Johnston takes maiden Isle of Man TT win in rain-halted Supersport

Lee Johnston has claimed his first victory at the Isle of Man TT in the opening Monster Energy Supersport event in a rain-interrupted race which was called to finish at the end of Lap 2.

The Ashcourt Racing Yamaha rider bolted into the lead ahead of James Hillier on the opening lap by the Bungalow, both setting a rapid pace at the start, before the race positions settled down over the Mountain.

The Quattro Plant Kawasaki rider closed the gap down to six-tenths of a second at Ballaugh on Lap 2 but charging to the Mountain for the second time Johnston extended his lead again.

But with rain reported on the west side of the TT course, the chequered flag was shown at the end of Lap 2 which saw Johnston cross the line to win by 3.641s from Hillier for his maiden triumph at the TT.

Peter Hickman, winner in the earlier Superbike TT, completed the podium trio on the K2 Trooper Beer Triumph by Smiths Racing just 1.326s behind Hillier.

Harrison, leading on the road at the time of the finish, initially headed down the pit lane for a pit stop when the race was called at the end of Lap 2 which saw him lose a handful of seconds, but he did retain fourth place on the Silicone Engineering Kawasaki in front of Michael Dunlop on the MD Racing Honda.

Conor Cummins grabbed sixth place for Milenco by Padgetts Honda ahead of Gary Johnson on the RAF Regular & Reserves Triumph, having been as high as third place on the opening lap, with Jamie Coward impressing in eighth place for Prez Racing Yamaha.

Davey Todd claimed ninth place for Padgetts Honda with Honda Racing’s Ian Hutchinson rounding out the top 10.

The opening day of racing at the 2019 Isle of Man TT was marred by the death of Daley Mathison in an incident at Snugborough which triggered a red flag in the Superbike race.