Williams claims debut win in Supersport Manx GP

The victory marked Jamie Williams' first win on the Mountain Course

Manxman Jamie Williams stormed to his debut win at the Manx Grand Prix with a blistering performance in the event's Supersport race.

The racer from Douglas took the lead in the final stages of lap two of the Isle of Man's 37.7-mile (61km) Mountain Course with an average speed of just over 120mph.

The 32-year-old upped that pace on the final lap, finishing with an advantage of 6.6 seconds over Caomahan Canny, from Gleneely in Ireland, with Hawick's Chris Cook in third.

Such was the pace of the contest, four of the top five finishers circulated at an average speed of more the 120mph on the final lap.

Seventh placed starter Johnny Stewart briefly held the lead on the opening lap of the time trial race, before being overhauled by Cook and York's Toby Shann by Ballaugh, with just 0.85 seconds separating the pair.

A charge from Williams on his Honda saw him slot into second place by Cronk ny Mona, with less than a second separating the top three at the end of the lap.

The Suzuki of Canny followed just a second behind Shann at Ballaugh on the second circuit, upping his pace again on the way to Ramsey to move into third.

Cook managed to maintain a slender margin on the climb up the mountain on his Kawasaki, sitting 1.3 seconds ahead of Shann at the Bungalow, but the blistering pace of Williams - who put in a lap speed of 120.055mph - saw him snatch a 1.8-second lead coming into the pits.

It was all change behind him by Glen Helen on lap three as Canny moved into second ahead of Cook, and Yamaha-mounted Ryan Whitehall pushed Shann's Triumph machine into fifth.

Jamie Williams took the lead on lap two, maintaining it for the remainder of the contest

There was less than half a second between Williams and Canny at the Bungalow on the penultimate circuit, with the Isle of Wight's Whitehall seven seconds back, holding off Cook by just 0.005 seconds.

That slender margin had stretched out to 1.5 seconds on the climb down the mountain, with the top four holding their positions to Ballaugh on the last lap.

A final push by Williams saw him set his fastest lap of the race of 120.524mph on the final circuit to finish 6.6 seconds ahead of Canny.

The racer from Douglas said he put everything into the race

Williams told Manx Radio Motorsport: "I gave it my all out there."

Making his debut at the Manx Grand Prix in 2016, the Manxman was forced to sit out the 2024 races after being airlifted to hospital following a crash at Kate's Cottage in the opening qualifying session for the event.

"I can't even put into words what this means to me," he said.

"Twelve months ago I was in Aintree Hospital a bit worse for wear, and now I'm here winning."

Reflecting on his comeback at the races, he said: "Thank you to everybody who has been part of this journey from the year dot.

"This is dedicated to everybody that's had a hand in this."

Whitehall held on to third - two seconds back on Williams and seven ahead of Cook, with both those riders also circulating at speeds just above the 120mph mark.

But it was Michael Gahan, from Limavady in Northern Ireland, who put in the fastest lap of the race of 120.664mph, finishing in fifth.

Shann, Stewart, Don Gilbert, Daniel Forbes and Ryan Garside made up the top 10 finishers.