Yesterday (Sunday 2 June) TT fans were treated to a Superbike spectacle as Peter Hickman took the win in a dramatic Superbike battle at the Isle of Man TT Races aboard the BMW M 1000 RR machine, claiming his 14th TT win and matching Mike Hailwood’s tally.
The six-lap RST Superbike TT Race got underway at 14.40 with perfect conditions around the 37.73-mile Mountain Course, where Peter was 10th on the road for the Monster Energy by FHO Racing BMW Motorrad team.
On the opening lap the FHO rider was fourth, 1.9 seconds off racer leader Michael Dunlop. As the riders made their way around the TT course, the time gap to the front increased and at the end of the first lap Hicky remained fourth. Despite losing time in the pits at the end of the second lap, Peter was third at Glenn Helen on lap three, five seconds behind Davey Todd and nine behind race leader Michael.
However, it was after the second pit stop when drama unfolded at the front with Michael and Davey, and Dean Harrison became the race leader, with Hicky only 1.1 seconds behind. Starting the final lap the order had changed again and it was Peter now in the lead on the BMW M 1000 RR, two seconds ahead of Dean. Turning the race on its head Hicky increased his gap to the riders behind and a final lap speed of 135.534mph gave him a 5.8 second victory, with Davey second and Dean third. The win marked Hicky’s 14th at the TT and is the second Superbike TT win for Faye Ho’s squad.
Meanwhile for Peter’s teammate Josh Brookes, disaster struck on the opening lap where a broken chain forced the Australian to retire from the running. The retirement was a blow to Josh’s TT campaign, who had been looking strong aboard his FHO Racing BMW machine throughout all qualifying sessions, where he’d finished qualifying week third in the Superbike class.
Josh and Peter, along with the Monster Energy by FHO Racing BMW Motorrad team will be back in action on the Mountain Course on Tuesday (4 June) for the three-lap RL360 Superstock Race 1. Click here for the TT schedule.
In the sidecar class Pete Founds and Jevan Walmsley celebrated a second-place finish in Saturday’s 3wheeling.media Sidecar TT Race 1, with Maria Costello MBE finishing 18th and setting a new PB lap time of 103.07mph, with new passenger Gary Wheeler. The second Sidecar TT Race is scheduled for Wednesday 5 June.
“That’s the first Superbike race and we got gifted the win to be quite honest, I wasn’t fast enough on the first couple of laps, and we had a small issue, nothing major it was more in me than it was the bike to be honest. But at the end of the day to finish first, at first you must finish. We got gifted a little, but you still must be in the race to win it and that’s exactly what we did. I’m super happy for the Monster Energy by FHO Racing BMW Motorrad team, myself, my sponsors and all the boys and girls in the team; everyone at FHO puts in 100% all the time and it’s good to get the week going properly after a bad Supersport race for me, to then get a win in the Superbike race – let’s see what we can do from here.”
Peter Hickman
#10
“My TT so far as been mostly positive, any time we’ve been on-track it’s been good for us. We lost some sessions due to the weather and various reason, which I think a lot of riders aren’t particularly needed more laps, but for me to be missing sessions and days does hurt me more than others as I feel like I need to build, I’m one of those ridders that it takes time to build and I’ll get quicker overtime and progress, but despite some missed sessions it’s been good. Last week in practice I secured a PB with a 133mph average lap and on both the Superbike and Superstock machines everything was going in the right direction. The first Superbike race on the opening lap I retired with a broken chain, so that was disappointing, but on the other side Hicky won, so through our misfortune there’s great success on the other side of the team and I’m pleased as a team we’re able to celebrate that moment. I’m looking forward to the two Superstock races that are coming up before the Senior on Saturday and seeing how we get on in those.”
Josh Brookes
#25
