Lee Johnston has stormed to victory in the Okells Brewery 350cc Classic TT race. The Northern Irishman broke the lap record on the way to victory in the race which had been rescheduled from Monday due to poor weather conditions.
Jamie Hamilton led the pack away on the Rutter Honda but it was Davies Motorsport Honda rider William Dunlop who took the early lead. The Ballymoney man, who retired early on in the 500cc race on Saturday, broke the lap record on his first tour of the Mountain Course, registering 103.045mph. Team-mate Alan Oversby then went faster than that and took the lead with Johnston in third and Roy Richardson fourth. Retirements on the first lap included Michael Dunlop, James Hillier and Connor Behan.
On the second lap, Johnston smashed the lap record by over 2mph to clock a lap of 105.239mph. He reeled in the race leaders and moved into second on the second lap. He led by the end of lap two and pulled away on lap three eventually winning the race by over 45 seconds from Oversby. Richardson finished in third after a late retirement from W Dunlop. Following the podium finishers was Saturday’s winner Ian Lougher, Hamilton, Chris Swallow, Philip McGurk, and Doug Snow. Olie Linsdell and Paul Coward rounded out the top ten finishers. The recipient of the Phil Read Classic TT Trophy for being the first 250cc rider home, finishing 20th overall. The Geoff Duke Trophy for the highest placed single cylinder 350 machine in the race went to third placed rider Richardson. McGurk was the first privateer back while Snow was the first single cylinder privateer, with the two finishing seventh and eighth overall respectively.
After the race, Black Eagle Racing’s Johnston – who was riding an MV Augusta – revealed after the race that the bike had been misfiring on the first lap and he had considered retiring. The result is the rider’s first win on the Mountain Course.
The 'H' Duct 