Johnson blitzes in Honda comeback

Victorian road racing star Shannon Johnson is back on a marque which has given him the most success - Honda.

In his first race for seventh months, Shannon, the son of legendary hard nut Andrew "Ajay" Johnson, dominated the opening round of the 2009 Victorian Road Race Championship at the State Motorcycle Complex in Broadford yesterday, and also lowered the outright lap record to 56.994 on the oil-laden circuit. That's 0.8secs under the old mark held by Isle of Man TT winner Cameron Donald.

Johnson was only riding a superstock 1000-spec Honda CBR1000RR with slick tyres in the premier superbike class, but he reminded everyone that he's not a spent force with competitive machinery under his auspices.

"First and foremost, I want to sincerely thank Wayne Hepburn from Pro-Con Racing and Shawn Clarke from Motologic for allowing me the opportunity and having the knowledge of machine set up to race a competitive motorcycle," said Johnson. "I only rode the bike for the first time on Friday morning, and within 15 laps I was under the lap record.

"I just felt comfortable from the word go, and it's the first time in a long while I've got off a bike and said 'wow', rather than racking my brain on how I'm possible going to get a machine to go faster.

"It was just fun to be involved in racing again, and to try lots of different things. And I think I proved that I can still do the job."

Johnson severed ties with the Kawasaki Racing Team (KRT) at the end of last season, and was all set to race in America this year before he was gazumped by the dreaded GFC (Global Financial Crisis).

Not only has it forced him to find a job to keep income ticking over - he works for the massive Linfox group - but he's also found a racing lifeline in the grass roots Victorian championship, on the same machine which Ben King is riding in the Australian superstock 1000 title.

"I am very lucky to have been given this chance to race this series, and plan to make the most of it," said Johnson. "In addition, I have recently taken part in the launch of the all-new KTM RC8R superbike; my first time on a twin.

"It's a very unique motorcycle that I enjoyed riding very much, even in full street trim. As to where this project can led to is quite exciting, but I can say the bike can produce good lap times as is."

After a promising start in 2006, Johnson's last two years at KRT were disastrous, and his collaboration with Honda early this century still remains as his most productive period on the blacktop.

Johnson won the 2002 national supersport title on a Honda, and followed it up with third the following year.

For results from the opening round of the Victorian Road Race Championship, click here.