Lee Johnston won the Steve Henshaw Gold Cup for the first time at Oliver's Mount in 2019 on his Ashcourt Racing Yamaha R6.

It was Johnston’s fourth victory of the weekend after he won all three Supersport races, narrowly holding off Dean Harrison on each occasion.

The Fermanagh native became the third rider from Northern Ireland after Ryan Farquhar and Michael Dunlop to win the trophy in 2019 and Johnston triumphed once again on his Ashcourt Racing Yamaha Supersport machine.

However, the Isle of Man TT Supersport race winner was made to work hard for his victory by his good friend and fellow top TT rider Harrison, who pushed him all the way on the Dafabet Racing Kawasaki.

After eight laps of the 2.43-mile woodland course – England’s only road racing venue – Johnston prevailed by just 0.2s from Harrison as the headline race lived up to its billing.

They finished a long way ahead of third-placed Joey Thompson, who came home over 23 seconds behind.

Jim Hind – who only made his Oliver’s Mount debut at the Barry Sheene Classic meeting – impressed again as he finished in fourth ahead of Jamie Coward, with the top six completed by Tom Weeden.

The Gold Cup race was limited to Supersport machinery, with modern Superbikes prevented from competing at Oliver’s Mount after a range of new safety measures were brought in last year.