In what was his first competitive outing of the season, Ian Lougher scored a top ten finish in the Superstock race in Saturday's Relentless International North-West 200 in association with Blackhorse. The meeting was useful preparation for the forthcoming Isle of Man TT races, practice for which begins in two weeks time.

The first Superbike race began with disappointment for Ian when oil was discovered leaking from his ZX-10 and he was left with no alternative but to disappointingly wheel his bike off the grid.

Undaunted Ian returned to the grid for Race 2 on the programme, the first of the two Supersport races. At the end of the first lap he found himself down in 16th position just behind Adrian Archibald and Gary Johnson, on the second lap he got ahead of Johnson to move into 15th with Dan Kneen and Archibald in close proximity. A lap later Ian was 14th and now on the back wheel of Kneen. Positions remained relatively unchanged as they began their fifth and final lap with Ian eventually finishing 13th just behind Olie Linsdell and ahead of TAS Suzuki's Bruce Anstey.

Next up for Ian was the Superstock race. The first scheduled Superstock practice session was postponed on Tuesday evening due to a lack of time but the most experienced rider at the event coped admirably with the tricky conditions on Thursday morning, putting in ten laps to finish the session in seventh position. In the race itself Ian got a decent start from the second row of the grid and as they crossed the line at the end of the opening lap he found himself in sixth place, just under a second down on Guy Martin with John McGuinness, Michael Rutter and Cameron Donald in hot pursuit. McGuinness got ahead of Ian and Guy Martin on the second lap, thus relegating Ian to seventh as rain began to fall on parts of the circuit. Behind them the threat was now starting to come from Michael Dunlop. That threat materialised on Lap 3 as Dunlop moved ahead of the battling duo but both Ian and Martin responded on the fourth lap by posting faster laps than their young rival, Martin was now sixth, with Dunlop seventh and Ian in eighth, now back in front of McGuinness. At the flag a lap later Dunlop had once again got back to sixth from Martin with Ian holding off a fresh challenge from McGuinness to finish a fine eighth.


Ian opted to bring his Superstock ZX-10 to the line for the second Superbike race and as they completed the opening lap he was 11th just ahead of the TAS Suzuki duo Cameron Donald and Bruce Anstey. On the next lap Anstey got ahead to relegate Ian to 12th but he was back to 11th on Lap 3 when Conor Cummins went out. As they began their final circuit, Ian was almost two seconds down on the Kiwi but the Welshman responded by lapping over one and a half seconds quicker than his rival to finish just 0.116 behind him at the flag.

Ian's final race of the day was the second Supersport event and again, as in the first race, he was involved in a tussle with Dan Kneen and Olie Linsdell. This time however Ian got the better of his rivals to finish 11th.

It's a return to short circuit action for the team this weekend as Conor Cummins and David Pearce compete in Round 4 of the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 and 600 Championships at Cadwell Park.

Thanks Malcolm for all your NW200 posts.
I moved from N.Ire. to Aus. a few years back and miss being at the North West every year.

I'm coming back for some TT this year though!

No problem Lee, glad that you have been kept up to date. I hope that the TT goes well for you and that it will be a meeting to remember.

(Your comments are much appreciated).

Malcolm.