Hickman in fight for TT fitness

RAF Reserves BMW rider Peter Hickman, the fastest ever newcomer at the North West 200 and Isle of Man TT, is in a fight for fitness after his Oulton Park BSB crash left him with a broken neck.

Already ruled out of the Northern Irish event, Hickman is now working to speed the healing to his neck, after his 150mph crash on the approach to Druids at last weekend’s BSB left him with two breaks of the C4 vertebrae.

Team owner Lee Hardy, who unveiled the team’s roadracing livery at the event, commented: “It’s deeply disappointing for Peter and everyone connected with the team that we’ll be unable to take part in the North West 200 but his injuries from the crash on Saturday are a little bit worse than we first thought. Having had such a good debut 12 months ago, Peter was obviously really looking forward to returning so we’d like to apologise to Mervyn and his team, as well as all the thousands of race fans that we won’t be there in 2015.”

“The goal now is to support Peter as best as we can and ensure he gets the best possible medical support with the aim of being ready for the TT. He needs to get as much rest and recuperation as he can and the final decision will ultimately lie with his surgeon but we’re very hopeful of being ready for practice week at the Isle of Man. I’d also like to publicly thank the on-site medical team at Oulton Park for all their excellent treatment and support given to Peter after his accident.”

Mervyn Whyte, Event Director of the North West 200, added: “It’s obviously disappointing that Peter’s not able to come to the North West 200 this year but his health and well-being has to come first and no-one wants his injuries to develop into anything worse. With him being the best newcomer in 2014, we were all very much looking forward to him returning as I have no doubt he would have made an even bigger impression this time around. These things happen in racing though and he’s young enough to return to the event for many years to come so we’ll look forward to welcoming him back in 2016.”