Lee Johnston endured a frustrating weekend at Oulton Park, finishing fourth and fifth in the two races as his hopes of a British Supersport Championship success were dealt a blow.

The Ashcourt Racing rider was penalised for overtaking under a yellow flag, as Jack Kennedy stretched out a lead at the top of the Championship table. Johnston’s performance was enough to lift him from fourth to third, but Kennedy’s double race win has left Johnston with an uphill task to close the gap over the two remaining rounds.

In a closely contested opening sprint race of the weekend at Oulton Park, Johnston qualified ninth on the grid and could not drag himself into the fight for the lead, which was developing between Kennedy and Ben Currie.

Johnston was in the chasing pack, and with the top two pulling away Lee was locked in a close contest with Harry Truelove and Bradley Perie, eventually claiming fourth spot, one second adrift of Truelove.

In the feature race on Sunday Johnston made a great start, rocketing into second spot behind Kennedy.

Despite several changes in position among the front runners Lee remained in contention for the lead. Perie, one place ahead of Johnston in the championship, crashed out on lap ten, but the subsequent yellow flags were to change the race for the Maguiresbridge rider.

He had moved into the lead of the race, but officials ruled that he had completed the overtaking manoeuvre while under safety car conditions and he was subsequently issued a three second penalty. That punishment pushed him down the field, and turned what could have been a second place finish, into a fifth pace points haul.

Lee now sits third in the championship, but is 38 points adrift of leader Kennedy with two rounds at Donnington Park and Brands Hatch remaining.