At the extremely hot Brands Hatch the East Coast Racing riders Lee Johnston and Gary Johnson had two very solid results in their first race of the season on the Brands Indy Circuit, Lee secured a stunning fourth place and Gary 10th position.
The two riders suffered their fair share of problems over the weekend but the young Irishman Johnston managed to put the East Coast Racing Honda in third place on the grid in qualifying yesterday, his highest ever qualifying position. Despite a steady start the feisty rider settled into a rhythm during the short 18-lap race and made a confident pass on Honda mounted Steve Plater for fourth place on lap 17 into the first corner Paddock Hill Bend. Despite all his efforts he was unable to make a pass on third placed man Jack Kennedy and finished only 0.1 behind him as the chequered flag was shown.
He said "I was pacing myself far too much at the start of the race and trying to conserve my tyres so I could give it a big push at the end. Sadly I saved too much in reserve and wasn't able to make a pass on Jack or Youngy. Overall though it's the first race out the way, it's solid points in the bag and I can't complain. I think the only thing we might be changing tomorrow will be the tyre compound. I'm looking forward to a longer race tomorrow and getting a better result."
Gary Johnson had some problems during practice with bike set up but managed to be second fastest in morning warm up and he was feeling confident for the afternoon race. Making some changes and reverting back to some settings they used at the start of the weekend Gary gained a stunning start from 17th position on the grid and was sitting in 10th place after the opening lap. He became very much a Triumph sandwich over the race and swapped between ninth and tenth position for the whole 18-laps, finally securing 10th place.
Commenting he said "After my mistake in qualifying I knew I had a lot of work to do from 17th on the grid. I had to ensure of a good start and luckily that's what I managed to get. It was very bunched up into the first two corners but I just had to hope for the best and stick to my line. Thankfully it worked and I was tenth after the first lap, I was locked in a pretty tight battle and kept dipping into a top ten place. I was struggling with the power on the exit to the corners and was loosing time on the riders in front but we're moving in the right direction and hope I'll be able to get a better result tomorrow."
British Supersport Race 2 - 13:40 - Monday 25th April - 26 laps
Race 1 Result
Ben Wilson Kawasaki
Paul Young Triumph
Jack Kennedy Yamaha
LEE JOHNSTON EAST COAST RACING HONDA
Steve Plater Honda
AJ Venter Triumph
Luke Mossey Triumph
Jimmy Hill Triumph
Matt Whitman Triumph
Gary Johnson EAST COAST RACING HONDA
