Peter Hickman
I’ve just got back from Valancia, and what a do that was. I was over there for work (but I don’t know if I can really call it that), helping to run the FIM World Ohvale Cup race. I had the top three riders from the UK championship with me but as fate would have it, Harley McCabe, who won the UK championship quite convincingly, broke his wrist a week prior to flying, so he wasn’t able to race. It was a real shame; he’s been so strong this year and without a doubt would have been fighting for the podium in Valencia. The other two riders, who are only 10 years old, are right on the small side but they did a cracking job and took it to the rest of the field.
Because quite a few of the riders already knew the current kart track in Valencia (particularly the Spanish kids), the venue laid us a brand new tarmac circuit – which, I’ve gotta say, is full commitment on its part – and the layout was awesome. It was really technical, and the riders weren’t allowed to see the track until the morning of the event, so it was a proper level playing field. All the young riders got new kit from head to toe for the event, which was brilliant and really made them feel special for making it to the final. The Ohvale racing gig has been awesome this year; I’ve loved being involved and helping to bring through the next crop of young stars.
While I was over there, I couldn’t miss out on watching the GOAT in his last ever MotoGP race. I went full fanboy, bought the merchandise, and sat in the grandstand with the crowd and soaked up the atmosphere. He didn’t disappoint – to finish tenth and only 13 seconds off the win in a 40-minute race at 42 years old is pretty damn impressive. We are going to miss him but he’s left an unbelievable legacy. The sport will always be grateful for what he’s done.
Other than that, it’s been pretty busy with work and moving into the new unit in Louth. We’ve now got the suspension room and graphics booth all set up. We’ve just got the offices and Dyno room to finish off, and we’ll be ready to go over at PHR Performance. I’ve got an event for all my sponsors down at the Bike Shed in London soon, so I’m getting sorted for that. I’ve done it for the last couple of years and it has worked really well, so I’m looking forward to it.
I was having a blast at Greenfield Dirt Track the other weekend – what a place that is. I spent the afternoon getting sideways on my 450 flat tracker, and the following day I raced in the minibike endurance with Daz, my crew chief, and Matt; it was meant to be flat track, but the rain overnight meant it ended up as more of a motorcross track with ridiculous ruts. Poor little Jonesy went and broke his leg, so Daz never did get to ride, but me and Matt brought it home in third place... until we got penalised and dropped back sixth... not happy!
I’ll round it off there this month. I’ve got some really big TT news coming soon, but you’ll have to wait until the NEC show in December for that.