Peter Hickman signs up with Smiths Racing for fourth successive season in 2020

Dominant international road racer Peter Hickman has signed a deal with the Smiths Racing team for a fourth successive season in 2020.
By Kyle White
Published 20th Oct 2019, 12:26 BST
Peter Hickman has signed with the Smiths Racing team for a fourth successive season in 2020. Picture: Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press.Peter Hickman has signed with the Smiths Racing team for a fourth successive season in 2020. Picture: Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press.
Peter Hickman has signed with the Smiths Racing team for a fourth successive season in 2020. Picture: Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press.

Hickman set the benchmark again this year as he followed up his Superstock victory at the North West 200 with a hat-trick at the Isle of Man TT, where he added another Superstock triumph on the S1000RR and won the opening Superbike race around the Mountain Course. The English rider also secured a win in the Supersport class on the Trooper Beer Smiths Triumph.

He was cruelly denied victory in the blue riband Senior race when a recurring water leak issue caused him to lose time, although he still managed to hang on for the runner-up spot behind Dean Harrison.

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A sensational performance at the Ulster Grand Prix underscored his status as the current best road racer in the world, with Hickman becoming the first rider in history to win seven races at a single event. The 32-year-old also equalled Phillip McCallen’s 1996 record of five Dundrod wins in a day.

The Burton-on-Trent man also established the event as the fastest road race in the world once more, lapping at the 7.4-mile course at 136.416mph as he became the only rider ever to crack the 136mph barrier.

Riding the new 2019 BMW S1000RR, Hickman made it into the Bennetts British Superbike Championship Showdown and he will be joined in the BSB line-up next season by Alex Olsen, who steps up from the Superstock 1000 class.

Hickman, who will round off his season next month as he bids for a fourth victory at the Macau Grand Prix, said: “I am really happy to be staying with Smiths Racing for a fourth consecutive year. The team has grown massively over these last three seasons and we have grown together.

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“This year we have done a lot of development with the new BMW S1000RR and I believe we have done a great job getting into the Showdown.

“Now we really need to work out what we need to do so that we can start winning races on a regular basis. This winter we can work on these things and it will be great to have the opportunity to test ready for next year and hit the ground running, unlike this year.”