It's been thirty-one years since Lougher made his debut at the Manx Grand Prix and, on board Steve Linsdell's Team Flitwick Paton that Olie Linsdell rode to victory in last year's race, he rolled back the years to come home ahead of Dan Cooper and Bruce Anstey.

The start was delayed by one and a half hours due to wet roads, and when racing got underway it was John McGuinness who led at Glen Helen on the first of four laps, with Lougher second at 8.1 seconds and in turn just 0.8 seconds ahead of Ryan Farquhar.

McGuinness was setting a rapid pace and increased his lead by another 3 seconds as the leaders reached Ballaugh, but a speed of 128mph (17mph slower than fastest man Lougher) through the Sulby speed trap was an indicator that all was not well with his machine and he eventually retired at Ginger Hall.

Ian now briefly led but was overhauled by Farquhar as both riders called in to refuel at the end of the lap with the Dungannon man leading by 6.4 seconds.

However, by his own admission, Ian completely forgot about the pit-lane speed limit and received a 30 seconds penalty which effectively relegated him to eighth.

With a shake of the head as he left the pit-lane, no-one knew better than Lougher the error he had made, but the vastly experienced Welshman also knew that the race was far from over.

Meanwhile, Michael Rutter was now the leader from Dan Cooper and at the end of the lap his lead from Farquhar was over 7 seconds with Cooper now third from Michael Dunlop, Bruce Anstey with Lougher now sixth.

Rutter still led at Glen Helen on the third lap but there was drama when, like earlier leader McGuinness, he too retired this time at the Mountain Mile and he was joined in the list of retirements by Farquhar to leave Cooper in the lead.

As they went on to their last circuit it was Cooper who still led by 13.9 seconds but, sensing victory and with the proverbial bit well and truly between his teeth, Lougher was now second and had set about chasing down the race leader.

At Glen Helen the deficit was down to two seconds and it seemed only a matter of time until Ian inherited the race lead. This he duly did at Ballaugh as he took eleven seconds out of Cooper to now lead by nine seconds.

At Ramsey the lead was up to 18.5 seconds and with Lougher always strong over the mountain section of the course, barring a 'mechanical' the race was now very much his to lose.

With the Paton immaculately prepared by the Linsdell camp, that was unlikely if not impossible, but Ian brought it home with the fastest lap of the race at 111.52mph to take the chequered flag and round off an incredible and memorable victory with over half a minute to spare from Dan Cooper who had a fine ride in second, with Bruce Anstey completing the podium placings in third.


Ian Lougher:

"When I came into the pits, I got that excited about what was going on that I completely forgot about the speed limit. Obviously, these bikes don't have a speed limiter on them like the modern bikes and when I saw the board flash up 74kph, I thought 'oh no'.

I only had one signal on the course just before Ballaspur, and really beyond that point I didn't know what was happening during the race.
Conditions around the course were pretty good, if a bit damp at Ramsey and blustery on the Mountain, however everything was spot on.
Breaking the pit-lane speed limit was a bit of a schoolboy error and I thought I had let everyone down, but I just kept chipping away and we got there in the end. It's brilliant to win around here again!
Massive thanks to the Linsdell family and to Paton for a brilliant bike."


.