Isle of Man TT 2019 results: Lee Johnston wins rain-shortened Supersport race for emotional first victory

Northern Irishman adds to his victory at the North West 200 with his first win at the TT but triumph is overshadowed by death of Daley Mathison earlier in the day

Lee Johnston took an emotional first Isle of Man TT victory in a reduced Monster Energy Supersport race one after rain brought a premature halt to proceedings at the halfway stage.

A supremely close race saw the eight separated by just six seconds halfway round the first lap, but it was Johnston, James Hillier and Superbike TT winner Peter Hickman who pulled clear of the field into a battle for the race win.

On the Ashcourt Racing Yamaha, Johnston took the lead off Hillier over the Mountain on the first lap, holding onto it throughout the second as he built a slight gap on the Quattro Plant Wicked Coatings Kawasaki. But as the field prepared to head for the pits in the second of the four-lap race, the chequered flag was thrown and red lights switched on to bring yet another premature end as rain had been reported on the west side of the island.

Johnston took victory ahead of past winners Hillier and Hickman, and while Dean Harrison slowed to come into pit lane instead of taking the chequered flag having not seen the red lights, he did not lose position as he finished in fourth ahead of Michael Dunlop and Conor Cummins.

The day’s opening event, the RST Superbike race, was prematurely halted after four laps due to a fatal accident for Durham rider Daley Mathison, and thoughts of the BMW rider were clearly in the top three’s mind as they came to the winners’ enclosure. A tearful Johnson was largely speechless following the race, and also paid tribute to his late father who passed away last year.

“I'm going to cry like a girl,” Johnston said. “I didn't know what to do because I was so preparing myself for a pit stop, and then I saw a red light and the chequered flag and I didn't know what to do.

”This place is so weird, I didn't feel like I've done anything different and then I've won it. I thought if I could keep Pete in sight I could win it.

“You know when you're leading you don't want to put your hand up and point it out. I could see the rain on my screen and I didn't know if it was the overflow bottle leaking but I put my head up and I could see rain on my visor.

”I thought I'm not going to lose this by not being brave enough because of a bit of rain.

“This means so much to me, with Ashcourt Racing and everyone else around me.

”It's something I've always wanted to do and there's one person who I wanted here to see it and sadly he's not, but hopefully he's looking down.“

Monster Energy Supersport Race 1 results:

1. Lee Johnston

2. James Hillier +3.641s

3. Peter Hickman +4.967s

4. Dean Harrison +17.971s

5. Michael Dunlop +21.125s

6. Conor Cummins +27.585s

7. Gary Johnson +29.088s

8. Jamie Coward +36.918s

9. Davey Todd +21.773s

10. Ian Hutchinson +1:06.796s