RAF Marham rider Peter Hickman managed to avoid most of the side-effects of Hurricane Bertha at Oulton Park – but other local riders weren't quite as lucky.

The British Superbike Championships were back at Oulton for round seven of the series and the prospects for racing were not good as the conditions threatened to disrupt the meeting. The organisers decided to bring the Superstock 1000 and 600 classes forward to Saturday to try and beat the storm – and for them it was a good move.

In the main Superbike class things couldn't have got off to a better start for Hickman, the RAF Reserves team rider from RAF Marham, as he once again qualified in eighth place on the grid in this triple header round. In the first race he showed he could match the top riders from Yamaha, Kawasaki and BMW even though his RAF Reserves Honda is slightly down on power, and was in the thick of the action as he finished an excellent seventh.

By Sunday morning Bertha was starting to show her teeth and although Hickman was in the running again in the second Superbike race he was caught out by the tricky conditions and went down at Cascades, which affected his grid position for the final race for the weekend. Riding a bike that was rebuilt using the black and white bodywork usually used for practice, he still managed to get into the points with a 13th place.

The next BSB round is at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire over the August Bank Holiday weekend but before then Hickman will be off to Ireland to compete in the Ulster Grand Prix.

Meanwhile, 18-year-old Charlie King, from Gorleston, did well in qualifying and put his Team Haribo Starmix 675cc Triumph on 14th place on the grid for the Superstock 600 race. Unfortunately it went wrong when he hit the deck and although he walked away unhurt, it was another disappointing result.

In the Superstock 1000 race, the Norwich-based Morello team's rider Jesse Trayler was out of his usual points scoring mode in 22nd place. Morello's Superbike rider John Ingram finished outside the points in all three races.