Steve Henshaw Gold Cup Report: Oliver's Mount, Scarborough

ILR's talented Jim Hind was again among the winners at Oliver's Mount when the annual Steve Henshaw Gold Cup meeting took place over the iconic 2.41 miles of England's only roads circuit.

The 20 year old showed why he is being tipped for the top as he put all three of his bikes on pole during qualifying and consistently lapped among the front runners all weekend on what was only his second visit to the circuit following his debut there just three weeks ago.

A 1 minute 51.3 lap was good enough to claim Supertwins pole from Jamie Coward whilst he showed he can compete with the best by wrestling 600 pole from riders of the experience and calibre of Lee Johnston and Dean Harrison among others.

On his 250 Jim was in supreme form and topped qualifying despite sitting out the second session. Over the course of the weekend Hind came away with no fewer than six podiums including a 2 & 4 Stroke double win, a fourth in the feature Gold Cup race after a terrific scrap with former Team ILR rider Joey Thompson (3rd) and some impressive rides particularly in the Supersport class. Race Day 2 however proved to be an eventful one as he dropped his 250 at Farm Bends whilst dicing for the 2 & 4 Strokes Race 3 lead with Thompson, then in the final Supersport Race he crashed out in spectacular fashion at the fast Esses section whilst battling for honours with Johnston and Harrison. Thankfully he only had mild concussion from this one.

Meanwhile Team ILR owner-manager and Oliver's Mount specialist Ian Lougher was arguably one of the busiest men in the paddock as he juggled managing the team and of course mentoring his young protégé Hind with the quiet, unassuming and professional manner for which he is renowned and respected. On top of all this Ian squeezed in some good rides in the Supertwins races, during which he took the opportunity to develop the Team ILR - Mark Coverdale S1-R Paton. Lougher also finished fourth overall in the Supertwins points, just one behind Hind.

With great teamwork matched by great performances on the track, it was a satisfying and eventful visit to Oliver's Mount for Team ILR and the focus for the team now turns to short circuit action with a return to the BSB Supersport paddock this weekend with Joe Loughlin on the Team ILR - Mark Coverdale R6 Yamaha.

"Once the dust settled after the latest Oliver’s Mount Gold Cup meeting, we have had time to reflect on an up and down meeting for the team. For myself personally I’m obviously not that chuffed with a brace of third and fourth place finishes, but I have taken the decision to develop the Paton’s suspension in readiness for our riders at the major road races next year, so am quite happy with the progress we’ve made over both Scarborough meetings recently.

What is more important to me and has made me smile and happy is working with such a young intelligent rider like Jim, who on a 7 year old 600 qualified on pole in dry conditions in front of such great riders as Lee Johnston and Dean Harrison and others. Add to that pole on our Paton and pole on Jim’s own 250 Yamaha (his own 250 which he saved up for himself from 13yrs of age and bought himself !!!!) Jim went on to impress with a couple of wins on the 250, seconds and thirds on the twin and a couple of fourths on the 600. Unfortunately he ended the 3 day meeting, in his last race of the weekend biting the dust coming off our ZX6, thankfully unhurt with only a bit of concussion.

It was such a shame as this was the first race he managed to get away with Dean and Lee and was the only rider over the weekend to get anywhere near them over the previous four races. To put it in prospective ...in only his second visit to Oliver’s Mount he lapped at 1m 47.1 only 0.7 off the previous lap record....to say I’m impressed isn’t the right word. Not only that, it was a pleasure to work with such a thankful, polite, hard working, down to earth young racer, with an equally nice family, which are not easy to find these days!!

Thank you to all the organisers and marshals who made the meeting able to go ahead. A big thank-you for all their hard work to Mr Mark Coverdale, Jacko, Robert, Asa, Geoff, Julia and George. Can’t wait to work with you all again...mega. In closing, everyone at Team ILR passes on their very best wishes for a speedy recovery to our main sponsor Mr. Mark Coverdale following his recent stay in hospital."

"I’m proper happy with how the Gold Cup went, I showed some good pace to run at the front and just need to take a step back and take my time. Brilliant weekend, I can’t thank Ian and the team enough for their efforts and understanding. Can’t wait for next year."

Successful steps forward for IN Competition

team manager Ian Newton was very optimistic that they could prepare the Aprilia RSV4’s to remain at the sharp end with the short, flowing track suiting the riders style. It was to be a hugely successful weekend for Lewis who came on leaps and bounds, learning every time he went out on track.

Tyres would always be an issue with the National circuit being 95% right hand corners, putting pressure on just one side of the tyre, but every competitor was in the same boat.

David started the weekend on the pace and was positive after FP1 in 14th place whilst Lewis’s had a little crash (90mph) FP1 resulting in P24, moving up to 17th position in FP2.

Qualifying saw improvements again as Lewis ended the session after 26 laps in P14, 0.7 off pole, which the team were pleased with as he was consistently moving up the pack and learning as he went. David ended the session to take 17th on the grid for race one, he was only 1.1 second off the pace setter Danny Kent, just proving how close the Superstock 1000 Championship is and with 37 riders taking to the grid, David had cemented his place mid pack.

Race 1 came around in lightning time and as the riders completed their green flag lap you could see the determination in both the IN Competition riders eyes. Lewis worked his way through the pack to get an amazing result of 5th from P14 on the grid and David also progressed, moving up 2 places to take P15 getting in the points.

Race 2 saw Lewis start on the front row for the first time this season, taking the lead on lap 2 he held off his competitors for half the race before being overtaken by Chrisse Rouse, he continued to move back a few places crossing the line in 6th place. David made the decision to start from the pit lane after a small technical issue in the morning warm up. He soon gained places taking the chequered flag in 21st place.

IN Competition getting the wind in their sails after blustery weekend

IN Competition descended on the 2.97 mile Snetterton race circuit last weekend where riders Lewis Rollo and David Allingham continued their campaign aboard the 2 Aprilia RSV 4's in the National Superstock 1000 Championship.

One of the major obstacles of the weekend was certainly the elements as the wind speed was high and combined with the flat track made it very difficult to get the right lines. But this did not deter Lewis spending all of his weekend at the business end in the top eight and qualifying in 5th position 0.8 seconds off pole.

Lewis got a great start pushing straight into 2nd position, dicing with Billy McConnell and Tim Neave throughout the majority of the race until he went wide at the Agostini hairpin, unable to claw back the positions that late on in the race he was so close to getting back on the podium but ended up taking the chequered flag in 6th position, bagging another 10 points. David struggled throughout the weekend as he could not get the positioning on the track to shave off the all important tenths of a second as throughout the weekend there was only 1.8 seconds between the top 20 riders. He got off the line well in the race having good battles with Shaun Winfield and Brayden Elliott moving up into 15th place . David has now got on to the points board as he progresses on to Silverstone.

IN Competition Test Day Press Release

IN Competition firmly sealed their place at the Official British Superbike test day earlier this week with both riders securing top 6 positions ahead of the #BSBRestart, commencing in one weeks time. IN Competition riders Lewis Rollo and David Allingham will both be competing in the National Pirelli Superstock 1000 series for this shortened season where they look to seal the championship over, just 6 rounds. But who will it be? With all the members of the team working together before, it meant they could get straight down to business with Team Manager - Ian Newton wanting to focus on race set up and consistency.

Allingham, enthusiastic to show what he could do on the Aprilia RSV4, stormed straight into 3rd position in session 1 with a time of 1:09.169, just 0.412 off the pace which was being set by Chrissy Rouse. Allingham completed his fastest lap of the day in the second session with a 1:08.532 around the National circuit. He not only improved on his time but with worn tyres showed he could keep at the sharp end throughout.

Having had his maiden win at Donington Park last year aboard the Aprilia RSV4, Lewis Rollo was no stranger to riding around the picturesque track at up to speeds of 140mph plus, so he was confident he could get progress throughout the day. True to form, Rollo started with good pace keeping within the top 6 and continued to move his way up with his best time session 3 of 1:08.380.

THORNTON PUSHES ON TO A STRONG FINISH IN BEMSEE’S PREMIERE CLASS

Ritchie Thornton showed good pace on the 2014 Kawasaki ZX10-R in his Powerbikes debut with Bemsee at Brands Hatch over the weekend. Running a Maxton GP30 cartridge kit in the front and a Maxton GP 10 Monoshock at the rear, he made massive improvements over the weekend in the very competitive Powerbike Class.

After a qualifying well in 5th position, on the second row, Ritchie suffered at the beginning of the race after being baulked at the start. “I got a good jump off the lights only to shocked into rolling off as Baker seemed to falter in front of me” says Ritchie. “Next thing I knew, there were bikes flying past me. I ended up being pushed back to about 17th or 18th by the time I dropped into Paddock Hill”. It was a disappointing start for him and although he recovered to 14th spot in this premiere class, it meant that he would be on the 9th row, in 16th position, for Sunday’s first race.

Thornton was beginning to get the feel of his ZX10-R now, but it meant putting in some late night work the night before to improve things further to make the bike turn better. “I made quite lot of adjustments to the front end, dropping the front forks in the yolk a bit and running more rebound damping as suggested by Maxton. That’s when the bike started to do work for me and started to turn much better, instead of running wide, and me trying haul it round the corners”. Ritchie was also experiencing ‘spongy’ brakes compared to his ZX7-R, which won the Thunderbike Ultra Class race earlier that day. “We couldn’t solve the problem, with the brakes, so I decided to swap the complete brake system from one bike to another”, recalls Ritchie. It proved to be time well spent as he went into Sunday’s races.

In the first race on Sunday the conditions were mixed after overnight rain. Ritchie’s not one for shying away from a damp track on slicks, so he took the gamble on a patchy, slowly drying circuit. “After the warm-up lap I knew I’d made the right choice”, said Thornton. “Problem was, I was stuck on the 6th row! Anyhow, I just set off with another good start and passed about 5 riders pussy-footing about at the top of Paddock Hill. After that I started picking off the others until I got to 4th position. The lads at the front were well ahead and there was no chance of me catching them; our lap times were pretty much the same. So, with a decent gap between me and the rider behind, I just managed my pace to bring the bike home”.

His efforts pushed him up the grid to 4th spot on the second row again, but it was the showers during the day that had another effect on the outcome of race 2. “The track was similar to the morning’s race so we kept the slick on the bike, but it started to rain about ten minutes before the start. We quickly changed to wets but then it stopped and started to dry again as I was rolling on to my grid position. There were a lot more thinking the same as me too…we should have stuck with the dry tyres”. It was an exciting race which saw Ritchie battling away with the top three for about half the race, but in the end had to settle for 6th place as the tyres started wearing out.

“I’m not disappointed at all”, said Thornton, “it was a great weekend and I have learned such a lot about the ZX10-R in such a short space of time. It was also good to bag a couple of victories on my old Kawasaki ZX7-R too. In the last race I had to start from the back of the grid! That was a lot of fun.” said Ritchie, as he passed many riders on the first lap to hit 4th position by the second lap. He then continued to pass the other riders to take the flag by a considerable margin.

IN Competition announces 2020 British Supersport Line Up

IN Competition have announces their much-anticipated line up for the 2020 season. Two riders will take part in the Pirelli National Superstock 1000 Championship aboard the Aprilia RSV4, continuing with Lewis Rollo and new signing David Allingham.

Rollo will start his second consecutive season with IN Competition/Aprilia having had a very successful 2019 campaign aboard the Aprilia RSV4, taking part in the BSB Superstock 1000 Championship.

Having spent 3 years in the Supersport championship, finishing in the top 5 each year on the 600, and gaining experience aboard the Superbike last year, David Allingham will have a new challenge on race winning machinery.

This will not be the first time out with IN Competition and Aprilia for either Rollo or Allingham, with Rollo winning the Aprilia SuperTeen Championship in 2012 (aged12) and Allingham winning the Aprilia RRV450 Championship in 2013 (aged17).

Rollo said: “I’m really pleased to have signed with IN Competition/Aprilia for a second season, it's a chance I have never had before to stay with the same team and on the same bike.

Last year, we showed that we could be strong and run at the front, but it is a very competitive arena and it’s not all about improving yourself each time but learning how others work around you. Every opportunity needs to be taken in such a close class. I learnt a lot last year from Ian Newton and the team, now it is my chance to convert that into more podiums and even more wins.”

Allingham said: “I am very excited to join the IN Competition/Aprilia team, I am equally looking forward to working with Ian Newton again as we have had previous success in the Aprilia RRV450 Championship in the early part of my racing career. Hopefully we can repeat that success in the Superstock 1000 Championship this year on an already proven package.”

'PURPLE EFFECT' INSPIRES COLLIER & CPD KAWASAKI AT CADWELL PARK WITH BIG STEP FORWARD

Joe Collier and his CPD Kawasaki team made a conscientious switch to Maxton suspension for the Cadwell Park round. It's the very same brand that the Coalville ace raced with during his 2018 campaign, and the switch brought about immediate success, with Collier posting eleventh place, during Sunday’s National 1000cc Superstock race.

The result in itself is a big step forward for Joe and his team, but with the confidence inspiring ‘purple springs’ now in his bike – a set-up factor that saw him finish third in the 1000cc series last season – Collier is now confident of finishing this year on a high.

“Yeah it was a really positive weekend,” he said. “We were not much more than 10 seconds off the win, which is a massive step forward. More importantly for me with the Maxton suspension now in the CPD Kawasaki, I have so much more feel and confidence."

Speaking of the switch he added: “I worked with Richard from Maxton all weekend on those points; he has helped build my confidence and also helped me gain one of my best results of the season. It’s not a podium or a top six granted, but from where we were, it’s a quantum leap in terms of improvement, and I’ve finally got to show a glimpse of what I’m capable of in this class."

Looking back on the weekend, Joe went on to explain: “My lap times improved with every session on the bike at Cadwell, with my fastest one coming in the race; thanks again to the transformation with Maxton in the ZX-10RR and Richard doing what he does best. I’m now really looking forward to going to Oulton Park and hopefully taking another big step in the right direction. The goal has to be, to race at the front end where we belong with this CPD Kawasaki package.”

Cadwell BSB: Suspension switch proves positive for Collier

Joe Collier and his CPD Kawasaki team made a conscientious switch to Maxton suspension for the Cadwell Park round. It’s the very same brand that the Coalville ace raced with during his 2018 campaign, and the switch brought about immediate success, with Collier posting eleventh place, during Sunday’s Pirelli National 1000cc Superstock race.

The result in itself is a big step forward for Joe and his team, but with the confidence inspiring ‘purple springs’ now in his bike – a set-up factor that saw him finish third in the 1000cc series last season – Collier is now confident of finishing this year on a high.

“Yeah it was a really positive weekend. We were not much more than ten seconds off the win, which is a massive step forward. More importantly for me with the Maxton suspension now in the CPD Kawasaki, I have so much more feel and confidence,” said Collier.

“I worked with Richard from Maxton all weekend on those points; he has helped build my confidence and also helped me gain one of my best results of the season. It’s not a podium or a top six granted, but from where we were, it’s a quantum leap in terms of improvement, and I’ve finally got to show a glimpse of what I’m capable of in this class.”

BIG PROGRESS MADE BY COLLIER & CPD KAWASAKI AT OULTON PARK

Joe Collier and CPD Kawasaki will now look forward to the final two rounds of their Pirelli National 1000cc Superstock Championship campaign at Donington and Brands Hatch in October, after an encouraging weekend at Oulton Park in Cheshire.

Collier took his best result of the season in the opening race of the weekend, posting seventh place aboard the CPD Kawasaki ZX-10RR, and despite a DNF in race two, believes the team can have podium aspirations before the season comes to a close.

Speaking of his weekend, the Coalville electrician said: “Oulton was certainly one of the best weekends we’ve had as a team. We’ve certainly come on leaps and bounds and again part of that step forward can be attributed to the hard work put in with Richard at Maxton suspension. Again, those incremental changes helped us move forward on the CPD Kawasaki.”

Recounting the on-track action he added: “We got faster with every session at Oulton and that is confidence inspiring. P7 in race one is my best so far, and the changes we made for race two – I had the belief that we could go on and produce something even better and challenge in the top five.

“Unfortunately, in the race I clipped the back wheel of another rider, who had run offline, and down I went. It was disappointing, but we can take the positives out of the weekend and I’m now really looking forward to my home round at Donington Park, at the beginning of October.

IN Competition COLLECTING VALUABLE POINTS IN THE PENULTIMATE ROUND

The IN Competition team had their second successful weekend despite torrential rain threatening 2 out of the 3 days.

The team were joined by a second rider Johnny Blackshaw who is no stranger to the team as he is the teams Crew Chief, but this weekend he was keen to get in the saddle of the Aprilia RSV4 and collect some much needed data as well as see what he could do on the beast.

Free Practice 1 was one of the only dry sessions, the perfect opportunity to get some good time on the bikes, both completing 13 laps. Lewis Rollo crossed the line in 11th place, 1.046 off the pace and Johnny Blackshaw came in 29th.

FP2 saw the weather turn and the temperature drop, usually two things that Rollo favours but it was hindered with cold tyres and the fine rain made it incredibly difficult to see anything at all. He took the flag in 12th place and Blackshaw saw amazing progression moving up into 14th place. Little did the team know that shortly after the session ended another weather warning was given to the organisers meaning they were forced to change Saturday’s timetable.

The combined times from day one would make up the grid positions for the race 1 with only a 10 minute warm up in the morning. Saturday was to show no improvements for the team or the rest of the field but there were some competitor’s that saw the gravel trap around the 2.498 mile track. The rescheduled Saturday afternoon race was called off due to the never ending torrential rain and the amount of standing water on the track made it unsafe.

Both races now scheduled for Sunday meant that the entire team were all hands on deck to get a quick turn around in place in case of any eventuality that may occur.

Race 1 came around and Lewis Rollo found he had a lot to do from 11th on the grid but with his racing head on he stormed off the line making up 5 places by the time he hit the first corner. Lewis Rollo took the lead earlier on in the race but Billy McConnell was on the hunt also coming up through the pack. They battled for the remainder of the race but McConnell came through to just steal the chequered flag. Rollo was energised after a slow start to the weekend to be back on the podium for a second weekend in a row.

Johnny Blackshaw started out his race 1 campaign aboard the Aprilia in 28th place making some really good progress throughout the race moving up through the pack landing himself a very impressive P14.

RACE 2, Rollo was 5th on the grid and Blackshaw was 16th. Both had some good battles throughout the race. They both crossed the line completing the second race of the day, with a P8 and a P19, it was a great race by the duo which can’t have been easy to compete in 2 races in one day but both came out with good results and they team were happy.

LEWIS ROLLO: “It was great to get back out there again in wet conditions, it was a good battle with Billy McConnell, and we just missed out on the top spot but i'm more than happy with second. The second race was tough, however I pushed as hard as I could and we took a huge step forward from FP1 in the dry but I could only take away 8th it was a hard weekend but to make such huge steps forward in each race was amazing and I can't thank the team enough for their hard work!! Onto the last round at brands and try to secure 3rd in the championship, big thanks to my sponsors and everyone for the kind messages.”

JOHNNY BLACKSHAW: “Good weekend, it was great to be able to ride the Aprilia after working on it for 4 years, crew chiefing for the riders. I have ridden it once before at Silverstone a few years back but this was a new experience. It was good to get out on this year’s bike and to see what we see on the data, translated into practice.

There was a lot of development that went on over the weekend with race one in the wet it was quite a leveler, where my experience came through coming from 28th on the grid to 14th. I think if I had gone a bit faster at the beginning of the race we could of gone a bit higher and mixed in with the top ten but i had to remember that I was out there testing a bike as much as racing it but I managed to get a lot of valuable data for the team which was good.

Race 2 was a bit of a baptism of fire as it was the first time I had ridden the bike in anger in the dry, it was very tough. Although every lap I was going quicker and quicker the riders around me have been doing the day in, day out for a whole season and running with the pack at the start was quite tricky and could have ended in disaster if I didn’t use my head. 19th wasn’t where I wanted to be but we were learning loads about the bike all the time and that translates to what the whole team sees and hopefully we can improve the bike further which is the intention of riding the bike. Fingers crossed I will be out again at Brands Hatch to test the suspension side of things. I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone in the IN Competition, who I normally work with were working for me and they did a great job, not only did they bike work well it looked the part as well. Thank you also to Christian at J & S accessories for getting new leathers sorted so quickly.”

TEAM OWNER - IAN NEWTON: “Another mega weekend the team worked very hard to achieve the best set up with the limited track time because of the weather conditions. Lewis did a mega job in the wet race, we didn't quite get the set up right for the dry race but still a good result. Johnny did a good job for the first time in BSB in two years and straight to the points. just shows how we work well as a team.”