Ian Lougher said farewell to competitive action on the world famous Dundrod circuit at the weekend, but not before the popular Welshman had re-written both the circuit and Ulster Grand Prix history books by taking a brilliant win in the Ultra-Lightweight class.
It was the 50th time Ian has graced the podium at Dundrod and the victory took his Ulster Grand Prix race win tally to 18, whilst he has tasted success on the world famous circuit on no less than 21 occasions, placing him second only to Joey Dunlop in both the respective all-time lists, an honour that is likely to stand for many years to come.
Ian's first outing of the day was in the first Supersport race on the W.A. Corless/Jackson Racing 600 and it was soon obvious to the many spectators around the circuit that he was clearly in the mood on his final appearance around the 7.4 mile fast flowing circuit as, from 14th on the fourth row of the grid, he swept past the Joey Dunlop Grandstand at the end of the opening lap in 4th place right behind the leading trio of Guy Martin, Bruce Anstey and Michael Dunlop and just ahead of Lee Johnston with a further gap back to sixth place man William Dunlop.
With the fastest lap of the race so far at 3:44.263, Ian had closed right up on Dunlop and had opened a gap to Johnston as the leaders headed on to their third lap of six. Dunlop responded with a lap of 3:42.795 but Ian was very much still on his case with Johnston some 3 seconds back in fifth.
Dunlop was a retirement on the fourth lap as Lougher now moved up to third but on the fifth lap Johnston was back in the hunt for a rostrum place as he closed to just over two seconds and on the final lap Ian was forced wide at Tornagrough as Johnston went through to take third with Lougher just over a second back in fourth and in turn over a second clear of fifth place man William Dunlop.
Next, it was straight on to the ILR Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R for the Superstock race. With no practice taking place during the week, the race organisers decided to run a short practice session at the start of the day and Ian finished this session second quickest, although he did line up on the second row of the grid for the six lap race.
The early morning rain had given way to drier conditions and a clear dry line was appearing round the track. There was drama on the start line as Lee Johnston and Rob Barber collided, with both riders fortunate to escape unharmed. It was Gary Johnson who led at the end of the opening lap by just 0.2s from Michael Dunlop with Bruce Anstey in third two seconds back closely followed by Ian and Dean Harrison. The front two were rapidly pulling away though and by the end of lap two, their gap over Lougher, who was now in third, was 5.6s. Ian in turn was in the midst of a 3 rider dice with Anstey and Harrison with just 0.6s covering the trio. By now the course was almost dry for the entire lap, just a few damp patches under the trees remaining, and Dunlop fought his way to the front on lap three with a 128mph+ lap.
The battle was raging for third though with Lougher and Harrison in particular exchanging places, at the end of the second lap it was Lougher, a lap later it was Harrison with Kiwi Anstey right in the mix. Just like last year's race, Ian was riding brilliantly on the Kawasaki but on the fifth lap his challenge for a rostrum place was effectively ended with he just went wide at the hairpin and in the end he settled for a fifth place finish.
The next race, the Ultra-Lightweight, was expected to witness a battle between Ian, on the Matt Jackson Racing 125 and Christian Elkin on a Moto 3 bike, and this indeed proved to be the case. The red flags soon came out due to an incident involving Peter McKillop who crashed out on the exit of Tornagrough, thankfully without injury. On the re-start, held over 3 laps, it was Ian who grabbed the lead and at the end of the opening lap he led Elkin by one second with these two already well clear. As the duo headed on to the last lap, it was still Ian by the smallest of margins and, in a frantic last lap which saw the lead exchange hands on three occasions, it was the experience of Lougher that came through as he led on the all-important run through the Flowbog and Quarries section to the finish line. With the crowd at the grandstand eagerly waiting, and the commentator's voice now in overdrive, it was Lougher who appeared first in the distance and despite a big effort from Elkin, Ian wasn't going to be denied and he held on by just 0.339s to score one of the most popular wins of the day.
Prevented from taking part in the next Superbike race, the second Supersport race saw Ian come from 14th on the grid to 8th at the end of the opening lap and sandwiched between Dean Harrison and Dan Cooper. As Harrison moved clear on the next lap, a thrilling three-way battle was now taking place for seventh between Cooper, Lougher and Ivan Lintin. The battle raged for the remainder of the race with Lintin taking seventh, Ian eighth and Cooper in ninth, with the duo having rapidly closed in on sixth place man Cameron Donald.
It proved to be the last race finish for Ian round Dundrod as in the following Superbike race, the last on the programme, he retired on the opening lap.
So as the dust settles on another Ulster Grand Prix, four top ten finishes including a race win has been a fitting end to Ian Lougher's Dundrod adventure.
Ian Lougher: ''I just missed out on a rostrum in the opening 600 race, and on the 125 Christian Elkin and I passed each other a few times on the last lap. He actually put his front wheel to my knee and I thought, 'you can't pass there'. It was nice to have a 125 win to finish my UGP career.
Big thanks go to everyone who has supported me through the years, all my sponsors and the fans.''
Ian is now on the Isle of Man where he is preparing for the Classic TT races on Steve Linsdell's 500cc Royal Enfield.
