Tough start for Lee at British 600

Editorial Department • Published 29 Apr 2010 09:12 0 Comments

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Lee Johnston has had a tough opening to the British 600 Supersport Championships.

The 2010 British 600 Supersport Championship has kicked off and Maguiresbridge rider Lee Johnston is back in the thick of the action. This is Lee's second year in the series, and after a couple of seasons riding Yamahas he is now Kawasaki mounted having signed to ride for the Gearlink Kawasaki team. Much is expected of Lee this year after the team secured a few wins last season. Pre-season testing in Spain went well and the team arrived at the season opener at Brands Hatch in good form.

This was soon dashed as Lee struggled in practice to finish a lowly 18th place although ultimately only 0.4 secs off the pole position. The pace is just as hot as last year! Qualifying was little better, with Lee encountering an electrical problem which caused an intermittent misfire as well as having various handling problems. Lee was to start the race in 14th place. Come race day and the team had worked hard to try and sort the problems out. Lee made a cracking start and within four laps was up to seventh place however the misfire returned and he dropped back down through the field until an incident packed race was stopped early and Lee finished 14th.

The next round was two weeks ago at the fast paced Thruxton circuit. Lee knew he would struggle here because although the handling problems from Brands Hatch were well sorted and the misfire hopefully cured, the bike is much slower than the Yamahas and Triumphs. Still Lee is nothing if not a fighter and was in 10th place in free practice and eventually ended up in ninth spot in practice after the final qualifying. Race day was a fine day and with a rising track temperature, the team took a change on tyre choice which unfortunately back-fired as Lee suffered traction problems throughout the race.

He did however "ride the wheels off the bike" and finished a fighting ninth place, one place behind his team mate. He was philosophical about the race - "We either had a bad tyre on or the wrong tyre on but the bike handled well and went well. It is just badly down on power," said Lee.

Lee's bike was the first bike home without electronic riding aids which can be worth up to half a second per lap.

Not the start to the season he wanted but two finishes in the first two rounds is a solid start and next weekend he rides at Oulton Park hoping to carry on pushing up the field.

Lee would like to thank his local fans and supporters for keeping faith in particular staff and customers in Frank's Bar in Lisnaskea and Armstrong Engineering in Letterbreen.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 29 Apr 10

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