Isle of Man TT: Broughton rider Gary Johnson secures five top 10 finishes

Johnson, from Broughton, near Brigg, completed the opening Superbike event in ninth place before finishing the Supersport race in 10th position two days later.

After refuelling at the end of lap two he struggled to get the bike fired up again and lost significant time. But he finally got going and got to Glen Helen in 16th place on lap three.

He carried on picking up places through the last two laps until he got back up to 10th, but he was too far behind the rest on time and had to settle for this position.

Later in the day, riding the penz13.com Superstock spec BMW, Johnson retained fifth place throughout the four-lap Superstock race, finishing just a few seconds behind Michael Rutter, and was rewarded with another silver replica.

Last Wednesday Johnson was out in the second Supersport race where he rode to a ninth-place finish in the four-lap race.

He then went on to record his best result of the campaign when he secured fourth place in the lightweight class.

Ideally he should have been on the podium, but after holding third place throughout the second lap he came in for his refuelling stop and again struggled to get the WK Bikes CF MOTO machine fired up.

Having lost a lot of time before getting back out on the course, he reached Glen Helen down in fifth place and a long way back on time.

But he got his head down and rode well to make up the deficit, and going into the final lap was back up to fourth. He continued to make up ground and crossed the finish line there, just two seconds off a podium finish.

“I rode the socks off the little bike today,” Johnson said. “It wasn’t at its best, but still nearly good enough for a podium.

“But for the mishap in the pits on refuelling I would have been able to maintain third place.

“This is the first time a Chinese bike has actually finished a TT race and what a testament to the bike and my team to be just two seconds away from the podium.

“We know we have a bike which is capable of finishing in the top three and we can come back stronger next year.”

Must delayed Friday’s Senior TT, but once cleared the riders set off on their final six-lap outing with Johnson settling into fifth position through the first lap.

On lap two he was up to fifth and looking confident, but one lap later he was forced to retire at Appledene with his race over.

Despite no race wins this year, five top 10 finishes out of six around the challenging 37.83-mile course is a proud achievement.