Brands BSB: Season first win for Hickman

Peter Hickman took his seventh career British Superbike Championship race win on Sunday, the FHO Racing BMW rider getting the better of Danny Buchan (Synetiq BMW) and Glenn Irwin (Honda Racing) in the opening race of the day at Brands Hatch.

The race started with front row man Tommy Bridewell forced to start from pitlane after his Oxford Products Ducati was wheeled off the grid and polesitter Glenn Irwin led the field at the end of the opening lap, closely followed by brother Andrew, Hickman, Buchan and Bradley Ray (Rich Energy OMG Racing Yamaha), the front five having opened up a small gap. However, drama immediately followed as recently crowned champion Ray made a rare mistake and slid out of the action at Paddock Hill bend. That meant the front four now had a two second advantage over Jason O’Halloran (McAMS Yamaha) and Christian Iddon (Buildbase Suzuki) who were now running in fifth and sixth. Hickman moved up to second on lap three and the BMW man took the lead at the start of the following lap, going up the inside of Glenn Irwin at Paddock Hill. Leon Haslam was out though, the VisionTrack Kawasaki rider touring in to retire. Hickman soon began to increase his lead, the gap to Glenn Irwin up to three quarters of a second at the end of lap five, and O’Halloran was closing up to the back of fourth placed Buchan. Bridewell, meanwhile, had worked his way up to 17th. Further back, Iddon, Kyle Ryde and Danny Kent were locked in battle for seventh with a similar three-way dice going on for ninth between the MCE Ducati paring of Tom Sykes and Josh Brookes and Charlie Nesbitt on the third Buildbase Suzuki. Back at the front and the leading four riders were closing back up again, just eight tenths of a second covering