Lougher in the thick of the action at Scarborough

Blackhorse Kawasaki team boss Ian Lougher was in the thick of the action at the annual two-day Cock o' the North Road Races at Oliver's Mount, Scarborough. On the first of his two visits planned for the North Yorkshire venue this season, Ian came away with five third place finishes, a fourth and one fifth.

The first two races were six lap heats for the 175cc-1300cc machines, the first nine in each progressing to the two eight-lap legs. It was a Kawasaki one-two-three in the opening heat with Ryan Farquhar first, Michael Pearson, second and Ian a comfortable third.

Ian's second outing of the day was the first leg ofthe 600cc Supersport over eight laps and again the order was the same with Farquhar first followed by Michael Pearson and Ian on the ZX-6R, just 0.28 seconds behind in third.

Ian was straight back out again for race five, the first leg of the combined 125GP and 400cc race, again over eight laps, which he finished in fifth.

There was no rest for Ian as he brought the Blackhorse Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R to the line for the first leg of the National Superbikes. At the end of the first lap, Pearson had a 0.380 of a second lead over Farquhar with Ian third, 2 seconds down on the leader. Lap two and Farquhar was half-a-second in front with Ian still third, Derek Shiels, Dave Hewson and Ivan Lintin completed the top six. At the chequered flag it was Farquhar from Michael Pearson with Ian bringing his first day's action to a close in third.

Blue skies and bright sunshine once again bathed Oliver’s Mount for the second day’s racing. Ian's first race was the second leg of the Superbikes, over eight laps and there was disappointment when he retired at the end of the second lap. Undeterred he returned for Race 12 for 125’s and 400’s and managed a secure fifth.

The second leg of the 600’s was next up, at half distance it was Farquhar, Pearson and Lougher in the top three positions and it remained this way at the finish with Ian again close to a runner-up spot.

And so to Ian's final event of the meeting, the feature ten-lap Cock o’ the North Race. Michael Pearson, last year’s winner got the hole shot from Ryan Farquhar and was in front up Sheene’s Rise. At the end of the first lap Pearson still led the pack by 0.772 of a second with Farquhar second and Ian up to third from the second row of the grid. Positions remained the same on lap two, but on lap three Farquhar took the lead from Michael Pearson, with Ian still riding strongly in third. On the fourth lap it was still Farquhar but behind him Lougher had closed on Pearson with only half a second between the two, a lap later positions were the same with Pearson slightly increasing his advantage over Ian by 0.1 seconds but Ian pulled this back on the following lap. On lap eight Pearson's advantage over Ian was just 7/10th of a second. At the flag it was Farquhar from Pearson with Ian a battling third, just 0.299 seconds down on Pearson.

Ian Lougher uses Knox-Armour.

Photo courtesy of Chris Machin