Lee Johnston suffers broken leg during crash in testing in Spain

The Fermanagh native had been on the comeback trail for 2024 after suffering life-threatening injuries in a crash in qualifying at the North West 200 last year.

Johnston revealed on his personal YouTube vlog that he broke his right tibia and fibula in the incident at a track day at Cartagena.

The North West and Isle of Man TT winner said: “The sh*t hit the fan. Crashed, not of my own accord unfortunately, which is massively frustrating but it could have been worse and it could have been in a faster corner or whatever, but either which way I broke my tib and fib literally in the first session.”

The accident happened a few weeks ago but Johnston only revealed details of the incident on Monday.

He wished to stress that mechanical failure was not the cause of the accident.

“I just want to make it clear, there was nothing wrong with the bike,” he said.

“A part actually broke – like an R-clip on the pads – it wasn’t a mechanical fault or anything, so it was no one’s fault of anyone involved with the bike or anything.”

He was due to compete at the Daytona 200 in the USA this week but has been ruled out of the event as a result.

Johnston signed himself out of hospital in Spain and has undergone two operations since the crash in England.

The British Supersport rider has not given a timeframe on how long he expects to be out of action.

However, the first round of the British Supersport Championship takes place at Navarra in Spain from April 20-21 while the North West 200 is in two months’ time (May 8-11).

It is another significant setback for the Maguiresbridge man, who missed most of 2023 following his spill at Church Corner on the Ashcourt Racing Yamaha Supersport machine at the North West.

Johnston needed a blood transfusion before being airlifted to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, where he spent three days on a ventilator.