Hickman Earns First International Win In Wet Superbike Race

Aug 9, 2015
2 min read

Peter Hickman emerged as one of the 'stars of the future' after ending his first Isle of Man TT as the fastest ever newcomer at just shy of 130mph in 2014. Since then he has set the roads ablaze, and in the second Superbike race of the 2015 Ulster Grand Prix it all came good for the Briggs Equipment racing rider after he mastered the wet conditions that befell the Dundrod circuit to take his first international road racing victory.

The conditions were so poor that it prompted double Superbike race winner Bruce Anstey and triple 2015 UGP victor Lee Johnston to sit out. Ian Hutchinson also intended to do the same, but decided to contest the event instead. The Bingley rider's race didn't last long, however, as his PBM Kawasaki gave up at the end of the opening lap.

Hickman's race seemed pretty much sorted, but Connor Cummins mounted an attack in the closing stages of the four-lap race. The Honda Racing rider earned a podium in the opening 1000cc race on Thursday and was determined to better that on Saturday. In the end the Manxman was unable to overhaul the BMW, the gap just 0.028s across the line.

Rain is a great leveller, but the Lincolnshire rider's win came on a Superstock S1000RR and he was able to see off the fully-fledged Superbikes around him. A podium in the opening race, run in the dry, further proved that this result was no fluke.

Michael Dunlop ended his Ulster Grand Prix on a positive note with a 3rd place finish. The Northern Irishman will be glad to see the back of a very difficult 2015 campaign which has seen him switch from Yamaha to BMW, to mixed results, and struggle with injury at the TT.

Keith Amor, Russ Mountford, Dan Kneen, Derek Shiels, Dean Harrison, Daley Mathison and William Dunlop completed the top 10.