Flying Scotsman Johnny Stewart took the victory in a thrilling Road Racing News Sportbike race to open the action at the 2026 Manx Grand Prix.
The inaugural race of the 2026 Manx Grand Prix was the newly introduced Road Racing News Sportbike, run over three laps of the mountain course.
Formerly known as the Supertwin race, last year’s running of the event saw Lewis Arrowsmith take the victory ahead of Toby Shann in second place and local man Jamie Williams in third place, all three men graduated to the TT Races following their 2025 Manx Grand Prix.
Heading into the 2026 Road Racing News Sportbike, Scotsman Johnny Stewart was the pre-race favourite after he topped every Sportbike qualifying session he participated in.
Andy Farrell setting off on the number one machine, Lee Hara, Dan Sayle and Liam Chawke headed into the race as fellow challengers.
Further down the start list newcomers Kevin Lavery, Kyle Casement, Illiam Quayle and Bailey Harker were the fastest debutants going into the race.
The race got underway in perfect conditions with Johnny Stewart taking a three second lead over Eddy Wormald by the first timing check at Glen Helen.
Two and half seconds behind Wormald was the number one plated Andy Farrell with newcomer Kevin Lavery on the number 57 Kawasaki sitting in fourth place just 0.3 of a second off third place.
Dan Sayle sat 0.1 seconds behind Lavery in fifth place and Owen Monaghan 1.5 seconds back to round out the top six.
By Ramsey on the first lap Johnny Stewart extended his advantage over Wormald to 8.5 seconds but all eyes were on newcomer Kevin Lavery who jumped up to third by just over a second from Andy Farrell.
Fellow newcomer Kyle Casement sat in tenth place at Ramsey on the first lap.
Despite coming in for his mandatory pitstop Johnny Stewart managed to break the race lap record from a standing start with an average speed of 115.793mph.
Coming into the pits Stewart extended his lead to Wormald in second place to over ten seconds.
Manx newcomer Kyle Casement had the fastest pitstop with a 31.494 second stop, followed by Nicolas Therouin with a 31.817 second stop and Kevin Lavery with 32.281 seconds.
Following the pit stops Eddy Wormald was able to claw back time to Johnny Stewart by Glen Helen, owing to a quick pitstop, as just under five seconds separated first and second place.
The battle for the final podium continued to hot up with Kevin Lavery just three seconds behind Andy Farrell in third place while Graham McAleese, Liam Chawke and Dan Sayle continued to pile on the pressure.
At Ramsey on lap two Johnny Stewart grew his lead to ten seconds over Eddy Wormald.
Confused then followed for fans as the live timing broke as supporters waited to see who would end the second lap in the lead of the race.
By Glen Helen on lap three the gap between Stewart and Wormald remained at around ten seconds though the eyes of the fans remained on the battle for third place with Kevin Lavery now just 1.5 seconds off Andy Farrell.
Lavery continued his chase for third on the run between Glen Helen and Ramsey and by the hairpin the newcomer had overhauled Farrell by 5.9 seconds as he now looked to chase down Eddy Wormald in second place.
At the front of the race Johnny Stewart was leading on the road and the timings after getting past the number 1 machine of Farrell with a near 20 second lead at Ramsey Hairpin.
Drama then ensued over the Mountain as the battle was not yet over for third place.
Despite being passed on the road, Andy Farrell remained firmly glued to Johnny Stewart’s rear wheel giving the experienced Irishman a tow over the mountain to claw back 1.5 seconds to reduce the gap to Lavery to four seconds at the Bungalow.
Crossing the finish line Johnny Stewart shattered his previous lap record with a 116.844mph lap to take the victory in the Road Racing News Sportbike race by 22.5 seconds ahead of Eddy Wormald in second place who clocked a final lap time of 115.362mph.
Despite a charging Andy Farrell, newcomer Kevin Lavery proved to be the surprise of the race with his final lap of 116.340mph good enough to secure his third place finish.
Graham McAleese and Dan Sayle finished in fifth and sixth place while Liam Chawke, Owen Monaghan, Lee Hara and Stephen Gorton rounded out the top ten.
Race winner Johnny Stewart said: “It was nice and smooth.
“I mean, the track is in good condition and stuff.
“Just chipped away, try to hit all my little markers and stuff.
“I been doing it all week and it just all come together in the end.”
Eddy Wormald in second place said: “I wasn't expecting second.
“I knew top five was definitely on so I think we were sitting around fourth from a lap time from a few days ago.
“We've had some handling issues so when I come round after the first lap, got the pitboard and I was in second, I was just over the moon.”
Third place finisher Kevin Lavery said: “Over the moon, I can't put it into words, over the moon.
Kevin added that heading into the race he had was not expecting to end the day ok the podium. No, definitely not.
He said: “I would have thought top six probably but third is unbelievable.”
Steve Rial from Road Racing News, sponsor or the race said: “It was fantastic, great conditions, great people around us.
“Super honoured to be sponsoring the race, and what a result, can't ask for anymore.”
On the podium Johnny Stewart lead the celebrations as the three podium finishers sprayed their Foraging Vintners sparkling wine onto the crowd below as second place man inadvertently soaked his own bike.
All three men will be back in action in the afternoon’s Glover Law Supersport race.