The East Coast Racing team kicked off their Real Road Racing season last Tuesday night at the International North West. Gary Johnson and Lee Johnston had a very successful practice week on the East Coast Racing Honda's. Gary was set to race in the Superbike, Supersport and Superstock races with Lee making his second appearance at the NW200 set to race in the Supersport Class.

The pair produced some good results during the Tuesday and Thursday practice sessions with Gary qualifying in fantastic second place for the Supersport race and Lee in ninth. In the wet and miserable conditions the race was cut short to five laps of the 9-mile course. Gary gained a fantastic start and was leading from Alistair Seeley on lap one and Lee was in eighth.

As normal the stunning and super fast track produced some awesome racing with the riders swapping positions on each lap after gaining slip streaming opportunities on the long straights. Gary was passed by Aussie Cameron Donald on lap two and New Zealander Bruce Anstey worked his way past on lap three.

Wildman Michael Dunlop found a way through on lap four but Gary managed to bring the East Coast Racing Honda home in a fantastic fifth place and Lee dropped back to ninth when Guy Martin made a move on him on lap two.

The rest of the day proved full of dramas for the organisers of the International North West, as they lined up on the grid for the Superbike race a bomb scare was announced which resulted in evacuating the paddock. After this false alarm the heavens opened again and the time was further delayed, they finally got the race running and after one lap Ryan Farquhar's bike blew up spreading oil all over the track from Church Corner to Juniper Hill. This resulted in further delays and with more rain and despite the valiant effort of the organisers at 5:30pm the decision was made to cancel the remaining races of the day.

A disappointed Gary said "It's a real shame for the organisers of the North West that it had to be cancelled after all the hard work they put in. I'm glad we managed to get one race in but I was really hoping to get a good run out on the Superbike and Superstock bikes. We'd had a good week in practice and made lots of changes to the bikes to get them feeling right around the track. The Supersport race was a good one and I love riding at the North West it's a real buzz and the racing is always very close. The wet conditions made the track very greasy and we didn't get much chance to get a wet set up on the bike so it was a bit of guess work. I'm pretty pleased with the result and it's given me a bit of road practice before I head to the TT next week. I'd like to thank all the East Coast Racing team and all my personal sponsors especially John Chapman at Lincs Lifting Ltd, Dave Mac at CallMac Scaffolding for all their help for the North West 200 and all the other road races."

Lee commented "The track on Tuesday night was extremely greasy and damp in places which made it interesting to say the least but we just filled up the tank and I just tried to do as many laps as possible to remind myself of where I was going! The weather was much better on Thursday and I enjoyed being out on track a lot more and went 13 seconds a lap quicker which was definitely a step in the right direction. The heavens opened for the race on Saturday and this made the track have hardly any grip what-so-ever. We ran a hard wet tyre which never really got any heat in it which made my grip bad, it was nice to be in the company of someone as fast and famous at Guy Martin.

I really enjoyed racing back here at home again for only the second time, it was good to get back here and the track here is something else. I didn't want to do anything stupid and just wanted to get a couple of decent results as my main focus this year is the British Championship. It was good to have a run out on the East Coast Racing Supersport bike, I'm glad we managed to get a race in and I'm pretty happy with finishing in ninth place it's a hard track to learn and get right and so to get a top ten finish in my second time here I'm pretty chuffed with. We back to normality this weekend as we are heading for round four of the Supersport Championship at Thruxton. I'd like to thank Phil from East Coast Racing for giving me the opportunity to have a run out at the North West, I feel sorry for the organisers as I know they tried their best to try and get everything back on track but it just wasn't meant to be."

The East Coast Racing boys will head to Thruxton this weekend, Lee will compete in both races on Sunday and Monday 29th and 30th May. Gary will compete in the first race on Sunday before flying to the Isle of Man for the first TT practice session on Monday night.

2011 British Supersport Dates

Date/ Track Rd 4 - 28th - 30th May ThruxtonRd 5 - 17th - 19th June KnockhillRd 6 - 1st - 3rd July SnettertonRd 7 - 15th - 17th July Oulton ParkRd 8 - 5th - 7th August Brands Hatch GPRd 9 - 27th - 29th August Cadwell ParkRd 10 - 9th - 11th September Donington ParkRd 11 - 23rd - 25th September Silverstone Arena GPRd 12 - 7th - 9th October Brands Hatch GP

 International Road Racing Dates

Isle of Man TT - 30th May - 10th June

Ulster GP - 10th - 13th August

Scarborough Gold Cup - 17th - 18th September

Macau GP - 17th - 20th November