Lee Johnston claimed his maiden victory in the Quattro Group British Supersport Championship on Saturday afternoon when the Ashcourt Racing Yamaha rider won a thrilling Sprint race at Snetterton ahead of Ben Currie and championship leader Jack Kennedy.

It was Kyle Smith (Dynavolt Triumph) who led into the first corner but Currie (Gearlink Kawasaki) nosed ahead at the end of the back straight and at the end of the lap it was the second Triumph of Brandon Paasch in third ahead of Johnston, leading GP2 rider Jack Scott and pole man Kennedy (HEL Performance/Bournemouth Kawasaki).

Currie then ran wide at the beginning of the second lap with Smith needing no second invitation to re-take the lead. Johnston also moved up to third at the same time with Kennedy now in fifth having overhauled Scott. Championship rival Bradley Perie (Appleyard Macadam Yamaha) was up into 11th after a penalty saw him start from 16th on the grid.

Kennedy took fourth at the chicane at the end of lap two and then set about closing the half second gap to third place runner Johnston but Cadwell’s double victor Harry Truelove ran on at the end of the back straight and dropped to 13th having just taken fifth from Paasch.

Lap four saw Smith open up a lead of three-tenths of a second over Currie who had Johnston, Kennedy and Paasch right behind him whilst Perie was now in eighth and closing in on the two leading GP2 runners, Scott and Charlie Nesbitt (RS Racing Kalex).

Half race distance and the running order remained the same but that soon changed when Paasch crashed out of fifth, holding his wrist as he walked away.

Back at the front and just over half a second covered the front four of Smith, Currie, Johnston and Kennedy with Perie now up to fifth but more than four seconds adrift.

The sixth lap saw changes at the front as both Currie and Johnston dived up the inside of Smith at the end of the back straight, Kennedy losing tough slightly before making the time back up on the run back to the start and finish.

Johnston hit the front for the first time on lap seven, again at the end of the back straight, and Kennedy got by Smith to take over third at the same time.

Currie responded next time around to re-take the lead under braking at Agostini’s and Smith was also back ahead of Kennedy with any one of the four in with a shout of winning going into the final two laps.

Positions were changing hands regularly but Johnston went ahead once more and on the final lap managed to eke out a gap, eventually taking the win from Currie by 0.682s with Kennedy and Smith close behind in third and fourth, the latter running wide slightly which allowed Kennedy to squeeze by.

Perie took fifth with sixth place overall giving Nesbitt maximum points once more in the GP2 category. Supersport runner Rhys Irwin had one of his best rides in seventh overall and behind him came the three closely matched GP2 machines of Mason Law, Jack Scott and Jamie Perrin.

The results mean Kennedy now leads the championship by just two points from Currie with Perie now in third, six points further back.

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