Working with the Welsh one....

Team Announcement

 

Team ILR (Ian Lougher Racing) are pleased to announce that they will renew their partnership with Dan Hegarty on the roads in 2015.

 

Hegarty rode for the team at the Isle of Man TT last year and gave a good account of himself with 21st in the Superstock race his best result and averaging over 120mph with a fastest lap of 122.434 mph.

As part of a working relationship between Team ILR and Downshift Motorsport, Dan will again compete on the Team ILR Superstock machine on the island, and in addition to this he will have the bike at his disposal for the Spring National at Oliver's Mount in April, the Southern 100 in July, the Ulster Grand Prix at Dundrod in August and again at Scarborough in the Gold Cup meeting in September.

Hegarty is training hard for the upcoming season in which he will also compete for Downshift Motorsport in the National Superstock 1000 Championship where he will be partnered by James East who rode for Team ILR at selected rounds of the series last season.

Team ILR manager Ian Lougher : ''At Team ILR we have always had the ethos of bringing on and nurturing new up and coming talent, whether it be on the short circuits or pure road race tracks, and I see Dan as someone in that category.

Last year I could see Dan's fitness was a small problem, largely down to a previous arm injury, and this was holding him back. This season a lot more riding leading up to the Isle of Man festival and competing in a few more races should see him sharp and raring to go.

I'm personally really looking forward to working with Dan again, he will be a Newcomer at Scarborough, the Southern 100 and the Ulster GP, but he's a fast learner with a mature head on his shoulders, so that shouldn't deter him in any way.''

Dan Hegarty : ''I'm delighted to be able to work with Ian Lougher and his team once again.

Last year's bike was faultless and Ian's guidance helped me in many ways. Now that we have established this relationship we can build on it and keep progressing through the ranks.''

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Ian Lougher with Dave Hopkinson and Dan Hegarty at the 2014 Isle of Man TT races.

Photo: Team ILR

Circuito de Cartagena!

The first ride out on the bikes went fantastic.
We arrived in @ Alicante airport on Tuesday morning after flying from East midlands.
I cant really remember the flight much as i was snoring most of it from an exhausting days training the Monday before we left. Once we had all got together after our flights me, Tommo, Dave and Easty set off to our hotel full of excitement and appreciation that we were able to get everything together to get out there.
Apart from Dave who had been working flat out to get the bikes built for us nobody else had actually seen the bikes built up, so it was really exciting first thing Wednesday morning to unpack the bikes off the crates and see all the little touches. The bikes are so well put together, after working with Dave at the TT last year I knew how well he could put together a race bike and I was really excited to see these. His attention to detail is second to none and we couldn't ask for anything more than we`re getting. As you can see from the picture above i`m going to be riding the season with a green front mudguard and helmet design and James East is going to be riding with the red. I can not wait toi see the bikes painted up in the proper team colours!
Nearly all of our product sponsorship has been perfect straight from the off.
The K tech Suspension was great from the start, we played with settings and went all over the place but didnt find anything too far away from what we already knew from Dave and Eastys days together at Idaq.
The MotoMaster discs were a definite improvement over standard and combined with the SBS pads and Venhill Hoses the brakes were mega.
I couldnt believe that my Held Leathers didn't fit me properly, they are such good quality and I really wanted to wear them. Perhaps i`ll double check on my sizing next time, i was having to ride mick Doohan Style with no knee out and not being able to breathe at the same time! I lasted 2 laps! Thankfully Guy @ Held has managed to sort it so i can get another set without it costing anybody any money. These are our testing leathers only, we will have custom fitted leathers come the start of the season and again I can not wait to see them!

#Samco #Lightec #Ktech #Translogic #Faultless

Our first time together :-)

 

 

Days 1 and 2 i felt a little bit rusty compared to my old self and then had to remind myself that the  last time i rode a bike was the Senior TT way back in June! I soon got he hang of it again and the Downshift boys were out in full force sliding around Cartagena and mainly trying to Chase James East! Sean Neary is also going to be one to watch this year in the Ducati 899 cup, hes really going well on the Paraplus 899 and is having his bike prepared by Dave too.

I couldnt help showing you all this bad ass BMX. We saw some old boy riding it up to the circuit twice with bags full of shopping. I did actually see him do a 360 degree jump but no one else was watching!

Its going to be a quiet month now as I don't think we are really going to be out until March. Its head down again with training and work so I can get myself in the best position possible for the season.

Peace out!