Peter Hickman vows to quit North West 200 after “rules bent for certain people”

Peter Hickman has said that the 2025 North West 200 was “probably my last,” following controversy in the second Superbike race of the week at the road race on the north coast of Northern Ireland.

Hickman’s 8Ten Racing teammate and co-owner Davey Todd was leading Superbike Race 2 until the final lap, when he was passed by Michael Dunlop.

Dunlop had run on twice on the first lap. The first of those was at Mather’s chicane and the second was at Metropole.

It was the Mather’s run-on that caused the controversy, though. Dunlop, unlike Hickman, didn’t stop and put his foot down when he ran through the chicane. The Ballymoney rider said after that race that, because he didn’t go through the stop box, he didn’t need to stop and put his foot down before rejoining the race.

Peter Hickman vows not to return to North West 200

Hickman disagreed when he spoke after the race, and said the rule is “dead simple”: that you have to stop and put your foot down in the stop box whenever you cut a chicane, and failing to do so means a 10-second penalty.

Dunlop was initially awarded a penalty during the race, and was initially classified third, but it was rescinded afterwards making him the winner.

It was a decision which frustrated Hickman, who felt the decision to not penalise Dunlop was “not fair”.

“A bit of a sad end really, and there’s a lot of stuff going on, a lot of things happened that shouldn’t have happened, so that’ll probably be my last ever North West unfortunately,” Hickman told the Belfast News Letter following Superbike Race 3 at the North West, which he retired from with a technical problem on the first lap.

“We’re not going to be here and be treated the way we’re being treated, and rules being bent for certain people but not others.

“It’s not right, it’s not fair, so that’s it I’m afraid.”