PETER Hickman is desperate to delight his home crowd at Cadwell Park this weekend with a starring display at MCE Insurance British Superbike round eight – but as much for his future in the sport as his Lincolnshire fan club.
As is customary within the BSB ranks, Hickman is living hand to mouth in the 2012 season, riding short-term for the Buildbase BMW team for the rest of this year with no deal sorted for next term.
Hickman only linked up with the Buildbase team at round five at Knockhill but bagged their best-ever finish a round later at Oulton Park with eighth in race one.
And having used the mid-season BSB month-long break to get some valuable testing in, the 25-year-old is itching to put himself in the shop window at Cadwell Park this weekend.
"I'm not sure about my future on the bike beyond the end of this season yet," he said. "It's based on how the rest of the season goes, so obviously I want to finish as strongly as I can to give a good account for myself.
"Because of that I need to come out all guns blazing for these last few rounds to get as good a result as I possibly can.
"It's been a good break to be honest because I've actually had a chance to test the bike which I wasn't able to do when I first joined the Buildbase team.
"In between all the rounds the weather kept getting in the way of testing so I didn't actually get anything done until we were there at the race weekend.
"We are going to come out fighting at Cadwell Park. I'm aiming to get a top-six finish, and I think we can do that with the steps we are making."
While it is his future Hickman is riding for at Cadwell Park, it is memories of the past that give him confidence ahead of the short trip.
Re-wind 12 months and the Louth ace was celebrating a front-row start at the Lincolnshire circuit – a result that will be fresh in his mind this weekend.
"Cadwell is my local track as well so that gives me extra incentive to get a solid result there. I got on the front row last year so I want to at least replicate that again this time around," he added.
"The atmosphere is always mega at Cadwell as well – it's always a good weekend for everyone who goes along and hopefully we can get a strong result under our belt and continue on from there."
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