Lee Johnston, who had rides in two major teams at the Classic TT, has tumbled off the chair of a sidecar outfit while playing at Jurby airfield and pulled out of his ride in Monday’s Superbike race.

Johnston was the passenger in a 600cc Yamaha F2 outfit, with Dean Harrison driving, when they lost control. Harrison stayed on while Johnston has injured his right hand. He is thought to have lost a fingernail or two and some skin. The pair planned to ride the outfit in a demonstration lap of the Mountain Circuit on Monday.

Johnston was due to ride a Team Classic Suzuki in the Superbike race, and a 350cc MV for Black Eagle Racing in the Junior event. Michael Dunlop, who had suffered a blown engine in his own XR69, will now take over Johnston’s machine, while Irishman believes that he is still capable of campaigning the lighter MV triple.

The pair of novice sidecar pilots were soon joking about the incident back in the paddock. “It was inexperience,” Johnston said. “Neither of us knew what the fuck we were doing.”