Suter returns to Isle of Man TT Races with Ian Lougher set to ride two stroke MMX500
Suter Industries has confirmed that they will be returning to compete at the Isle of Man TT races fuelled by Monster Energy this year.
Ten-time TT Race winner Ian Lougher, who rode for the team in 2016, will again tackle the TT Mountain Course on the Suter MMX500 V4 2-Stroke in both the RST Superbike and PokerStars Senior TT Races.
Lougher’s 2016 TT experience with Suter saw him lap at over 121mph on the prototype machine on his way to completing the PokerStars Senior TT Race. The Welshman is one of the most experienced road racers in the world and in addition to his ten TT Race wins he also has 8 wins at the North West 200 and 18 wins at the Ulster Grand Prix in his career.
Lougher took his first TT victory in the 1990 Junior TT in one of the closest races in the event’s history, winning by only 1.8 seconds from Steve Hislop, setting new race and lap records that weren’t beaten for nine years.
His near 30-year TT career, between 1984 and 2013, included 130 starts and the most replicas awarded to a TT rider before retiring after the 2013 Senior TT, although the 54-year-old continued to race on the TT Mountain Course in the Classic TT, before returning to the main TT event with Suter in 2016.
Ian Lougher said:
“It goes without saying, I am excited to be racing the Suter MMX500 again at the Isle of Man TT Races. I feel that after all the hard work put in by the entire Suter team and myself, it’s very much unfinished business and I can‘t wait to go testing. It‘s two years since our last episode together, and the engineers say that they have managed to squeeze even more power out of the engine and iron out all the niggling problems we encountered in 2016. I’m ready to go down Bray Hill and give the spectators that two stroke experience again.”
Eskil Suter, fouder of Suter, said:
“Ian has an unquestionable pedigree at this circuit. The idea of racing here is simple – to show how much the MMX500 has matured in both reliability and efficiency. Development since our initial run at the mountain course two years ago has been ongoing. We are confident in what Ian will be able to achieve with the bike in this spec.”
Eskil Suter also outlined plans to sell Lougher’s race bike immediately following this year’s event.
“In another first, we are selling this TT 2018 race bike as is! The sales package will include the MMX500 Ian Lougher raced at the IoM TT 2018, complete with all the road rash and bugs. We will also be providing a complete set of Suter 2018 Team wear, VIP access with the team as well as your very own spot on one of our Suter Race days with Eskil as your personal coach with everything handed over to you on the Isle of Man.”