In front of a packed crowd in the baking sunshine at Brands Hatch, the East Coast Racing riders of Lee Johnston and Gary Johnson had another strong race on Monday. After finishing in fourth and 10th place yesterday the pairing were unable to better their results with Lee gaining sixth place and Gary in 11th place in the 26-lap Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Race today.

The grid positions were set by their lap times from yesterday, which placed Lee on a row further back in seventh place but Gary gained two places and was in 15th on the starting grid. 22-year-old Lee struggled off the start loosing a number of places and was in 11th place after the first lap. Despite his valiant efforts to get back through the pack setting the fastest lap time of 47.000 on lap 10 the young Irishman was unable to make a pass and stay with the leading bunch.

He said "I'm sure I must sit with my eyes closed on the grid when the lights go out as my starts are horrendous. I lost so many places into the first turn and just left myself with loads of work to do. I got my head down but because I was pushing so hard I was wearing my tyres out faster and therefore when I finally managed to get on the back of the leading bunch I was unable to make a solid pass and just lost time on them. I'm a bit gutted with my result but I've had two pretty solid results this weekend and fifth in the points standings. The East Coast Racing team have been brilliant I can't thank them enough for all their hard work. I'd like to get somewhere to try and practice my starts as they let me down this weekend. I can't wait to get to Oulton Park though next weekend."

Gary Johnson was in 15th on the grid and unlike his fellow team-mate got a good start and was ninth after the opening lap. He once again became sandwiched between the Triumphs throughout the 26-lap race and was dicing once again for a top ten place, swapping between ninth and twelfth, eventually taking 11th place.

Gary commented "I'm really happy with how the weekend has gone for us as I wasn't quite sure what to expect from it all. It's been nearly six years since I've raced in the Supersport Championship so it's been a big change for me but I'm really enjoying it. Those boys out there are very quick so I'm glad I've been able to start the season with two solid results and we've made huge steps forward with the bike and my riding style since arriving on Friday. We made a few changes before warm up this morning but they didn't work so we changed it back to how we had it yesterday. I nearly had a big moment into Druids early on in the race which lost me time but once I settled down I was having a good battle with the riders around me. I'd like to thank all my crew at the East Coast Racing team for the hours they have put in this weekend and hope things will just keep improving as the season progresses."

Team Manager Phil Reed said "I'm really pleased with Lee and Gary this weekend it's been a great start to the season for us. They have both worked very hard this weekend and both have learnt a lot since we got here. We've had no major problems this weekends just small issues which we have managed to sort out reasonably quickly. We're looking forward to getting to Oulton Park next weekend and hope we can improve on our results."

Race Result

Alastair Seeley              Suzuki

Jack Kennedy               Yamaha

Steve Plater                  Honda

Ben Wilson                  Kawasaki

Dean Hipwell               Yamaha

LEE JOHNSTON    EAST COAST RACING HONDA

Jimmy Hill                   Triumph

Luke Mossey                Triumph

Sam Warren                 Yamaha

Dan Cooper                 Triumph

GARY JOHNSON    EAST COAST RACING HONDA