Lee Johnston’s strong start to the 2022 season continued at the North West 200 on Saturday when he not only repeated his Supersport victory from three years ago but also added three more podiums to his haul at the Triangle circuit.

Riding the Ashcourt Racing Yamaha, Johnston, who currently lies in second overall in the British Supersport Championship, fought tooth and nail throughout the Supersport race with Davey Todd but came out on top by just 0.079s after a final lap move at the Juniper Chicane.
 
“It was an awesome ride by Davey and this is the level of riding at British Championship meetings, week in week out,” Johnston said. “We both made a mistake, me at York and Davey at Mathers and he did well to stay on to be fair.
 
“I kept looking behind to see if anyone was there but all our passing didn’t slow us down and I knew Davey would be sensible enough not to make any lunges. I was up against the kerb at one stage trying to find room but it all worked out perfectly at Juniper on the last lap.”
 
Johnston also took second in Saturday’s Superstock race and second and third place finishes in the two Supertwin races on the Aprilia he’s recently built himself. The County Fermanagh rider rode his Isle of Man TT-spec machine and found the going tough against the larger capacity machines, eligible for the class under the MCUI rules.
 
“That’s the first time I’ve ridden the Aprilia and the wee bike was going well but it was hard work against the 700cc machines. Hopefully they’ll get the rules sorted for next year so it’s a more level playing field,” he said.