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Ian Lougher finished a fine 7th on the Stewart Smith Racing Kawasaki ER-6 in Thursday evening's North-West 200 Supertwins race from the back of the grid, and followed it up with 10th place in the first Superstock race starting from 18th on the grid.

Earlier in the day, Ian got some laps in on the ILR Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R Superbike and finished the wet practice session 6th fastest.

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BSB Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship
Round 4
Donington Park
11-13 May 2012

Determined Beech scores first points of the season.
Cox once again near the podium.

It was another solid day's work for ILR Kawasaki's Victor Cox as he again rode well to finish 4th and 9th respectively in the latest round of the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship at Donington Park on Sunday.

Indeed, it was a good weekend for the team with Ash Beech scoring his first points of the season with a fine ride to 14th in the second race to follow on from a determined 20th place finish in his first outing of the day.

Ash Beech: 'I came here with the intention to start scoring points and I have achieved this so now we can start pushing and aiming for Top 10 finishes. I would just like to thank the ILR Kawasaki team for providing me with a great bike in the Ninja ZX-10R.'

The Donington double header was part of the support programme for the European round of the World Superbike Championship and with three sessions marked down for Friday, it promised to be a busy start to the weekend for the team....... Report

Victor Cox pictured on the ILR Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R at Donington Park.

Photo Courtesy: Simon Charity. www.simonsracepics.co.uk

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A red flag race stoppage ended Victor Cox's chances of a possible top six finish in the third round of the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship at Oulton Park.
It was an eventful and spirited ride by Cox who at one point was third in the race and in the hunt for a second successive podium finish at the Cheshire circuit following his second place there last July.

Cox drops two places to eighth in the championship, however this paints a slightly false picture. Victor's accrued tally of 28 points is only three less than a trio of riders in front of him, the Wiltshire rider is also only nine points off second place in what is a highly competitive championship.

Victor's team-mate Ash Beech had another encouraging weekend and improved his lap times with almost every outing on the circuit. The young newcomer to the class was only 0.63s behind his team mate Cox in qualifying and 0.15s behind Conor Cummins. Ash's best lap of 1:40.74s on the fifth lap of the race was a fine effort and his first points finish is surely just around the corner ...... Report

Ash Beech in action on the ILR Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R at Oulton Park.

Photo Courtesy: Simon Charity. www.simonsracepics.co.uk

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Cox fourth at Thruxton

Victor Cox rode to a strong fourth place finish in the second round of the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship at Thruxton on Sunday, coming agonisingly close to a podium finish in the process.

It was once again an impresssive performance by the ILR Kawasaki teamster who is showing excellent early season form.
Never out of the top three in both sectors, Cox made his intentions clear with second place in free practice just 0.58 seconds off the pace with a best lap of 1:18.29s.

Meanwhile his team-mate Ash Beech had immediately knuckled down to the task in hand and had set about familiarising himself with the track whilst still posting an impressive 1:20.73s for 22nd place, the young newcomer to the series had only completed two laps of the Hampshire circuit before this year's meeting ................ Report

Victor Cox on his way to fourth place at Thruxton on the ILR Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R.

Photo Courtesy: Simon Charity. www.simonsracepics.co.uk

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It was very much of case of discretion being the better part of valour as Victor Cox and Ash Beech both rode sensibly and solidly in extremely difficult conditions to finish 9th and 17th respectively in the first round of the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship at a rain sodden Brands Hatch 'Indy' circuit on Easter Monday.

As always Cox was consistently quick throughout the weekend, with his ILR Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R never far away in the final shake-up during qualifying.

Equally pleasing for team boss Ian Lougher though was the pace and attitude shown by team debutant and Superstock 1000 rookie Beech.

Report........

Victor Cox in action on the ILR Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R.

Photo Courtesy: Simon Charity. www.simonsracepics.co.uk

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On board at the Cartagena Pro Test with Victor Cox and the ILR Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R.

It was a busy time in Spain at the Cartagena Pro-Test for ILR Kawasaki, with team manager/rider Ian Lougher declaring himself more than happy after four days of testing for the team.
Victor Cox and his new team-mate Ashley Beech took full advantage of the test to familiarise themselves with their latest 2012 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R's whilst it was also the perfect opportunity for the new and established team personnel to work together for the first time and to get to know one another.

Ian Lougher: ''It was a great Cartagena test for ILR Kawasaki, and a very hot one, about 27 degrees most days.
The four days allowed Victor to get back up to speed after the long winter break. The first day he circulated getting quicker and quicker all the time, but we didn't want to change too much on his bike, instead we thought it would be better for him to blow the cobwebs away on a set up that he was familiar with from the tail end of 2011.

After that we tried various front fork and rear suspension combination set ups, and came away from Spain with a bike that has a mixture of last year's and this year's ideas as a base setting. (Thank you Richard from Maxton Suspension, as always - superb)
To be honest, it is nice not to be starting with a new model machine this time, which we did in 2011. Last year we ended up being a bit hit and miss sometimes with the set-up as we got to understand the Ninja's likes and dislikes!

I have to say I was mightily impressed with young Ash Beech, as it was his first ride on a 1000cc machine. He started his first day sensibly, learning how to ride the big Kwak which is an altogether different kettle of fish to a 600, using different lines and braking markers, steadily learning and picking up the pace throughout the 4 days. As the time ticked by he got more and more familiar with the bike, eventually upping the pace to be within one second of the flying Victor...which was some feat!!!
A lot of the time Ash chose to stay out on worn tyres, as he realised to be quick for race distance at BSB level, he needed to get used to riding these 190 BHP machines when the tyre wear goes down, and the characteristics of the bike changes.
So all in all a very productive test, and not to mention a great bit of craic (very important in my team) where everyone in the team got along brilliantly.
So here's to a successful and happy 2012.
Wish us well, and see you at the track''
Ian

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