Blackhorse Kawasaki's competitive season got underway at the weekend when Ian Lougher competed in the Ian Watson Spring National Road Races at Oliver's Mount, Scarborough. And the circuit's most successful ever rider raised the bar even further when he came away from the meeting with another two wins to his credit and a total of seven podiums from eight starts.

Good weather was forecast for the meeting and thankfully this was indeed the case as practice got underway promptly at 8.30am in near perfect conditions for the first road race of the 2011 season and the opening round of the Duke Road Race Rankings Championship.

Ian got his day off to the best possible start when he won the Northern Lightweight 125cc race from his regular sparring partner Chris Palmer. Reunited with the Repli-Cast Racing 125cc machine which he rode to great effect in 2010, Lougher always looked comfortable in the 6-lap race. He got the holeshot, but it was Palmer who led into the Mere Hairpin and was holding a good lead at the end of the first lap, with Daley Mathison in third spot. Ian was getting down to business though and on the second circuit he took 1.3 seconds out of Palmer's lead to reduce the deficit to just under half a second and this was reduced further by another two tenths of a second at the end of lap three, with Lee Vernon now in third. On the fourth lap the inevitable happened as the fast moving Lougher took the lead and soon opened up a gap of just under a second. His advantage was up to 1.6 seconds at the end of the fifth lap, with Mathison re-taking third spot. At the chequered flag it was Ian who took the honours crossing the line with just under three seconds to spare from Palmer with Lee Vernon just claiming third from Daley Mathison. Fastest lap of the race also went to Lougher with a time of 1:59.04 seconds.

Ian then had a short break before bringing the Ninja ZX-10R to the line for the second heat of the feature Ian Watson Cup event over four laps. In this one he finished a comfortable second behind Derek Shiels and almost four seconds clear of third place man, fellow Kawasaki mounted Dave Hewson.


Race six on the busy programme was the first leg for 600cc Supersport machines which would see four Kawasakis occupy the top six places. Ryan Farquhar led from Adrian Archibald with Ian third as they headed up Sheene's Rise. At the end of the first lap it was Farquhar from Michael Pearson with Lougher third and Archibald relegated to fourth. Lap two and placings remained the same with the gap down to half a second between the leading duo with Ian still third. Content to let the leading pair go, at half distance Ian had dropped back a bit but was still in third and he comfortably held this position until the chequered flag.

There was eager anticipation around the circuit as Ian lined up for the first of two races for 650cc SuperTwins. This year Ian has reprised his association with Stewart Smith, this time on his new Kawasaki ER-6. Again it was Farquhar who was first into Mere Hairpin and was leading the pack at the end of the opening lap from Ivan Lintin, Daniel Frear and Adrian Archibald with Ian chasing down Archibald in fifth. By lap three Farquhar was under pressure from Lintin with Lougher now up to third from Archibald. By two-thirds distance the positions had remained relatively unchanged with Ian eventually coming home in a pleasing third place on his first outing on a SuperTwin.

Next it was the first leg of the Ian Watson Spring Cup, which saw Adrian Archibald a non-starter. Farquhar led at the end of the first of the eight laps, followed by Michael Pearson, Derek Sheils, Ian Lougher, Keith Pringle and Dave Hewson completing the top six. On the second lap it was still Farquhar from Pearson with with Sheils a further three tenths of a second down in third whilst Lougher was some three seconds back in fourth and positions remained this way at the flag.

The six-lap second leg for 125's was next up. Ian was looking to complete the double having won the first leg earlier in the day and, as in the first race, it was the same two suspects at the head of affairs with Chris Palmer this time getting the holeshot and again leading at the end of the first lap from Lougher by the narrowest of margins with Daley Mathison third two seconds adrift. The gap had doubled a lap later and it looked as though Palmer was going to reverse the first leg result, but at half distance Ian had the gap reduced to three tenths of a second with Mathison a distant 11 seconds in arrears down in third. At the front it was becoming a real see-saw affair, on lap four Palmer added a further tenth of a second to his narrow lead over Lougher and on the penultimate lap the gap was down to only two tenths of a second. As the duo raced to the flag it was Ian Lougher taking his 130th win at Oliver's Mount, by six-tenths from Chris Palmer with Daley Mathison third.

Ian had barely time to catch his breath as next up was the second leg of the 600cc event and here he again finished on the podium in third behind Farquhar and Pearson. Then it was the second leg for 650 SuperTwins and it was Lougher who got the initial holeshot, but while running close behind the leaders in third at the end of the first lap, he accidentally hit the kill switch on the ER-6 and dropped back to fifth. However, having tested the bike just briefly pre-season, Ian was enjoying some more valuable track time on the new bike and he battled his way back to eventually finish a comfortable third to bring a successful day's racing to a close for the ever popular Welshman.

It has been a busy pre-season period for Blackhorse Kawasaki, team manager/rider Lougher has spent the first few weeks of the season overseeing a very successful and encouraging testing schedule for the team. Along with BSB Superstock runners Victor Cox, Conor Cummins and Brad Anderson, Ian tested in Spain and then it was on to a weather-hit Darley Moor with Cox and Cummins before the recent BSB tests at Brands Hatch and Snetterton. On the pace at every test, Cox has looked particularly impressive whilst Cummins is showing renewed confidence with every outing and was unfortunate to be knocked off his bike at Snetterton with just eight minutes to go in the final session. Meanwhile the team's new signing Brad Anderson has also impressed on the Ninja ZX-6R and has quickly settled in with his new team.

Ian now heads to the Isle of Man for the TT press launch tomorrow (Tuesday) and then it's on to Brands Hatch for the opening round of the BSB Metzeler National Superstock 1000/600 Championships over the Easter weekend.