SuperBike Magazine July 2020

2005: Ian Retains Solo Championship!
Ian Lougher electrified the Golden Jubilee
Southern ‘100’ by winning the opening race
and setting the fastest ever lap around the
Billown Circuit.
Ian Lougher (Honda) and Guy Martin (Suzuki)
staged a repeat of Tuesday evening’s record-breaking
tussle when they re-joined battle
in the Total Oil Senior race. Time and again
they shattered the outright lap record set by
Lougher less than 24 hours earlier, as they
fought for supremacy on the Billown Course.
At the end Lougher pulled away to win, with
Martin backing off as it again dawned on the
youngster that he still has a thing or two to
learn from the old master. Lougher won by
nine seconds and kept his name on the ultimate
lap record at an amazing 111.83mph as
he broke Martin’s challenge on lap eight. The
pair raced wheel-to-wheel thrilling a large
crowd gathered in perfect conditions.
It took a record last lap for Ian Lougher to
beat Ryan Farquhar in the S&S Motors 50th
Anniversary race. Farquhar led on six of the
eight laps but Lougher led when it mattered
– as the chequered flag came down on a very
close race with the top three averaging more
than 105mph.
Precisely 50 years to the day since the
running of the first Southern ‘100’ the Welshman
from Northern Ireland, Ian Lougher, won
his third Southern ‘100’ Championship by 10
seconds at record lap and race speeds. For his
efforts he won the Ennett Memorial Trophy,
which was fitting as Derek Ennett, in whose
memory it is named, won that original Southern
‘100’ race. It was Lougher’s fourth win of
the meeting and proved once again there is no
substitute for experience.
Younger contender, Guy Martin challenged
for half of the 10-lap distance but again had
no real response when Lougher upped the
ante. Lougher (Honda) tailed Martin (Suzuki)
for three laps before slipping past and putting
four seconds between them by lap seven.
Next lap Lougher lapped at 111.688mph, which
completely destroyed Martin’s challenge.
In fact, it was not quite as fast as Lougher
had gone the previous evening when again
repelling Martin’s brave attempt. That had
established a new outright course record of
111.883mph, the difference being just over a
fifth of a second. Ryan Farquhar (Kawasaki)
ran third for three laps before being overtaken
at Stadium Bend by Jason Griffiths (Yamaha),
but two laps later the Irishman was back in
place. Griffiths again got his nose in front on
the penultimate lap and held it to the final
corner on the last lap only for Farquhar to
snatch it back in a demon move, including
weaving away down the finishing straight.
2006 Cameron Donald becomes second
Newcomer to win Solo Championship
Wizard of Oz Cameron Donald left his stamp
on the Isle of Man for the second time in a
month when he won the Southern 100 Solo
Championship at the first attempt.
2006 - Cameron Donald
2005 - Ian keeps Guy at bay rounding Ballabeg Hairpin
in the early part of the Solo Championship Race
Just a few short weeks after setting the TT
alight with a blistering 128 mph lap on his
way to second place in the Senior behind
John McGuinness (his second TT but his
Senior race debut) the fast-learning Australian
did it again.
This time he repelled a two-pronged assault
from Billown regulars Ian Lougher and
Guy Martin to chalk up a further debut win
on the back of his Tandragee and Skerries
successes in Ireland.
2007 Southern 100 gains ‘International’
Status
Lougher regains Solo Championship
Chalking up his 36th success on the Billown
Course, Ian Lougher won the Southern 100
Solo Championship title for the fourth time
in six years by a surprisingly comfortable
margin.
In a week of considerable highs and
lows the likeable Welshman crashed twice
at the same corner in separate races on different
bikes, broke down while vying for the
lead in the lead 250cc race and celebrated
his 44th birthday.
Nick Crowe and Dan Sayle won the
Sidecar Championship by a country mile.
It was Crowe’s fourth consecutive
title; the previous
three coming with
Darren Hope, but
his ambition of
becoming the first
drive to circulate
Billown at 100mph
on a three-wheeler
were scuppered by
the damp conditions,
having lapped
at 99.778mph in the
dry the previous
evening.
2009 Southern
100 Solo Championship
Race
Arguably Best-Ever! (At that
time)
Not many short circuit races
finish with less than four
fifths of a second blanketing
the top four riders, so when
0.777 of a second covers the
top four in a road race it must
be something special.
The 2009 Southern 100
Solo Championship race over
nine laps of the 4.25-mile
Billown Course was one such
race – arguably the most
exciting in the 54-year history
of the event on the outskirts
of the Isle of Man’s ancient
former capital of Castletown.