Dan Kneen may have missed the first two internationals of the year but he made up for it in style today with four top six finishes, including a sensational podium, at the Ulster Grand Prix.

After completing the first lap of the superstock race in fourth place the Manx man was up to second one lap later and spent the next three laps in a battle for the lead with Ian Hutchinson and Michael Dunlop. Such was the pace of the leading trio Kneen built up an incredible fourteen second lead over fourth place, setting his fastest ever lap of Dundrod at 131.898mph along the way. With the front two gapping him slightly the Yamaha UK rider sensibly backed off and settled for third place, his second ever International podium and Mar-Train’s first ever podium at the Ulster Grand Prix.

In the first supersport race Kneen was embroiled in a three-way battle for the final podium position with Cummins and Harrison. Fifth going onto the penultimate lap the man from Douglas pushed his way past both his countryman and his predecessor at Mar-Train into third place only for the red flag to come out meaning the result was taken from the start of the lap and a fifth place finish. The second supersport race was a phenomenal seven bike train at the front of the field with Kneen in the midst of it on his YZF-R6 Yamaha. A false neutral on the approach to Leathemstown on the penultimate lap resulted in the twenty-nine-year-old running straight on and slipping off and out of the race at slow speed, thankfully unharmed.

Both superbike races were six bike affairs at the front of the field with Kneen proving how far the YZF-R1M has progressed in the past year by mixing it at the front of the field for the race wins. A superb lap of 132.965mph in the first encounter was within one and a half seconds of the outright course lap record and he bettered than even further in race two by completing the 7.4 mile circuit at an average speed of 133.373mph. A rear wheel slide by Harrison with a couple of laps to go in race two forced Kneen to shut off causing them to lose touch with the leaders but two sixth places in the premier class were a sign of what could have been had the man from Douglas not suffered an injury earlier in the year.

Team Principal – Tim Martin

“I have to say the podium and top sixes today feel like wins after the year we have had, to lap within a second of the lap record at over 133mph and post the second fastest speed trap time as well is justification for the hard work we have put in. We knew ourselves how much we had improved the R1M for this year but to be able to prove that to everyone else now that Dan is fit is extremely rewarding. Dan rode brilliantly all day; I cannot praise him enough for what he did because he has had so little track time compared to his rivals, he showed exactly why we signed him at the beginning of the year. My team were superb all week as well, so thank you to everyone, the UGP podium is the one that had eluded us so far so that is another box ticked today.”

Rider – Dan Kneen

“I’m really pleased with how I was riding today, I felt good and the bikes were superb. To be so close to the wins in each race is a little frustrating I suppose but it is nice to be back at the sharp end that’s for sure. I lost out in the second half of the stock race when the grip levels went down and the slide by Dean made us lose contact with the leaders in the big race, both those times I felt like I could challenge for an even better result but the boys were on it too so it they were good fun races. It’s nice to salvage something from the internationals after missing the other two, that’s my second big podium as well so I have to be pleased. The results, lap times and speed trap figures all show how much the bike has come on really so the boys have done a top job to be fair. It is definitely competitive enough to win races on so hopefully we can push on from here.”

Yamaha UK Motorsport co-ordinator – Karl Radley

“What a turnaround from the Ulster Grand Prix last year, despite Dan being out of two of the major races this year he showed today just how good the R1M is and what a talent he is in such a strong field of riders. We are really pleased with all the results but especially the podium in superstock and I am looking forward to building on this for 2017.”