TT 2016: Hickman joins 132mph club

Peter Hickman joined the 132mph club on his way to fourth place in yesterday’s RST Superbike TT, despite a disastrous practice week saw him complete just a handful of laps on his ZX-10R Superbike.

Having only started riding the TT three years ago, Hickman has become nothing short of a TT sensation in his short time riding the mountain course and went on to show that he make further progress this year as he upped his personal best lap time to 132.4mph.

Taking fourth in the race, the Lincolnshire star thinks he could have been much closer to the podium had he not taken such a steady start, but after an overnight electronics change he needed to accustom himself to how the bike would react.

“It was a really tough practice week, the bike was great but we just had a consistent problem with the electronics,” said Hickman. “This is the first year I’ve ridden a Superbike over here and on my third lap I set a 129mph so we knew the potential was there but despite the team changing everything, the problem persisted and we struggled to get a lap in again after Tuesday. Last night we made the big decision to change the Superbike to the kit electronics used on the Superstock machine. It’s no easy job to do, so huge credit to the team who were still working late into the night last night to get it ready in time.

“The kit electronics are very different to the Motec system we were using, so It meant starting today with a bike I hadn’t ridden before. I did a 129mph opener which is a really fast lap but comparatively to the front guys it was a steady one! It took that first lap to get a feel for the machine, and after that I got my head down and chipped away. That final lap is still only my ninth lap around the course on a Superbike so to join the 132 club is mega and to get my best result with it is absolutely fantastic. It’s a great way to repay the team for their hard work, the problems we’ve had have been entirely out of their hands but they’ve kept working and I’m confident we can continue this form for the rest of the week!”