National Superstock Championship regular David Johnson made his return to the TT last night evening after a year's absence and it was very much a steady start for the affable Australian. With the Quattro Plant Kawasaki BSB team arriving late on the Island from Snetterton, Johnson practically rode his bike straight from the ferry to the startline but still managed to squeeze two laps in during the evening.

"With the bikes arriving late, we literally had no time for anything and so I went out to practice the moment they arrived. We missed a bit of the session and the tyres were very cold so I took it really steady on the first lap and it wasn't until I got to the Mountain that I felt the tyres had got enough heat in them. I started to get more dialled in on the second lap but with no truck or awning to prepare in, I didn't have enough tear-offs on my visor and by the time I got to Sulby I couldn't see a thing. I crusied round for the rest of the lap and just sat behind someone all the way over the Mountain so I guess a lap of 115mph wasn't too bad," said Johnson, speaking to bikesportnews.com.

"With missing last year, I've been studying the DVDs again and although the first lap was a bit sketchy, the second lap felt good up until Sulby and it's definitely good to be back. I just need to get the laps in to get familiar with the course again and whilst I know where I'm going, it's more about getting my braking markers right and being in the right gears in the right places. The whole team's here now and we're properly set up in the paddock so it's all systems go and we can fully concentrate on building things back up and getting up to speed."

Winner of the Newcomer's Trophy in 2010, Johnson will ride Freddy Foray's BSB machine in the Superbike and Senior races and another ZX-10R in the Superstock race. Team-mate Steve Heneghan will ride Gary Mason's BSB bike, his usual Superstock mount and an ER6 in the new Lightweight TT.