The Smiths Racing BMW team got their 2019 Bennetts British Superbike Championship campaign underway at Silverstone this Easter weekend and despite limited track time prior to the opening round, Peter Hickman came away with two good points-scoring finishes in the two races.

Having only taken delivery of the new Smiths BMW S1000RR a month ago, the team had worked incredibly hard to get the two bikes ready for round one and the lack of track time compared to their rivals meant they still had a lot of work to do during practice and qualifying around the 1.64-mile National circuit.

Times were extremely close during qualifying with only two seconds covering the entire field of 32 riders and it was Lincolnshire-based Peter who qualified the better of the two riders in 21st place with James, from Cumbria, five further places further back in 26th.

In glorious sunshine again, the duo made strong starts to complete the first lap with Hickman in 17th and Ellison in 21st place. Ellison moved into the top twenty on lap ten but was forced to retire shortly afterwards which left Hickman flying the flag.

On lap 18 Hickman moved up into the points for the first time in 15th and at the flag, Peter took 14th to claim two hard earned championship points.

Race two saw Hickman start from the seventh row with Ellison one row further back, but it was the latter who made the better getaway and completed the first lap in 16th place with Hickman in 20th. By lap seven, Ellison, from Kendal, was up into the points in 15th and Hickman wasn’t too far behind having moved forward three places.

The team-mates were circulating in close formation but as the race wore on it was Hickman who made the better progress of the two and he fared better as the race reached its conclusion, the Louth rider claiming two more points in 14th. Ellison looked on course to claim his first finish of the season but pulled in at the end of the 30th lap with the bike running at a high temperature although he’s now got plenty of mileage on the new BMW that will benefit him for the second round in three weeks’ time.


Peter Hickman:

“It’s been a tough weekend, but it was never going to be easy with the bikes arriving late and we were hoping to fall on a setting that worked but didn’t! At the same time, we’ve come away with two points-scoring finishes from what was essentially a test weekend and the good thing is that we made progress and moved forward all weekend. We’ve learned loads and haven’t been a million miles away so I can’t complain too much and there are a lot of positives to take away. The potential is clearly there so we’ve got plenty to work with and build on so I’m confident we’ll be a lot stronger at round two.”

James Ellison:

“We always knew round one was going to be a lot of hard work, but we worked really well as a team and got through a lot, so we’ve been able to move forward all the time and now have a good direction to move in. The potential in the bike is huge and we’ve got a lot more work to get through, but we know what works and what doesn’t, and we’ve improved all weekend. It’s testament to the team that we’ve been able to do what we’ve done in a short space of time. I already feel at home in the team so am looking forward already to the second round.”

Darren Jones, Team Co-ordinator:

“The weekend hasn’t been too bad given we only got the bikes a month ago and it’s full credit to the team to have two Superbikes built and competing at the first round. We’ve had no problems or technical issues and the riders stayed calm doing exactly what we asked of them. We’ve all got to be patient and both riders went faster each time they went out, so we’ve got a good platform to build upon. The potential of the bike looks really good and a crucial factor is that we now have loads of data to analyse and put together with our own ideas. The next few weeks are going to be really busy, but we’ll use the gap ahead of round two well and get to Oulton for round two in a much better position.”