8TEN Racing Pulls Out of 2026 BSB
Peter Hickman and Davey Todd have pulled their LEW 8TEN Racing BMW squad out of the rest of the 2026 British Superbike season. Two banged-up riders, a bike that has never quite gelled in BSB spec, and a clear-eyed decision to stop hammering a square peg and regroup for 2027.
It has not been a season to frame and hang on the wall. LEW 8TEN Racing, the BMW outfit co-owned by road racing’s Peter Hickman and Davey Todd, confirmed on Tuesday that it is withdrawing from the remainder of the 2026 British Superbike Championship. No half-measures, no quiet fade-out. The team is off short circuits for the rest of the year and pointing everything at a proper return next season.
The reasoning is straightforward, and to be fair to them, honest. Both riders are carrying the wreckage of a rough eighteen months, and the BMW M1000 RR in BSB trim has been a handful from the off. Rather than keep turning up to make up the numbers, they have called it.
Two riders, two recoveries
Hickman is still rebuilding after the 2025 TT crash that left him with chest, back, shoulder and facial injuries and wiped out most of his season. His return at this year’s TT was the good news story of the fortnight: four podiums, including second in both the Superbike and Senior races. On the Mountain Course he looked like himself again. On a BSB grid, the progress has been harder to find.
Todd’s year has been even more brutal. A heavy crash at the Daytona 200 in March did the damage, ruling him out of the North West 200 and the TT and leaving him on the sidelines ever since. He will not return to BSB in 2026 either. For a rider of his form, watching from the garage all summer is its own kind of punishment.
The BSB problem nobody’s hiding from
With Todd out, Hickman had been carrying the team as sole rider in BSB, and the results simply have not come. The bike has struggled to be competitive against the front-running Ducatis and Yamahas, and there is only so long you keep banging your head against a spec you cannot crack. Hickman called it a difficult call, but said the priority now is getting back to where he knows he belongs.
Credit where it is due: that is a more grown-up read of the situation than most teams manage. Easy to limp on, collect the appearance, pretend it is fine. Stopping to fix the actual problem takes more nerve.
Hickman will not vanish entirely. He is set to ride selected events through the rest of 2026 on the same specification machine he uses on the roads, so the leathers are not going in the loft just yet.
BMW backs the long game
BMW Motorrad is standing behind the call rather than reading anyone the riot act. Head of Motorsport Sven Blusch acknowledged it had been a tough first half of the year for both riders and backed their push to get fully fit. The manufacturer says it is staying committed to BSB this season and in National Superstock, with a renewed effort planned for 2027.
That last bit matters. BMW has been waiting a while for a BSB win, and 8TEN was meant to be part of fixing that. Parking the project to come back stronger is a bet on next year rather than a retreat from the championship.
The verdict
Nobody wants to see a name like Hickman pull off the grid mid-season. But two injured riders and an uncompetitive bike is not a recipe for anything except more frustration. Better to take the hit now, get both men right, sort the package, and come back in 2027 with something that can actually fight. Hard to argue with it, even if the grid is poorer for their absence.
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