A first podium of the season came a little too late to get Peter Hickman into this year’s Bennetts British Superbike Championship Showdown, but second in the final race of the weekend at Snetterton has given the FHO Racing BMW rider a boost ahead of the final three rounds.

Having qualified for the Showdown in four of the last five years, the six-time BSB race winner and his team had high hopes of making it five appearances this year and those hopes, albeit slim, remained alive coming into the Snetterton weekend.
 
However, just like a number of rounds previously this season, it was a bit of an up and down affair at Snetterton and he was unable to secure the wins needed. But with 39 points, it proved to be his most successful of the year so far.
 
“It’s been a strange round and we’ve had to deal with lots of very different things, including the weather which really made things tough at the start of the weekend,” he said.

“But even in the wet qualifying we were better than we have been and the first race wasn’t too bad, eighth wasn’t the end of the world.

Of course, I’d have liked a win and we needed it if we wanted to make the Showdown but that was always just a slim chance anyway. In the second race, we managed to get through the pack a bit quicker and I was happy with the fifth.”

The best result came in the final race despite a missed gear seeing him take a high-speed trip across the grass. Crossing the line in fourth, the subsequent penalties for Bradley Ray, Tarran Mackenzie and Glenn Irwin ultimately meant he was promoted up the order to second for his best result of the season.

“It may have been by default, but you have to be in it to win it and I was only a second off third, so I’m happy with how strong we were. On to Oulton now, let’s see if we can get some more podiums and even wins before the end of the year.”
 
Hickman sits in ninth overall with 183 points and will no doubt be aiming to win the BSB Riders Cup, awarded to the highest-placed rider outside of the eight Showdown positions, which he previously won in 2016.