JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Peter Hickman goes into this weekend’s MCE British Superbike triple-header at Oulton Park as a Showdown contender for the very first time.

Despite myriad difficulties with the ZX-10Rs this year, Hickman is only 12 points behind team-mate James Ellison in the championship chase and if all goes well, Mark Smith-Halvorsen’s team could find themselves with three riders in the top six as Leon Haslam is already confirmed.

“This is the big one! We’re only 12 points off from the Showdown and although that doesn’t sound like much it’s not easy when everyone this year is so fast. We know it’s more than possible though and we’ll be aiming for three great results this weekend,” said Hickman.

Oulton is a brilliant circuit and in May we were really fast in the dry – unfortunately in the wet conditions I just couldn’t get the same feeling, but we’ve made some big steps since then and I’m really looking forward to getting out there and seeing if we can get three JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s in the Showdown!”