GBmoto Kawasaki’s Gary Johnson had a tough debut with the rookie team at this weekend’s Vauxhall North West 200 but says they learned a lot about the bikes and have a direction for the TT in two weeks.

Minor technical problems forced him out of the Superstock and Superbike races that were run but Johnson is happy the Northern Ireland event proved a good test bed.

“It’s been a bit of a tough event, on one hand we’ve learnt loads with both the Superbike and Superstock machines and have really been able to improve both bikes but on the other, the results unfortunately don’t reflect that due to two minor problems which forced us out,” said the Lincolnshire man.

“Overall I’m happy with the two machines, we were running up there in the Superbike race before a small fault with a sensor meant the bike kept cutting out, whilst we never got to show our true potential in the Superstock race as the clutch fried. It’s been a great test bed and we know what areas we need to improve or work on ahead of the TT.”

Get Thursday’s issue of Bikesport News for our 30-page TT preview and full North West 200 coverage