Lady luck leaves Lincolnshire lad Hicky in the lurch at TT
Lady Luck deserted Louth racer Peter Hickman on Monday as he was forced to retire from both of his races at the Isle of Man TT Festival on Monday.
Having not had too much practice time on the Iron Maiden Trooper Kawasaki Supersport machine Hicky was optimistic of a good result in the four lap Supersport race. But after starting in fifth place he only got as far as Greeba on the first lap when he encountered a problem with a water leak. He stopped to make adjustments but by the time he had made the temporary repairs the leaders had passed him on their second lap. He managed to ride the bike around the course and back to the Grandstand when he reluctantly retired.
In the second race of the day Hicky was riding the GBmoto Kawasaki Superstock-spec bike and as he had progressed well during practice finishing well within the top 10 he was looking to put his morning's disappointment behind him with a solid race on the stocker.
As the four lap race got underway Hicky was up on time and holding fifth place at Glen Helen on the first lap and by the time they got to the next checkpoint at Ballaugh he was into third place. He shot through the speed trap at Sulby recording a speed of 183.14mph but at the next checkpoint he was beginning to drop back and was seventh and then down to eighth at the end of the first lap.
It was obvious by his speed that the bike was suffering from a problem as by the time he made it back to the pits for refuelling at the end of lap two he was in 11th place. He did start the bike up and begin to move down the pit lane but pulled in and parked up by the wall his race over.
A disappointed Peter Hickman said:
"So far it's been a rubbish day. We had a water leak on the Supersport bike and then a puncture in the stock race on lap one which slowly got worse and forced me to retire at the end of lap 2."
Hicky will be back in action on Wednesday with the second four lap Supersport race at 10.45am and then the four lap Lightweight race at 1.45pm.
Photo credit Supersport Clare Freestone