British Supersport Rider Rules out Road Racing Return in 2025

The experienced road racer, Lee Johnston, will be missing from several big races in 2025 after his recent injuries led to him missing most of last year. 

Johnston will instead be riding in the British Supersport championship with IN Competition Sencat, where he will race a Triumph Street Triple 765. The Isle of Man TT, North West 200 and Ulster Grand Prix winner has been sidelined since 2023 when he suffered serious injuries at the North West 200 event.

Johnston had planned to make a road racing return in 2024 but a broken leg during testing made that impossible as he missed most of the road racing season once again. Johnston did manage to compete at the Manx GP and end-of-season Macau GP in 2024.

With Johnston’s previous team Ashcourt Racing pulling the plug on road racing in 2025, the British rider has decided to sign a new deal with IN Competition Sencat in British Supersport, which also features a British Superbike presence with Lewis Rollo.

Confirming his plans on his YouTube channel, Johnston said: “As of 2025, I am not going to be doing any road racing. So, that’s no North West 200, no Isle of Man TT, and this is not me having a big retirement speech. This is not me saying I’m retired from road racing. It’s just not possible to do that correctly next year.

“I spoke to quite a few teams over the past four or five months, trying to get as much information in as I possibly could to try and make the plans for the future. This team does not want to go road racing and that’s their decision and that’s their call. And I completely stand by that.

“Some of the other teams that I spoke to that did want to go road racing didn’t really have any road racing experience. They had a little bit. I’ve been in a good team for quite a few years, so to take a step back would be pointless.

“With me missing the roads for a few years, the biggest thing I felt I needed was a genuine top team that knew how to do everything and there was no worry or extra risk added. So, I thought it was better not to do the job if I couldn’t do it properly than just to go and make up the numbers or just be circulating and things not be right because I think that would frustrate me even more than the fact I’ve not been fit to do it.

“So, that is the plan for 2025. We will not be doing any road racing, but then that makes us concentrate really hard on the British Supersport Championship. So, I’m super excited about that.”

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