Gary Johnson scorched to a superb third place in Supersport race

Gary Johnson scorched to a superb third place in this evening’s Monster Energy Supersport race to give Mar-Train Racing their debut TT podium on only their second visit to the event.

Johnson led the early stages of the race from team mate Dean Harrison in a dream one-two for the Lisburn outfit as they disputed the podium positions with Ian Hutchinson and Bruce Anstey. Harrison’s race unfortunately came to a premature end at the beginning of lap two as he stopped with a technical fault at Crosby Crossroads after posting an opening lap of 125.824mph.

Thirty four year old Johnson continued to press with a second lap of 126.450mph to pull away from the rest of the field with only four seconds separating Hutchinson in the lead from Johnson in third. As they started the last lap Hutchinson and Anstey had pulled clear of the Yamaha man however Johnson in turn had a ten second gap over Lee Johnston which he controlled to the chequered flag to secure his podium position and give Tim and Sonya Martin their first visit to the famous winner’s enclosure.

Team Principal - Tim Martin
“That was a bitter sweet experience, really gutted for Dean as he was flying before the mechanical but so happy for Gary; that was a great ride. To get our first podium at only our second attempt is phenomenal, it isn’t something I take lightly as TT podiums definitely do not come easy. The whole team have worked hard and Gary rode a great race, to be running first and second at the start was an unbelievable achievement. We’ll review the data from today and make improvements for both guys now ahead of Wednesday’s second bite of the cherry, hopefully Dean can challenge until the end and we can get both guys on the podium”

Gary Johnson
“I’m pleased with that, the bike and tyres worked really well and it’s great to get back on the podium. I was struggling to hold my corner speed in a few sections which was holding me back but other than that the bike was spot on. We led early on and put in some decent lap times so if we can improve the chassis slightly we can hopefully run with Hutchy and Bruce on Wednesday and fight for the win.”