The GBmoto Racing Kawasaki team enjoyed a strong North West 200, with Peter Hickman taking a second and fourth in the Superstock and Superbike classes in only his second year at the event. The race meeting was curtailed early due to the fatality of a rider in another class, with final two races cut from the programme.

With warm and sunny conditions greeting the riders throughout practice and qualifying, Peter Hickman quickly got up to speed on the Superbike and Superstock spec Kawasaki ZX-10R, despite only having ridden the North West 200 in 2014. Progressing with every outing ‘Hicky’, as he’s known to his legions of fans, secured third place and a front row start on the Superstock machine and fifth on the Superbike.

With the opening Superstock race being postponed on Thursday, it meant Hicky faced four tough races on Saturday as he took to the grid with his special NW200 helmet, complete with golden shamrocks and a map of the legendary circuit.

Hicky took the lead in the opening Superstock race with a brave and committed move into York Corner on the first lap. Unfortunately the race was red flagged and a full restart scheduled with the duration decreased to five laps. Almost unbelievably the road based machine reached 202mph through the speed trap and Hicky finished in a deserved runner-up spot.

Another great start in the Superbike race saw Hicky slot into second early on. He dropped back a little but then regrouped fighting a long slipstreaming battle with experienced NW200 competitors.  However another red flag saw the action curtailed on lap four, leaving the Lincolnshire rider in fourth and rueing what might have been. A serious accident in the Supertwins race tragically saw Malachi Mitchell Thomas lose his life and the event organisers cancelled the rest of the meeting out of respect.

Hicky in Superbike action

Peter Hickman said, 

“With the very obvious exception it was a good event for us. The Superstock bike was really strong in certain areas and that let me ride it well, particularly on the brakes. I genuinely felt like we were on for a podium in the Superbike class but the race was cut short and it was a pleasant surprise to be on the podium in Supersport.

Malachi was my teammate in the Supertwin class and I was just starting to get to know him and help a little, it’s just so incredibly sad.”

GBmoto Racing Team Manager Mike Kane concluded, 

“This was only our second visit to the North West and I think the team handled this unique event really well. Peter rode fantastically and showed he has the correct sort of focused approach for the roads. He’s proving what a multi-faceted rider he is with wins in BSB and these sort of results in three different classes on the roads. The event has set us up well for the TT and the team has worked so hard building up bikes for the roads campaign in the middle of a busy BSB season. Our thoughts are with the family of the young rider who lost his life today and we of course support the organisers in their decisions in these difficult moments.”