Talented Manxman Dan Kneen faces a battle to be on the grid in 2015 after the Braddan rider was informed by the Millsport Racing team that he'd signed to ride with were pulling out. The 27-year old was only informed of their decision last week and now finds himself searching for a competitive team whilst many other riders are already embarking on testing programmes.

Kneen has been a permanent fixture in the top ten of the International road races since 2009 - a year after he became the first man to take a hat-trick at the Manx Grand Prix - but 2014 saw him soar to new heights as he performed brilliantly on the Burrows Engineering machines, winning numerous races on the Irish roads. Those victories saw him comfortably clinch the Irish Superbike Road Race Championship but his finest moment came at the Ulster Grand Prix when he won the Superstock race for his first ever International race victory.

He also enjoyed a superb week at the Isle of Man TT Races, his home event, winning a silver replica in all five of his races and taking no less than three top-ten finishes, the best being an excellent seventh in the Superstock race. His eighth place in the Senior also saw him record his best ever lap of the Mountain Course, 129.360mph, to become the 17th fastest rider of all time. Numerous podium finishes were also taken at the Southern 100.

The results during 2014 saw him in demand for the season ahead and he appeared to have secured a dream ride with a fleet of Suzuki's being provided by the Ballymoney-based Millsport Racing but that has now disappeared and, with many of the leading rides having already been taken, he's desperate to ensure he's on the grid - and competitive - at all of the International races.

Speaking about the recent turn of events, Dan said;

"I'm absolutely gutted to find myself without a ride for 2015 and from what appeared to be superb opportunity has now turned into a nightmare. Having secured the deal with Millsport Racing so early in the off season was a real boost and although things had gone a bit quiet these last couple of months, the team assured me in January everything was still very much in place. However, that suddently changed last week when I got a message from them telling me it was all off due to a lack of finance."

"Having had my best ever season in 2014 makes it even harder to take and it's left me high and dry and with not a lot of time left to get something new sorted. I've been speaking to as many people as I can ever since I got the news but obviously there aren't as many options as there were before. I'm back to the drawing board but, after such a strong 2014, I really want to continue that form and improve my results further still so if there's anyone that can help, please contact me at kneenmachine@hotmail.com."

Picture by Stephen Davison - Pacemaker Press International

Phil Wain

Freelance PR