Hickman makes it count on Oliver's Mount debut as Cock o’ The North delivers a classic
Peter Hickman arrived at Oliver's Mount for the first time as a Cock o' The North entrant and left with the trophy that matters, but he had to work hard all weekend for it.
Blessed with good weather for the second meeting running, the Mount drew a big crowd across both days, with the camping sold out again!
The Louth rider, and fastest man ever around the TT course, spent Saturday and Sunday learning a circuit that gives nothing away cheaply.
Fifth in the opening HMH Civils SuperSport A race, fifth again in race two and fourth in race three – always in touch, but never quite on terms with the front three of Weeden, Hodson and Thompson.
Then, in the eight-lap Cock o' The North feature, it clicked. Hickman took the win in 14:30.464 and set the fastest lap of the race on the last lap, a 1:47.619 at 81.287mph average, from a rider who had never ridden the track just a day previous.
He needed every bit of it. Joey Thompson crossed the line 1.252 seconds back, with Tom Weeden a further quarter of a second adrift in third and Rob Hodson only 1.855 seconds off the win in fourth. Four riders covered by under two seconds after eight laps of Oliver's Mount is as close as the feature race has been in years, and any of them could have taken it.
That quartet had been trading places all weekend. Thompson won SuperSport A race one, Hodson took race two, Weeden race three – and the HMH Civils Pro Superstock overall went to Weeden on 699 points, just two clear of Thompson on 697 and four clear of Hodson on 695.
Johnny Stewart was the best of the rest in fourth throughout, with Hickman fifth in the overall standings after his slower start to the weekend.
The HMH Civils Stock SuperSport title went to John Marsh, who won all three of his class races to take the overall class win ahead of Joey Lambden and Fred McMullan.
The J. Hughes Plant F2 Sidecars produced the closest racing of the meeting, as they so often do.
Kieran Clarke and Rob Coppock lost race one by 0.265 seconds to Stephen and Matty Ramsden, then lost race two by 0.240 seconds to Carl Fenwick and Jake Roberts – two defeats totalling half a second across 12 laps.
They made no mistake in race three, taking the win from Fenwick and Roberts by 0.482 seconds and, with it, the overall on 65 points.
Ramsden and Ramsden took second overall on 51, with Fenwick and Roberts and Mark Hegarty and Alex Ludlow tied on 45.
James Hanks and Jonathan Kirk swept all three Pre-Injection races.
Tom Weeden made it a double weekend by winning all three L. May Plant CSBK races for a maximum 75 points, from Mick Goodings on 45 and Joey Thompson on 40.
Joey took the Pub & Kitchen SuperTwins overall on 70 points from Stephen Gorton on 56, with Peter Hickman third on 43. Dan Sayle led the Potter Plant 2-Strokes.
In the Road Racing News Lightweights, Gorton took a second title with a clean sweep of the 400cc class from Daniel Frear, while Steven Allan did the same in the CB500s ahead of Joe Holdsworth.
Tony Flinton swept the 125cc/Moto3 class and Mike Norbury the SuperMoto.
Andy Hayes, Managing Director of Oliver's Mount Racing, said: "We've been blessed with great weather for a second meeting in a row, and having Hicky here brought the crowd out in force – the camping was sold out.
"The three-day 80th Anniversary Gold Cup promises to be even better, with a top-class rider entry already coming in. It's definitely one not to miss."
The Visit North Yorkshire 80th Anniversary Gold Cup runs September 4–6, marking 80 years of racing on the Mount since September 1946.
Tickets available from www.oliversmount.com