In his own words, 2012 was a ‘subdued year’ for Gary Johnson but the Brigg rider has come back fighting for the new roads season and setting up his own team has already paid dividends with a third place in Thursday’s NW200 Superstock race.
Like a number of other racers, Johnson has turned his back on the short circuits with the prime focus being International road racing success and this week has been his first UK outing all season. However, he hasn’t been idle, competing in races in Thailand and South Africa over the winter months whilst also testing his new machinery in Spain.
That machinery consists of an ex-WFR Honda Superbike, a Kawasaki ZX-10R Superstock bike and, of course, the all-new MV Agusta 675 run by Jack Valentine and his Valmoto team. Johnson’s main backing comes from long-term backers Lincs Lifting Ltd, CallMac Scaffolding and NL Components and with some new sponsors on board as well, he’s confident he has everything in place for a good year.
“Last year was definitely a subdued year for me but I’m happy with the team set-up this year and whilst it’s a lot of hard work getting everything sorted yourself, it ultimately means I can run things in the way I want. I’m really grateful for the backing I’ve got and I’ve got some great machinery so there’s no reason why I can’t be challenging for the race wins.”
“I didn’t get the best out of either myself or the bikes in 2012 and I’m determined that won’t be the case this year. I’ve gone back to basics if you like and pulled together a budget that I think will get the job done.”
Johnson has been immediately on the pace this week in the Superbike and Superstock classes whilst the MV Agusta has seen the team make steady progress as the week’s progressed but a faulty tip-off switch – designed to cut the engine in the event of a crash – caused Johnson to return to the pits in Supersport race one last night.
“I led the Superstock race on Thursday for four out of the six laps and whilst I’m not saying I would have won, I would have been very close to Alastair and Bruce at the end had it not been for some quickshifter problems. The bike kept cutting out and the last thing I wanted was to get rammed from behind so I had to drop back although I was still happy enough with a podium.”
“We tried a few things on the Superbike which didn’t work but its an awesome bit of kit, probably the best Superbike I’ve ever had, and is ridiculously fast so I’m sure we’ll be there or thereabouts. The MV’s obviously in its infancy stage and the bike’s got so much potential it’s just going to take time to unlock it all.”
“Jack and his whole team are working their nuts off and whilst we were struggling massively with the handling on Tuesday evening, we’ve now got it to about 85 per cent right. We’re moving forward all the time and with Jack, Colin Davies on the chassis and Tim Seed on the electronics that will continue to happen. Everyone’s so enthusiastic about the whole project and one thing’s for sure, with a new engine-spec and Akrapovic exhaust on the way, it’s going to sound mega at the TT!”
