Lee Johnston’s participation at this year’s North West 200 has been thrown into doubt after the Fermanagh rider revealed he suffered a broken leg in a testing session in Spain three weeks ago.
Johnston had travelled on his own to Cartagena in Spain last month looking to get some high-speed laps under his belt ahead of his scheduled return to action in Daytona, but he revealed in his YouTube vlog that his racing schedule is once again on hold.
“Crashed, not of my own accord, unfortunately, which is massively frustrating, but it could have been worse. It could have been on a faster corner or whatever, but either which way I broke my tib and my fib literally in the first session.”
“There was nothing wrong with the bike,” he continued. “A part actually broke, like an R Clip broke on the pads, so it wasn’t a mechanical fault. It was a part. It was no one’s fault.”
Johnston was taken to a local hospital in Spain, and after undergoing scans he checked himself out and flew home to England the next day. He has since had two operations on the broken leg but has not yet revealed how long he expects to be out for.
Johnston suffered life-threatening injuries in last year’s North West 200 and has not raced competitively since, but after a lengthy recovery period, he had planned a packed programme of events in 2024 before his latest injury setback.
He has now had to scrap plans to contest the Daytona 200 in the USA this week and faces a race against time to be fit for both the opening round of the British Supersport Championship from April 20-21, and the North West 200 in May, where he is scheduled to ride a Honda Fireblade in the Superbike and Superstock races, and a Triumph in the Supersport class.
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