Hi All!
I hope you like my new clothing brand.we`re keeping the price as low as we can to sell as many as we can to all my fans and well wishers!

 
Available through the worn by legends website http://www.wornbylegends.com/t-shirts/sport/motorcycles/hegatron/hegatron-88-2015/

So close 😊

Bugger me backwards its March!

Literally from the 16th of this month my life is going to go into warp speed! Trackdays, racing, travelling, working, time with my boys! Oh yea and working as much as i can in between to pay the bills! Sooo much hard work has gone into this year, I just know the presentation of the Downshift team is going to impress a few!

Who wants boring with how much training i've been doing? Noone? Good. Lol. I'm a lot fitter than I was 3 Months ago and now i'm dieting for March to trim that list bit of weight.

Heres a recap of what i'll be riding and for who, all under the Downshift umbrell although via others too.

I'll be doing the British Superstock onboard The Downshift Kawasaki ZX10R

This will be the short circuit bike running on K Tech suspension.

Both Scarboroughs, Ulster GP, Southern 100 will be alongside ILR Kawasaki.

The TT Effort will again be alongside ILR

Superbike will be Downshift built and prepared Kawasaki ZX10R running K Tech suspension and Dunlop Tyres

Superstock will be an ILR Kawasaki ZX10 running Maxton suspension and Dunlop tyres

Supersport will (Hopefully) be my Cross lane Garage/ Downshift Kawasaki ZX6R on K Tech suspension and Dunlop Tyres

Lightweight will be aboard the Brian Scott racing Kawasaki ER6. Maxton suspension and Dunlop Tyres.

😳😳😳😳😳 #racinglife #grateful

Bell Helmets 😉

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.''

.........................................................................

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!

New Sponsor!

Let me not bore you all with me going on about training anymore!
Here`s some good news in these quiet times.

I have today done a deal with Stephen Hunter of Tui Na Massage Therapy.

 

Steve is trained in many forms of Chinese medicine. He specializes in Chinese Tui Na which is a none invasive type of acupuncture.
I have been visiting Steve since 2009 for all over body care, he seems to be the only person capable of releasing my back when it tightens, he understands the body better than anybody I know and he is a wealth of knowledge.
He can speed up recovery times from injuries, reduce blood pressure, relieve severe pain and much more. Take a look at Steve`s Blog http://stephenhunteruk.blogspot.co.uk   and also his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/stephenhunterukcom/385081628281313?fref=ts
 Just reading some of Stephens` articles is an education itself.

I constantly look to more natural methods when i have any health issues and that usually leads to eastern world ways of dealing with these. I have so much more faith in this than i do the western way of medicating. If you have any health issues at all contact Stephen and see if he can help you too. I hope that you`ll also be amazed!

Although I will continue to pay for my treatments with Steve (My choice) he is now also going to assess me and train me once a week in the role as a Personal Trainer.
Steve has again a wealth of experience and knowledge of the body and is in fine shape himself. Its going to be great for Steve to see the adapted way i have to train due to old Injuries and we will together get my body working as efficiently as possible.
I am very excited and grateful and can not wait to start this training. We will try and get some pictures for the blog too.

Testings getting close!

Hi all.
Such a quiet time of year of racing as far as results goes but from Christmas onwards there is so much hard work going on for all race teams. I`ve ran myself for long enough to appreciate how much work must go in to running a full time team. Motorsport is like an Orchestra, so many things to come together all at once to make that perfect race or lap time. I`m keeping in touch regularly with Dave the guy building the bikes and every time we`ve spoke there is more exciting news and progress!

I`m really enjoying my pre season training now, the first week was quite hard and achy but i`m now in to my 3rd week and my body is starting to get used to it. I`m now using a protein recovery shake, Glucosamine, Vitamins and Omega 3 as supplements. I`m training 9-10 times a week and never doing the same thing twice, I want to be a strong all round athlete and be ready for the challenges ahead.
Yesterday I did a spin class for the first time, it was tough, but first weeks usually are, i`ve learnt to gauge myself on classes on the first time and press harder the following weeks. I`m def going to fit Spin into my weekly workouts as I think its going to be beneficial to my peak cardio and Cycling performance.
I also did a class last night called Body Pump, this was a tough class and i think its prob going to be one of the better classes to improve muscular endurance. Today I`ve done a 10k run, and tonight I Have 1 hours Boxing and 1 1/2 hours Football.
Luckily my mum is feeding me well to cope with all this and everybody else around me is supportive too.
I try to do the Grantham Sprint Triathlon every year in early May, its a good way to gauge my fitness levels and i think i`ll be signing up again soon. I now have a better push bike for this and I plan to smash my PB!

I`m quitting Sunday morning Football from the middle of February onwards, I really love the sport but with the opportunity this year I really cant risk any daft Injuries that could hurt me or effect the rest of my training. I`ve really enjoyed playing for East Bridgford Rangers in my first season for them and i`ll definitely be back for next season.

I came across this little beauty the other day at my friends MJS Paint. (Mad Jays Spraying)
It was one of these where it all started for me. I remember the day well, I turned up at my cousins house when i was about 7 years old and he was riding around the field on one of these. He took me on the back and the buzz was awesome, I begged him to teach me to ride it but he wouldn't, so i jumped on when he wasn't watching and proceeded to crash into a stall with the throttle on full and wondering why it wouldn't stop when i pulled the brakes on! What a ride until then though. I was hooked! It now takes tens of thousands of pounds and 200 mph to get that same buzz 20 years on.... Madness.

Heres a little Project i`ve been doing for a while for one of my sponsors. I`ve about broke its back now and the bodywork has now gone off to be painted in original Yamaha colours. Its a 1980 Yamaha TZ 125 G.

Heres a sneak peak of the teams workshop before Xmas, Daves been hard at work and it looks different again already. I`m sure a few of you have worked out the link already, we cant wait to do the official press release!

Hi all. 
So it looks like the huge 2014 effort from RTR and all its sponsors has paid off. As a fat mechanic with a bad back i was able to get my best career result at the Isle of man TT.  On the ILR kawasaki I rode to 21st position in the Superstock race, Averaging 120mph.

 For 2015 I have been so lucky as to land a ride with a newly established team for the full British Superstock Championship and also many road races too including the TT, Scarborough, Southern 100, Ulster gp and Macau.
We will begin testing in Spain as early February the 4th,5th and 6th @ the Cartagena race circuit.

I feel so lucky to have been given this opportunity this year and i`m making sure that i am able to be in the best shape that i can possibly be. I am traing 9-10 times a week doing Running, Spinning, Cycling, Circuits, Boxing,Gym, Body, Swimming, Football and Interval training up Steps. I`m close to my PBs already and its only Jan, i`m hoping to blow them away the time April comes and be fitter than ever!

We will be doing an official team press release very soon so watch this space. 

In the meantime why not follow: Downshift Motorsport on Facebook.