Team ILR were back in the BSB paddock with two young riders under the guidance of Ian Lougher, as the premier domestic championship season got underway  at Oulton Park.

Back with the team was Castleblayney's Joe Loughlin who last raced for Team ILR at the same venue at the end of last season when he also had his first look at the Cheshire circuit, Loughlin was again on the Team ILR - Mark Coverdale R6 Yamaha in both the British Supersport Championship races.

Another young rider linking up at Oulton with Lougher and his experienced team was James Alderson who was competing in the National Junior Superstock class on his own 675 Triumph.

Free Practice on Friday was held in very tricky and challenging conditions and it brought mixed fortunes for both riders with Loughlin crashing whilst riding well, thankfully without injury.

Alderson meanwhile finished both sessions as third quickest just under half a second off the fastest time.

Saturday's Qualifying would see Joe finish on the tenth row of the grid for the Supersport races with James putting in a great performance to put his Triumph on pole position for Saturday's Junior Superstock race.

Thankfully the dampness on Friday gave way to drier conditions for the rest of the weekend and Loughlin brushed off his practice crash to ride very well in both Supersport races to bring his times down and register two 14th place finishes which were great results both for himself and the team.

Meanwhile all Alderson's good work in qualifying didn't reap the rewards it deserved when he crashed out of second place in the first Junior Superstock race, he was uninjured but his bike was looking very second hand.

A lot of hard work went into ensuring James made the second race, and he dusted himself down and repaid that hard work with a great sixth place ride with the fourth fastest lap of the race.


Team ILR owner - manager Ian Lougher:

"It was nice to return to the BSB paddock after some time away, but unfortunately we didn’t get the best of the weather on the Friday, so Free Practice 1 was a little damp and Free Practice 2 was wet and very slippery.

Joe was going well but unfortunately had a slip off in the wet but was thankfully unhurt.

For the two supersport races the weather was dry and Joe acquitted himself well, his times coming down and coming away with two 14th place finishes was very pleasing for the team..

Working with and mentoring James Alderson in the Junior Superstock 600 class was new to myself and the team and an experience the whole team enjoyed.

James qualifying on pole position for the first time was a fantastic achievement for himself and his family who worked so hard over the weekend to support him.

Unfortunately on Lap 2 of the first race while sitting in 2nd place he had quite a quick crash at Turn 1 and the bike took a lot of repairing…mainly by his dad Stephen who worked well into Sunday morning to get it ready to race.

So with no warm up session for the class James had to evaluate the machine on just the warm up lap, thankfully Stephen’s hard work and great preparation paid off and James took a very hard fought 6th place finish in Race 2, and only 3 seconds from the win.

Thank you to all our sponsors and all the hard work put in by the team members, in what was not the easiest of weekends but one of the most a enjoyable. "  

Joe Loughlin:

"I had another great weekend at Oulton Park after my first visit there last year, and enjoyed every bit of it.

It was also great working with Team ILR once again.

Despite crashing in Free Practice I had two 14th place finishes thanks to the great work of the team.

I had a great weekend's craic and gained more invaluable experience. "

James Alderson:

"We were really excited for the opening round of the Bennett’s British Superbikes at Oulton Park and to work with Ian from ILR and his team.

The weekend started out difficult with the weather on the test day being damp with rain showers throughout the day however ended the day P3 on combined times.

Saturday qualifying was looking good as the weather had improved massively and conditions were good, after a tyre change in pit lane I was feeling confident for a good last half of the session for a good grid spot for the afternoon race and managing a new PB 1.40.7 we claimed our first British championship pole position, with this we were feeling really good for the race.

Managing a good start I was in second place after the first lap however a small mistake cost us our chances as running into the first corner I lost the front, we were gutted to crash out of the race especially starting from pole position, when we got the bike back to our awning it was in a bad state, however giving up was not an option so after a late night and into the early hours of the morning rebuilding the bike for the second race we were feeling confident for a good result.

Starting from 7th place on the third row I managed a great start and was in 6th place and on the back of the leading group, we managed to run a strong pace consistently throughout managing a 1.40.9 lap time and brought the bike home in one piece, after qualifying we were expecting a podium this weekend but after the crash on Saturday we didn’t know if we would be back out on the Sunday and not having a warm up session in the morning the first time the bike was tested after being rebuilt was in the race. All considered we’ve had a strong start to the season, massive thanks to Team ILR for a fantastic experience and support for our first round, we were honoured to be part of the team, massive thanks to all my sponsors as without them this wouldn’t be possible."