HICKMAN THUNDERS TO FIRST MACAO POLE

HICKMAN THUNDERS TO FIRST MACAO POLE - Printable Version

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HICKMAN THUNDERS TO FIRST MACAO POLE - Malcolm - 16-11-2018

Peter Hickman (Aspire-Ho by Bathams Racing BMW) turned his overnight provisional pole into the real thing with a series of convincing laps that left him a second clear of team-mate Michael Rutter (Aspire-Ho by Bathams Racing Honda RC213V) despite a late attempt by Rutter to get back the position he held in the first part of the session.

Said Hickman:

“This is my first pole at Macao, which is really nice. The bike’s been working really, really good right from the first practice yesterday, although practice was hard work. I’m quite happy with the setting. I’m riding the same bike I rode last year and it’s making life a bit easier. It was always going to be Michael [Rutter] and Martin [Jessopp] that were up there as well, and I’m sure the race is going to be a lot closer than what the qualifying was today, but I’m looking forward to getting away with it. Fingers crossed we get our head down early on and see what happens.”

But though he improved his time and cut the gap by half a second, Rutter had to settle for second spot, leaving Hickman the only one to dip into the 2:23 bracket, his 2:23.904 earning him a superb debut Macao pole position.

Said eight-time race winner Rutter:

“The team’s worked fantastic as we’ve had a brand new bike and we’ve only been out on it twice before. Every time we go out it’s a learning curve – we go a little bit quick, we find something else. I think we’ve got about another 10% to come out of the bike. Every time you go around a corner you try something a little bit different, learn a little bit more. I was a bit disappointed with my qualifying myself. I don’t think we’d have been as quick as Pete [Hickman], but I think we’d have been quicker. I didn’t concentrate on that qualifying lap and just messed it up.”

Martin Jessopp (Tak Chun Group by PBM Ducati) also left it late to get on the front row; he’d been down in fourth for a while, grabbed third spot from Danny Webb (MGM by Penz13) and then lost it to Gary Johnson (Briggs Equipment Kawasaki).

But as the session drew to a close Jessopp had a perfect lap of personal best times in all four sectors to go 2:25.356 and join the front-row Press Conference.

“I’m really happy to be up here to be honest,” said Jessopp.

“I thought I could do it before coming to the meeting. I’ve been riding around here for the last six years on my BMW, so I know what gear to be in, I know what bump, I know what’s going to do this, and I know what I was going to do before I got one in. Yesterday it was quite a bit of a shock how different this [Ducati Panigale 1199] is. It’s a proper racing machine and it’s all new, so after the first session yesterday I knew it was going to be tough. It’s only qualifying though, it doesn’t mean that much. Pete [Hickman] has won from row three, so him being on pole is going to mean trouble for all of use. I don’t know if I can fight for a win, but I’m just happy to be up here.”

That left row two comprised of Gary Johnson, Danny Webb and Horst Saiger (Saiger Racing Yamaha) as they line up for the start of tomorrow’s 52nd Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix, with David Johnson (PR Racing BMW) just ahead of John McGuinness (Tak Chun Group by PBM Ducati), Derek Sheils (MGM by Penz 13 BMW) and Sam West (PRL/OHA Motorsport BMW).

Davey Todd (PuraGlobe Syntainics Racing Oil by Penz 13) was again fastest of the newcomers, as he had been in both previous sessions, ending up 11th on the grid.

RE: HICKMAN THUNDERS TO FIRST MACAO POLE - milestone 11 - 16-11-2018

Final qualification times,

1 88 Peter Hickman GBR Aspire-Ho by Bathams Racing BMW S1000RR 14 2:23.904 11 153.1 2:23.872

2 8 Michael Rutter GBR Aspire-Ho by Bathams Racing Honda RC213V 13 2:25.044 12 1.140 1.140 151.8 2:25.002

3 40 Martin Jessopp GBR Tak Chun Group by PBM Ducati Panigale 1199 14 2:25.356 14 1.452 0.312 151.5 2:25.118

4 7 Gary Johnson GBR Briggs Equipment Kawasaki Kawasaki ZX1ORR 14 2:25.733 12 1.829 0.377 151.1 2:25 525

5 99 Danny Webb GBR MGM by Penz13 BMW Penz13-I 14 2:26.352 11 2.448 0.619 150.5 2:25.770

6 50 Horst Saiger AUT Saiger-Racing Yamaha R1 15 2:27.247 14 3.343 0.895 149.6 2:27179

7 20 David Johnson AUS PR Racing BMW S1000RR 13 2:27.545 9 3.641 0.298 149.3 2:27.439

8 4 John McGuinness GBR Tak Chun Group by PBM Ducati Panigale 1199 14 2:27.601 12 3.697 0.056 149.2 2:27.454

9 82 Derek Shells IRL MGM by Penz13 BMW Penz13-I 13 2:27.814 12 3.910 0.213 149.0 2:27.429

10 62 Sam West GBR PRL/OHA Motorsport BMW S1000RR 15 2:28.690 13 4.786 0.876 148.1 2:28.415

11 74 Davey Todd GBR PuraGlobe Syntainics Racing Oil by Penz13 BMW Penz13-1 11 2:29.423 7 5.519 0.733 147.4 2:28.988

12 26 Didier Grams DEU G8G Motorsport by BMW Motorrad BMW S1000RR 12 2:29.448 9 5.544 0.025 147.4 2:28.955

13 45 Marek Cerveny CZE Wepol Racing BMW Penz13-I 12 2:29.985 9 6.081 0.537 146.8 2:29.362

14 65 Michael Sweeney IRL Martin Jones Racing BMW HP4 14 2:30.577 13 6.673 0.592 146.3 2:30.479

15 34 Ben Wylie GBR Bimota Racing/ Amore Moto Bimota BB3 13 2:30.776 11 6.872 0.199 146.1 2:30.502

16 38 Emo Kostamo FIN Markka Racing by Penz13 BMW S1000RR 14 2:30.993 14 7.089 0.217 145.9 2:30.596

17 22 Paul Jordan GBR Dafabet Devitt Racing Kawasaki ZX10-RR 13 2:31.195 12 7.291 0.202 145.7 2:31,106

18 44 Rob Hodson GBR JGH Racing BMW S1000RR 13 2:31.767 12 7.863 0.572 145.1 2:30.938

19 77 Phillip Crowe GBR Handtrans JCR Racing BMW S1000RR 14 2:32.027 10 8.123 0.260 144.9 2:31.771

20 54 Steve Heneghan IRL Reactive Parts.com Ducati Panigale V4 11 2:32.162 7 8.258 0.135 144.7 2:32.064

21 14 Andre Pires PRT Team FastBike/Beauty Machines Yamaha R1 15 2:33.841 11 9.937 1.679 143.2 2:33.221

22 9 Craig Neve GBR C N Racing BMW S1000RR 13 2:34.517 10 10.613 0.676 142.5 2:33.950

23 67 Dominic Herbertson GBR Dafabet Devitt Racing Kawasaki ZX10-RR 12 2:34.819 10 10.915 0.302 142.3 2:33.994

24 104 Daley Mathison GBR Wepol Racing BMW Penz13-I 11 2:35.973 10 12.069 1.154 141.2 2:35.181

25 71 Davy Morgan GBR DM71 BMW S1000RR 14 2:37.958 10 14.054 1.985 139.4 2:37.958

NOT CLASSIFIED (Requirements : 110% of best lab of leader = 2:38.294)

26 182 Xavier Denis FRA PerformanX Racing BMW S1000RR 15 2:38.469 13 14.565 0.511 139.0 2:38.067

NO TIME

27 49 Raul Torras ESP Raul Torras Racing by Martimotos Yamaha R1 0 – 0

28 55 Andrew Dudgeon IMN VRS Racing BMW S1000RR 0 – 0