Lee Johnston is an Isle of Man winner again, after he brought his TX500 Yamaha to first place in the Senior Classic Race at the Manx Grand Prix.

Lee’s last visit to the legendary TT course ended in disappointment and frustration when a medical issue affecting his vision brought a premature end to his TT week, but there were no such issues this time around he climbed to the top step of the podium after winning Thursday’s race by 8.2 seconds.

“I really, really enjoyed it. The three laps were absolutely beautiful,” said the Maguiresbridge rider.

“Credit to the whole Davies Yamaha team – the bike has worked well all week and made my job easy. I have oil nearly up under my armpits, never mind my boots, but that’s the way these things are!

“You keep having a look and a listen and a feel, and try to massage the thing round. We had a problem with fifth gear right from the first lap but I figured out I had to shift it 1000rpm earlier and sacrifice the rev rather than limit and miss the gear. Other than that, the bike has worked faultlessly and thanks to the whole team.”

Johnston, who is splitting his racing time this season between road races and the British Supersport Championship, skipped the latest BSB round at Cadwell Park to travel to the Isle of Man, and it proved to be a wise decision.

Johnston was just over a second behind Italian Stefano Bonetti after the opening lap of the race, but he pulled ahead of his rival on lap two to open up an eight-second advantage as the pair surged ahead of the chasing pack.

Increased his advantage

As the race progressed, the two-way fight for victory started to narrow as Bonetti reduced the gap to 3.3 seconds, but Johnston had enough in reserve, and he increased his advantage over the closing kilometres to take the chequered flag.

Lee also contested the Classic Superbike race on Monday on board a Honda RC45.

The 33-year-old never held out any hopes of outright victory on the bike, but he brought it home in seventh spot.

“I can’t believe we got four laps in, and I’m chuffed to bits,” he said after the race.

“A bit more than a month ago, that bike was sitting in my boss’s showroom and he decided we were going to bring it here.

“It is absolutely mental. We have done four laps of the TT on it. There are people getting bikes ready for years, and we have only got it here. Hopefully we can bring it back again.

“The amount of people waving because they are so happy to see the bike, and it sounds beautiful, it was amazing.

“I was a bit sad coming round that I have another whole year to wait before I can do it again.”