Lee Johnston recovered from an accident in the first British Supersport race of the weekend to claim a podium finish the following day.

The Yamaha rider had a high-speed crash when challenging for the lead on the final lap but dusted himself off to claim third place and hold on to sixth spot in the championship standings.

The opening race was held in torrential rain, and on a weekend that tested all the riders Lee was one of those to fall victim to the conditions.

After leading for much of the race it looked as though the Maguiresbridge rider could be on course to claim his first track win of the campaign, but that ended in dramatic fashion on the last lap.

“We led for eight out of the 12 laps and for the last three laps we were in second,” explained Lee.

“I thought I would have a go on the last lap because there was no real point overtaking any earlier.

“On the last lap, a back marker sat in the way and that created a bit more of a gap than there was.

“I tried to claw that back and I had a big fourth gear high side out onto the back straight, and that was the end of that.

“Luckily enough, the air bag went off on my suit and I was completely fine. I landed on my head, but I wasn’t unconscious, and thanks to the equipment I was all right.”

Battle

With the track starting to dry out the following day Lee climbed back on his Yamaha and was locked in a three-way battle for the lead with champion Rory Skinner and his teammate Brad Jones.

“The three of us broke away and, realistically, they are probably the best two riders in the country at the minute, so to go with them is a good sign of our pace,” he said.

“I set the fastest lap over the first four laps and I was really happy with the race. It would have been really nice to win, but to be on the podium and be away from the rest of the pack is good.

“The group was tight right up until two laps to go.

“Rory broke clear a bit and I had four or five seconds back to fourth. I knew I didn’t really have enough pace to contend for the win, and a third is as good as a second, so I settled for that.”

Keith Farmer was contesting his second Superbike event since his return from injury, and he put together three points-scoring performances in a triple header weekend of racing.

Saturday’s Superbike race was postponed due to heavy rain, with all three races rescheduled to run on one day.

With the track still damp Keith opted for a safety-first policy, choosing a wet weather tyre, while his teammates used the intermediate.

“I wanted to go with an intermediate rear tyre, but I needed some track time and a race under my belt in the wet,” he explained.

“We got that, but I would have liked to have gone forward towards the end. Kyle and Gino ran on intermediate [tyres], and we could have done the same and maybe had a top ten, but it wasn’t to be, and we still finished 13th so I was happy enough.”

Problems

As the day progressed the weather improved and race two started on dry tarmac, but the improvement in conditions brought more problems for Farmer, who had limited dry track testing time to set up his Suzuki.

“I had savage chatter with the front tyre,” he explained.

“I had to learn to ride with it. Every time I released the front brake, the chatter came in until I reached for the throttle, so I had to go from releasing the brake to grabbing the throttle in as short a time as possible.

“We started coming stronger again at the end, but once that gap is opened at the start it’s nearly impossible to claw it back. We did the best we could, and there was a lot who fell out, but we stayed on and got some points in 11th.”

The final race of the weekend yielded another points-scoring finish. Despite more small handling and set-up issues, Keith brought his bike home in 15th.

The demanding schedule did have an effect on Keith’s recent shoulder injury, but he is hopeful he can put that behind him and finish the season on a high at Brands Hatch in two weeks’ time.

‘Toll’

“The three races in the one day took their toll on my shoulder,” he admitted.

“It wasn’t a massive issue, but I was starting to be aware of it in the last race. On the way home it was sore, and I’m obviously aware of it when I am riding, but I just need to try and relax and not compensate everywhere else for it.

“Three points-scoring finishes – ompared to Oulton when we had one point – it definitely was a better weekend, and I hope we can do a better job again at Brands.

“We will look forward to Brands and see what we can do. We will try to get a good round under our belt and try to impress a few team owners for next year,” he said.