Ian Lougher’s TT plans

Ian Lougher’s Black Horse Finance Yamaha team will be expanded to three riders at the Isle of Man TT this year.

He will run Swede Mats Nilsson in the superbike and supersport races and Japanse rider Yoshinari Matsushita in superstock.

Nilsson has done the Manx twice, having finished second in the 2006 Newcomers race and second in the 2007 Junior race and last year rode a Padgetts Honda CBR600RR eighth and 12th place finishes in the two supersport TTs.

Lougher said: “I’ve been talking Mats about riding our bikes since last year’s TT. He was very impressive last year, clocking an impressive 121.7mph. Yoshinari does endurance racing in Japan and wants to ride at the TT.

“I met him when I went there to look at the possibility of running a TT-style race on Miyakejima island.”

Lougher will ride his own Black Horse Finance Yamahas in the supersport and superstock races but will ride an AIM Yamaha R1 in the two superbike races on the Island.

Lougher’s Black Horse Finance team rider in the National Superstock championship, Conor Cummins, has a deal in place to ride for Winston McAdoo’s Kawasaki team for the roads.