Isle of Man TT: Lee Johnston secures maiden victory with Supersport win

Lee Johnston secured a maiden TT win with victory in the first Supersport race of the week which was halted after two of the scheduled four laps because of deteriorating weather.

The Northern Ireland rider won by 3.6 seconds from James Hillier, with Peter Hickman 1.3 seconds further behind in third.

The organisers put out the chequered flag at half-distance due to rain.

"I saw the chequered flag and was confused," said Johnston.

"I didn't know what to do. This is what we race for."

"I could see rain on my screen and visor but I wasn't going to lose this for not being brave enough in a couple of spits of rain," added the Ashcourt Racing rider.

"I'm so emotional. I feel like I haven't done anything different and it has just clicked. I saw P1 on my board near the end of the first lap and went for it. I'm absolutely over the moon."

Second-placed Hillier finished 3.6 seconds behind Johnston

Quattro Plant Kawasaki rider Hillier was the early pacesetter on lap one but Johnston assumed the lead and led by two seconds by the end of the opening circuit.

Fermanagh-born Johnston, now resident near Halifax, lapped at 126.031 on the first lap and bettered that on his next lap with 126.87 despite the worsening track conditions on parts of the Mountain Course.

Dean Harrison, Michael Dunlop and Conor Cummins made up the top six leaderboard.

Johnston was also a Supersport victor at last month's North West 200 and had previously enjoyed two successes in the 600cc middleweight class at the Ulster Grand Prix.

A four-time North West winner, Johnston also has three Ulster GP triumphs to his name and was the 2008 British Superstock 600cc champion.

His previous best finish at the TT was a third place in the Superstock category in 2015.

This season the Maguiresbridge native has been competing in the British Supersport series for the first time since 2011 and he achieved two fourth places in the opening round at Silverstone in April.