ILR Kawasaki team owner/rider Ian Lougher raised the bar even further when he took part in his final Steve Henshaw Gold Cup meeting at Oliver's Mount, Scarborough at the weekend.

The circuit's most successful ever competitor, who retires at the end of this season, won the second leg of the 250cc Phil Mellor Trophy races to take his tally to a remarkable 132 wins round the tight and twisty public roads circuit.

Blue skies and sunshine but chilly temperatures greeted everyone on Saturday morning for practice and qualifying.

On one of only four 600cc bikes in the 'big bike' session Ian qualified in tenth, he was fifth on the 250, seventh in the 600cc class, and only fractions of a second outside the lap record as he put the Team Repli-Cast UK Racing 125 bike on pole position for the 125cc race.

Ian's first race was the second race of the programme, the first leg of the 125cc Stu Reed Trophy.

The race brought the Welshman and his regular sparring partner Chris Palmer together and the two were soon to the fore again.

The race was arguably the best one of the weekend and, with the appreciative crowd cheering both riders all around the circuit, Palmer led until the last lap with Ian biding his time as he made his move at the Mere Hairpin.

Chris fought back to re-take the lead as the duo flew over the jumps towards the flag, and as they crossed the line it was Palmer by just 0.210 seconds with Lougher recording the fastest lap of the race on his second lap.

Ian was out of luck in the first leg of the Darran Lindsay Trophy and then claimed second in the first heat of the 600cc David Jefferies Cup behind James Cowton.

Next up was the first leg of the 250cc Phil Mellor Trophy and it proved to be a great race between Ian, on the Brian Scott ex-Lee Vernon bike and the Dunlop brothers, Michael and William.

At the end of the opening lap it was Michael from Ian and William with James Cowton in fourth. At half race distance positions were the same with absolutely nothing in it and on the fourth of the six laps William lipped into second and set about challenging for the lead. On the last lap Ian settled for third as the two Dunlop brothers fought it out down over the jumps and at the finish it was Michael from William with Ian coming home in third.


Lougher's final race of the day was the first leg of the David Jefferies Cup but his race lasted a matter of a few hundred yards. As he peeled into Mere Hairpin a rider behind lost control near the back of the field and took another rider with him, in the resulting melee seven riders went down like dominoes including Ian who escaped with a sore leg and finger. The W.A. Corless/Jackson Racing 600 wasn't running right afterwards though as the team set about getting it ready for the following day.

Bad weather was forecast for Sunday and unfortunately the forecasters got it right.

First race of the day was the second leg of the Darran Lindsay Trophy and there was a red flag on the second lap when a rider crashed. At the re-start the rain started to fall heavily resulting in a quick tyre change on the grid for some riders with Ian going on to finish a solid fourth just over two seconds behind third place man Michael Dunlop.

He then took to the grid for the 2nd Leg of the 250 Phil Mellor Trophy and produced one of his best rides of the weekend to hold off the challenge of Michael Dunlop for a brilliant win. Lougher took the race by the scruff of the neck and led at the halfway point by over 3.5 seconds from Dunlop with Cowton in third. With two laps to go though Dunlop had reduced the gap to Lougher considerably and was now just over a second adrift with the race now firmly between these two.

Ian didn't panic though, with one lap to go he was keeping Dunlop at bay and with the fastest lap of the race he increased the margin at the flag to record his 132nd win at Oliver's Mount.

It was a case of Déjà vu for Lougher in the next race, the feature Gold Cup event.

As the pack exited Mere Hairpin on the first lap, Bruce Anstey fell in front of Ian who, with nowhere to go, virtually ran over the Kiwi as he himself also crashed out. Both riders were thankfully unhurt.

Conditions around the circuit were tricky as the riders then took to the grid for the second leg of the 600cc David Jefferies Trophy.

Lougher of course had seen it all before and he led the pack into Mere Hairpin on the opening lap and was second behind Dean Harrison and just ahead of Guy Martin as they completed the third lap. On the fourth lap Martin moved into second with Lougher now third by just over half a second from James Cowton. On the penultimate lap Ian, still in third, now had Ivan Linton and Cowton for company with William Dunlop not out of it, but he managed to hold on for an excellent podium with Cowton taking fourth, Lintin fifth and Dunlop sixth with just over 1.7 seconds covering the four riders.

What would have been Lougher's final race ended in disappointment when the ignition broke on the warm-up lap for the second leg of the 125cc Stu Reed Trophy, thus denying the spectators the possibility of another classic encounter between Ian and Chris Palmer who went on to complete a double race win.

It was certainly an eventful last outing at the Scarborough Gold Cup for Ian Lougher who now takes a well earned break for a few weeks before returning to oversee ILR Kawasaki's challenge for honours in the remaining two races of this year's BSB Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship.

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