Hickman books his place in showdown

But the weekend’s races at Silverstone were not without some considerable drama and Hickman’s top-six place was in doubt right up to the last of the three races.

The racing was moved from the international circuit that is normally used at Silverstone to the short national circuit after problems with the track surface caused the MotoGP races to be cancelled recently.

The weather played its part in qualifying with Hickman suffering with lack of grip in the damp conditions.

He made it through to the second stage of qualifying and started the first race later that day from the fifth row.

But he got a clean start and moved though the midfielders to finish the race in eighth place to pick up eight championship points and extend his points lead from Danny Buchan, who was just a few points behind him in seventh place in the rider standings.

There were two further race