Manxman Jamie Williams put last year’s Manx Grand Prix injury woe behind him after winning Saturday’s Supersport race on the Isle of Man.

Williams missed last year’s event through injury after crashing in opening qualifying, but he made amends in style with a coveted victory in front of his home fans.

Donegal’s Caomhan Canny secured a brilliant runner-up finish only seven weeks after suffering fractures in a crash at the Tandragee 100, while Ryan Whitehall completed the podium in third.

Michael Gahan from Limavady, who earlier suffered heartbreak after running out of fuel while challenging for victory in the Supertwin race on the final lap, finished fifth and set the fastest lap of the race at 120.664mph.

placeholder image — Jamie Williams won the Supersport race at the Manx Grand Prix on Saturday on the NCE Racing Honda. (Photo: Manx Grand Prix)

Scotsman Chris Cook (Kawasaki) led by 1.5s from Toby Shann at Ramsey hairpin on the opening lap, with Williams only 0.9s behind in third on his NCE Racing Honda.

Canny in fourth was just a few hundredths of a second down on Williams.

At the end of the lap, Cook’s lead was down to just 0.176s, with Shann right in contention, 0.775s in arrears as the leading trio after the first 37.73-miles were covered by less than one second. Canny held fourth, 2.6 back on Shann.

Cook lapped at 119.22mph from a standing start with Williams recording 119.204mph and Shann 119.123mph.

Cook pulled a slight lead of 1.2s over Williams by the time they reached Ballaugh on the second lap, with Shann 2.4s down and Canny a further 1.1s adrift in fourth on his Canny Racing Suzuki 750.

However, at the end of the lap, Williams had moved into the lead by 1.865s from Cook as they came in for their pit stops, with Canny 4.1s back in third.

Whitehall had now jumped up to fourth ahead of Shann.

Williams lapped at 120.005mph to set the fastest lap of the race so far, with Cook clocking 119.789mph and Canny in third lapping at 119.732mph.

Canny was on a mission on his Suzuki and at Ramsey, the Irish rider had cut Williams’ advantage to only 0.947s on the penultimate lap.

Cook was 6.4s behind Canny, with Whitehall only 1.4s down on Cook as he began to put some daylight between himself at Shann.

Canny lost some time between Cronk-ny-Mona and the Grandstand after running into traffic, with Williams starting the fourth and final lap with a gap of 1.4s.

Whitehall was now into third ahead of Cook, 7.8s behind Canny on corrected time, with Gahan overhauling Shann to move into fifth.

Williams pulled further ahead by 2.5s at Ballaugh bridge from Canny, who was 4.5s ahead of Whitehall (WR Racing/Reel Networks Yamaha R6).

At Ramsey, Williams was now 3.3s up as he prepared for his final run over the Mountain.

The Douglas man stretched his lead to six seconds on the blast to the finish and won in the end from Canny by 6.653s with a final lap of 120.524mph.

Canny narrowly missed out on joining the 120mph club with a speed of 119.966mph as he secured the runner-up spot, with Whitehall only two seconds adrift in third.

Whitehall also lapped at over 120mph with a speed of 120.583mph, as did Cook (120.005mph), who was disappointed to finish fourth ahead of Ulsterman Gahan.

Shann completed the top six on the Cowton Racing/JW Trackdays Triumph.

Limavady’s Graham McAleese finished 12th on the GMac Racing Yamaha R6, while newcomer Lee Hara from Coleraine was 16th on the Doorsplusfloors.ie Yamaha.