Malcolm
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Team ILR at Olivers Mount
Lougher at the Double
Team ILR owner/manager Ian Lougher took his record tally of race wins at Oliver's Mount to an incredible 140 when he returned to the circuit for the first time in two years following the abandonment of the 2017 Gold Cup, which subsequently saw road racing suspended at the famous North Yorkshire venue until former racers Mick Grant and Eddie Roberts, and the newly formed Two Four Three Road Racing Association stepped in to revive it in 2019.
Lougher was entered in both the Lightweight races on one of the potent Team ILR - Mark Coverdale S1R Patons and he was immediately on the pace in practice and qualifying on Saturday morning to set himself up nicely for the first race in the afternoon.
In one of the best races of the weekend, Ian took the initiative in the early stages as he moved past pole sitter and early leader Brad Vicars and settled in to defend his lead from Vicars, Dominic Herbertson and former protege Joey Thompson.
Vicars then dropped out of contention and eventually retired leaving a three rider battle for the win with Lougher displaying all his race guile, and using the speed of the Paton, to hold off a fierce challenge from Herbertson and Thompson.
The experienced Welshman wasn't going to be denied as he recorded the fastest lap of the race on the last lap to claim his 139th win at Scarborough by two bike lengths from Herbertson who took second on the Cowton Racing Kawasaki by a similar margin from Krämer mounted Thompson.
Just over half a second covered the three riders.
In contrast to Saturday's sunshine, Sunday saw low cloud, mist and rain descend on the seaside resort causing a delay to proceedings, and it was 4.30pm and still raining when the Lightweights came to the grid for the final race of the meeting.
This time it was Thompson who got a flyer but Lougher was soon on his case and he took the lead and proceeded to stamp his authority on the race to open up a gap to Vicars and Herbertson.
Ian and the Paton were unstoppable, and he stretched his lead to take the chequered flag by just over seven seconds and further cement his place in the Oliver's Mount history books with win number 140.
Ian Lougher:
"After two years since my last visit to Scarborough I was feeling very pleased and excited to be back to be honest, as I’ve had some great races and many fond memories there.
Unfortunately at the eleventh hour due to noise restrictions we had to fit a quieter exhaust system, and with no time to refuel the bike on a Dyno I was expecting a very lame Paton.
But I was pleasantly surprised as the bike didn’t seem to have lost any performance.
Saturday's race was close so it was a case of getting good starts, keeping concentration and getting past the backmarkers at the right time.
Sunday was very wet but I always enjoy those conditions and feel I rode well considering I don’t ride very much these days.
Huge credit and thanks goes to everyone in the team over the weekend, and also to the organisers, marshals and spectators. "
(This post was last modified: 03-10-2019, 02:35 PM by Malcolm.)
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03-10-2019, 02:29 PM |
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