Lee Johnston is hoping he can top the podium at this weekend’s North West 200.

The Maguiresbridge rider has secured top three finishes in each of the last two years at the North coast event but this time around he is looking to add to his growing reputation by taking a race win.

“We want to go and win some races. That’s why we are here,” said Lee. “I’m really positive about it. We have a really big sponsor with the team now and my profile has gone up, so it’s looking good for all four classes. We have been running in the top ten in the British Championship this year and we were at Scarborough at the start of the year where we had a third and a fourth there, so it was pretty good. Everything is going really well and we have a good build up this year so hopefully it will all come good at the North West.” Johnston will race a Pirtek backed East Coast Honda machinery in the Supersport, Superstock and Superbike races at the North West, and he will start his campaign on Thursday evening on board an East Coast Kawasaki ER6 in the Supertwin race.

Lee arrived at last year’s event still trying to recover from a broken leg sustained earlier in the season, but despite his injury he defied the odds to take third place in the Supersport race before the meeting was abandoned due to torrential rain. Lee went on to prove that podium was no fluke as he took the privateers award at the Isle of Man TT races later in the season.

Last week Lee was racing around Oulton Park circuit on his way to a ninth place finish in the British Superbike series and although the North West will present a very different challenge in weather conditions that are predicted to once again be wet, Lee, now living in Hull, admits he is looking forward to coming back home.

“I love coming home to the North West,” he revealed. “Obviously I don’t get to ride very much in Northern Ireland any more, just the North West and the Ulster is the only time I get home, and it means a lot. I get to see a lot of people that I don’t see all year and it’s nice to get some local support.”