Blackhorse Kawasaki's Ian Lougher came away from the Steve Henshaw International Gold Cup meeting at the weekend with no fewer than eight top 5 placings including three podium finishes.

The weather was expected to play a big part in proceedings and indeed it was dull and overcast conditions that greeted competitors and fans alike early on Saturday morning. Thankfully, by the time practice commenced at 9.00am the skies had cleared and a gentle wind was drying the 2.43-mile Oliver’s Mount circuit.

With practice and qualifying completed, Lougher's first race of the day was the four-lap second heat of the Darran Lindsay Superbike Trophy in which he finished fourth.

Next up for Ian was the 1st Leg of the same event, Race 5 on the programme. Red flags came out in the early stages of the race and the restart over four laps saw John McGuinness take the hole-shot and lead at the end of the first lap from Ryan Farquhar and Michael Dunlop with Ian sixth. But at the flag it was Farquhar from McGuinness and Michael Dunlop, with William Dunlop, Lougher and Dean Harrison completing the top six.

Race seven saw the first heat of two for the David Jefferies 600 Supersport Cup. Here Craig Shirlaw got the hole-shot, but it was William Dunlop who had the lead at the end of the opening lap of four, followed by Shirlaw and Lougher.

Dunlop had a 4.2 second lead at the end of the second lap, but Ian had relegated Shirlaw to third and on the next lap he closed the gap between himself and Dunlop to 3.43 seconds with only one lap to go.

At the chequered flag it was Dunlop taking his first 4-stroke win at Oliver’s Mount, 3.47 seconds ahead of Ian, with Craig Shirlaw taking third.

Race 9 was the first leg for the Phil Mellor Trophy for 650cc SuperTwins and in this one Ian had a lonely ride on Stewart Smith's ER-6R to finish fifth and he followed this up with a fourth place finish on the Ninja ZX-6R in the first leg of the David Jefferies Supersport Cup to bring his first day's action to a close.

Blue skies and bright sunshine were the order of the day in Scarborough on Sunday morning, however the Oliver’s Mount circuit was shrouded in sea mist as practice got underway at 9.00am.

Ian's day got off to a disappointing start with a non-finish in the second leg of the Darran Lindsay Superbike Trophy where he pulled in after one lap and next on the agenda was the second leg of the Phil Mellor SuperTwins Trophy. Ian was third at the halfway point but as the rain arrived he parted company with the intermediate shod ER-6 at Mere Hairpin. Uninjured, Ian re-mounted to finish fourth.

Next up was the feature race of the meeting the International Steve Henshaw Gold Cup.

Showers were a prominent feature of the afternoon in the Scarborough area and had left one part of the Oliver's Mount circuit dry and the other half soaking wet as Farquhar and McGuinness led into Mere Hairpin, but it was Farquhar who led up Sheene Rise on the opening lap of eight. At the end of the first lap, it was still Farquhar by 0.40 secs from McGuinness, with Keith Pringle third one second behind and Lougher going well in fourth. Lap two and Farquhar’s lead had increased to half a second with the top 12 places remaining unchanged.

By lap five, Ian was on the move and with a 1:56.18, the fourth fastest lap of the race, he was up into third and he quickly opened up a 1.5 second advantage over Pringle now in fourth with Michael Dunlop fifth. And at the end it was Farquhar from John McGuinness with Lougher third, 1.2 secs clear of fourth place man Michael Dunlop.

Race 18 the second leg for the David Jefferies Supersport Trophy saw Ian retire to the paddock in the early stages of the race but he quickly made amends in his last race of the day, as he harried his old sparring partner Chris Palmer in the 2nd leg of the Stu Reed 125cc Trophy to finish second with the two well clear of the rest of the field.

So another solid weekend's work at Oliver's Mount for Ian Lougher. His excellent third in the feature Gold Cup race was the third year in a row that the former winner has stood on the podium in this prestigious race and remarkably he has also done so seven times in the last eight years!

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