Motorcycle Racing
Isle of Man TT regular Gary Johnson is aiming for a podium finish at November’s Macau Grand Prix.
The AIM Suzuki motorcycle racing star is heading back to the streets of Macau next month hoping to improve on the fourth place he scored in 2009.
Johnson, from Broughton, hopes a good end to the season will make up for the disappointment of not winning the British superbike EVO class championship.
He went into the final motorcycle races at Oulton Park last weekend with a slim chance of beating series leader Steve Brogan, but came away with third place in the new class.
Qualifying didn’t go well for the Lincolnshire rider, who began the first race on Saturday from 24th position, fifth in class.
Although he managed to progress to 21st in the early stages of race one, he faded towards the end and brought the AIM Suzuki home in 23rd position, and fifth in the EVO class.
Race two did not go well for Johnson, who was forced to retire after just two laps due to a technical problem. Not knowing what the problem was and with only a short time until the third and final race to sort things out, the team decided to put in a new engine, a move which seemed to rectify the problem.
In the final motorcycle race, things went much better and Johnson found himself up into 21st place on the opening lap.
He made steady progress to 18th and crossed the finish line in that position to take fourth place in the EVO class and end his season in an overall position of third, with 10 podium finishes including two wins in the EVO class.
Gary Johnson says: “I am disappointed with fourth place in the race, but happy with third overall. We really should have done better, but I was having difficulties turning the bike into the corners.”
