REPORT by Philip McCammon

Motorcycle racing at the fonaCAB North West 200 returned to the north coast at the weekend after an absence of two years, and Lee Johnson was hoping to repeat his 2019 Supersport win on his Ashcourt Racing bike.

A very wet Thursday evening for racing on the nine-mile triangle saw Johnston, and a few other riders, take the decision not to race in the first Supersport, Superstock and Supertwin races.

Disappointing for fans of ‘The General’, but safety comes first.

This left the way clear for Alastair Seeley to take a win in the first Supersport race from Davey Todd and Jeremy McWilliams.

Seeley then repeated his success in the first Superstock race of the weekend with a start-to-finish victory over Todd, while Richard Cooper completed the podium.

With light fading and worsening conditions, the decision was taken to postpone the first Supertwin race until Saturday morning. Good news for Johnston and any other competitors who had decided to sit it out.

As thousands of race fans headed to the north coast on Saturday morning, the weather couldn’t have been more of a contrast to Thursday evening. Bright sunshine and rising temperatures were on the cards.

First up was the postponed Supertwin race, and Johnston knew he would have his work cut out having qualified back in eighth place, and he certainly was on the ball from the drop of the flag.

By the end of lap one, Johnston had catapulted himself into second.

As the four-lap race unfolded, positions changed several times on a circuit where slipstreaming is very important.

As they crossed the line, it was Richard Cooper who took the chequered flag ahead of Frenchman Pierre Yves Bian, followed by Paul Jordan and Johnston in fourth.

In the same race, Ederney rider Eric Wilson suffered electrical problems on his McCrum’s Motorcycles Aprilia, which forced him to retire on lap three.

In the second Supertwin race, it was Cooper who again set the pace while Joe Loughlin, McWilliams and Johnston battled it out for the podium positions.

Cooper again took the race win from Loughlin and Johnston held off the challengers from behind to take third.

Infringement

But the drama wasn’t over just yet ... Following a protest later in the day, Copper was excluded from both results standings due to a technical infringement, which moved everyone else up a place, giving Johnston two well-deserved podium finishes.

Thankfully, Wilson was able to get his machine sorted out for race two and finished a creditable 19th place.

The stage was now set for the second Supersport race, and conditions couldn’t have been more perfect.

After the disappointment of missing out on Thursday evening, Johnston was determined to be up with the front runners.

That was never going to be easy, having qualified on the third row of the grid, but much to the delight of his many fans, Lee held the lead at the end of lap one from Davey Todd and Michael Dunlop.

As the front two put a gap between themselves and the rest of the field, this was going to be an epic encounter.

The lead changed several times every lap, but it was Johnston who made his move on the coast road and he held on to take a well-deserved victory by just a fraction of a second from Todd while Dunlop held on to third.

In the second Superstock race, once again Lee was going to have to bring his ‘A’ game, having qualified in sixth place.

As the race progressed, it was Thursday’s double winner, Alastair Seeley, who held all the cards.

Meanwhile, Johnston was battling hard with half a dozen other riders, and by the end of lap four, had moved himself into second place, and there he remained to take his fourth podium finish of the day behind Seeley, with Dean Harrison coming in third.

In the first Superbike race, it was Glenn Irwin and Davey Todd who broke away at the front, and after several exchanges, it was Irwin who took the win by just 0.2 seconds, with Richard Cooper third.

Irwin then completed his double in race two from Cooper, with Josh Brookes in third.

Irwin’s start-to-finish victory made him the only rider in history to have won six superbike races in a row at the North West 200.

For Lee Johnston, it’s back to the British Superbike Championship round at Donington Park this weekend, followed by a trip to the Isle of Man to compete in the world-famous TT races, held on the very demanding 37-mile mountain course.