Dan Kneen notched up another handful of top five finishes at this weekend’s Armoy road races in his final outing before next month’s Ulster Grand Prix.

The Yamaha UK rider scored fourth places in the opening supersport and superbike races before finishing off with a fifth in the Race of Legends feature race on his YZF R1M Yamaha. The first supersport race was held on Friday evening and it was a four rider battle for the win between Shiels, both Dunlop brothers and Kneen. The Manx man suffered a broken screen and helmet when he was struck by a wayward stone at mid distance and lost touch with the leading trio eventually finishing in a solid fourth place.

After pulling out of Saturday’s supersport encounter twenty nine year old Kneen contested third place with fellow Yamaha rider William Dunlop during the early stages of the first superbike race. The local man eventually pulled away though leaving Kneen to repeat his fourth place finish from the previous evening. A possible podium finish was thwarted in the big race of the day when the red flags came out whilst Kneen was running a safe third. In the restart Kneen had to settle for fifth after he lost ten seconds on lap three when he overshot and had to go up the slip road.


Team Principal – Tim Martin

“Our bikes were faultless this weekend which is a major positive ahead of the Ulster next month. Dan is still playing catch up with the rest of the boys for track time and the lack of practice laps on Friday didn’t do anything to help that. We were a lot closer to the leaders this week and were able to stay in the mix for a few laps which is a big step forward from the Southern. We still have work to do as a team ahead of the Ulster but we will review what we learned today and come back stronger in just over a week’s time".

Rider – Dan Kneen

“I’m disappointed with the results today, I feel a bit tired which is frustrating and am struggling with my braking which caused me to run on twice. We got some more bike time though which gives us some data to review and improve the bike in a few areas. I’m going to have a rest and come to the Ulster fresh as it is a long week of riding but I enjoy the Dundrod circuit and I know the R1 will be competitive there so I’m hoping for a good result.”