He can’t afford a van at the moment and Cooil-based 4-Hire kindly loaned him a vehicle for the day on Saturday so that he could transport his bikes to the Grandstand for this photo-shoot.

The 25-year-old wagon driver from Richmond Hill took out a huge £18,000 bank loan last year to enable him to race.

‘I’ve managed to pay it all off again now and I really don’t want to go into debt like that again,’ he said.

The good news is that he has two good bikes for the coming season from local sources.

Port Erin builder Willie Charmer is again supplying him with the Kawasaki ZX10 he secured a second ACU Centre road race title on last year, while Graham Wilson of Manxmove Estate Agents has stepped in to provide him with a CBR 600RR Honda for the two Supersport TT races.

Manxmove company director Wilson is a keen biker and has prepared the bike himself from scratch over the winter.

‘The bike is actually a 2009 model, but the engines and frames have hardly changed since then,’ explains Ryan. ‘Graham stripped the whole bike down to the last nut and bolt. He has fitted new bearings and rebuilt it really well, it’s like new.’

The Honda will be easily spotted in its bright yellow Manxmove colours and company logos, and Ryan has already begun testing for the new season.

‘I’ve decided that I am not going to defend my Isle of Man title again at Jurby this year, to be honest I got a bit bored continuously riding round Jurby.

‘I’m going over to Anglesey for a meeting at the end of March and will do another one soon after to qualify for my Mountain Course licence, but my main focus is on the TT, plus the Southern 100 and the Ulster Grand Prix, plus whatever else I can afford.

‘I struggled with fuel last year in the TT on the ZX10, so we’ve had a new 24-litre alloy tank made by Ryan Farquhar.

‘We had a tyre deal with Avon last year, it was nice getting the free tyres but they simply didn’t work for me. We swapped to Dunlop for the Southern 100 and I got fifth in the 600 race and sixth on the big bike with a fastest lap of 109mph. What a massive difference.’

The 2008 Manx Grand Prix Newcomers winner finished third in the following year’s Senior MGP before taking a few years out of road racing to save his hard-earned pennies.

He made his TT debut in 2013 with a 120mph lap on a fairly standard 600 fitted with Metzelers and had expected a lot more last year, but the slight tyre issue certainly slowed him.

He achieved a solid 33rd place finish in the Superstock race while in the second Supersport event he was a highly respectable 24th.

‘My aim is to lap at 125mph in the TT this year,’ concludes the quietly spoken Manxman who is used to life in the slow lane in his day job as a wagon driver for Qualtrough’s Timber and Builders Merchants.