Peter Hickman heads to the penultimate round of the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship at Assen this weekend (September 29 – October 1) determined to gain ground on his Showdown rivals ahead of the Brands Hatch season finale.

Hickman missed out on the podium last time out at Oulton Park but is confident that the Smiths Racing BMW team will be back fighting for the top three at the legendary Assen circuit this weekend as he bids to close the 11 point deficit to Jake Dixon, with Shane Byrne also only a further seven points ahead.

Hickman said:

“Everyone loves Assen! Oulton Park was ok because we scored some good points but it wasn’t the best as we want to be on the podium. The first race started average for me but then the pace got faster in the race, so that was a positive. I think perhaps I had been a bit too conservative in free practice and then when it came to really pushing it at race pace, it then reacted differently.

“The red flag was a god send for me as I think I could have dropped back further and it was a shame that Dan and Christian didn’t finish as they were taking some good points off the others.

“Race two then ended up being a better race than I had expected after the first one, which shows that not many had done race simulations because of the changing conditions during the weekend so we were able to capitalise a bit on that as our set-up seems to be working well everywhere. So we had the wrong set-up in the first one, but in race two it was perfect and that fills me with confidence now going into Assen.

“This season has been so unpredictable; to get into the Showdown and the first round of the Showdown at Oulton Park. You never know who is going to be in the mix and that can work to your advantage if you are in the right place!  It shows how super close everyone is in the championship and this weekend will be hard work, because it always is in BSB, but that helps you up your game and I am looking forward to it.”