Hickman dominant at Dundrod
By Aaron O'Neill
English rider Peter Hickman looks like the man to beat ahead of Saturday’s MCE Ulster Grand Prix.
Hickman topped the timing sheets during practice sessions at the event on Wednesday and Thursday. His strong performances saw him book provisional pole position for the Superbike as well as booking the first spot on the grid for Saturday’s Superstock and Supersport classes.
The 30 year-old looked at home on board all his machines. Hickman rides for the Smiths Racing BMW team in the British Superbike championship but has made has impressed on the roads in the last few years, but he will not be expecting to get it all his own way come race day.
In the Superbike class Hickman had the fastest lap time of the day with a 133.560mph average ahead of Manxman, Dan Kneen who was just half a second behind Hicky. The rest of the pack where in hot pursuit of the front man with names such as Bruce Anstey, The Dunlop boys and Conor Cummins amongst the chasing pack. Hickman went on to claim pole for both the Superstock and Supersport classes to claim his hat-trick of pole positions ahead of raceday on Saturday.
Unfortunately, William Dunlop’s Superbike campaign at Dundrod is all but over. The Ballymoney man injured his left wrist, in a non-racing incident, in the lead up to the event. Dunlop had been the early pace setter in Superbike practice and was looking lively as he became the fastest man ever through the speed trap at Dundrod with a speed of 200.4mph. It is believed that William will ride the less powerful 600 in Supersport class, but at this stage the power of the Superbike may be too much to handle.
It was a good day for Padgett’s Honda at Dundrod after a mixed season so far. Bruce Anstey finished third overall on board the RC213V whilst teammate Conor Cummins slotted into fourth. Both men lapped over the 132mph mark, which sends out a strong message ahead of Saturday.
It’s been a mixed week so far for Michael Dunlop. Technical problems forced him to retire the Bennetts Suzuki at the Lindsay Hairpin Superbike practice. Dunlop had started the session well as he found himself in fifth and not far off the pace. Micky D finished 6th in the Supersport and 8th in the Superstock practice sessions as he found himself over 5 seconds behind the chart-toppers. Dunlop will be aiming to improve on these positions come raceday.
Fermanagh’s Lee Johnston had a lot of positives to take from practice as he makes his comeback from injury. Johnston’s best finish of the day came in the Supersport class as he finished 4th overall and only 1.5 seconds off the lead. Johnston is without a Superbike at the Ulster Grand Prix but he finished 11th and 7th respectively in the Superbike and Superstock classes aboard the East Coast Construction BMW. Dundrod is Johnston’s first competitive meeting after his horror crash at the Isle of Man back in June.