the dry where I had the pace to win, but there was just one part of the circuit where I was losing a bit of time.
“The two wet races today were very hard work especially on the Indy part of the circuit so I’m happy enough with fifth overall and to be only 11 points adrift of third is a good effort. It was a challenging end to the season but everyone stuck together and we again showed just what a good team we are.”
Smiths Racing are yet to confirm their rider line-up for the 2019 season.
