Dan Kneen secured a double podium during Saturday’s Ulster Grand Prix, in a one-off appearance for Northern Ireland based Tyco BMW with a Superstock third place and a strong second step on the podium in Superbike race two.
The Manxman also posted his fastest-ever lap around the Dundrod circuit in the opening Superbike race, with a staggering effort of 134.541mph – the quickest ever lap posted by BMW Motorrad machinery around the 7.4-mile circuit
Kneen as previously mentioned, took third place in a hotly contested Superstock race and while he missed out on a podium in the Ulster Grand Prix Superbike race, by just 6/100ths of a second in fourth, he went on to take second place in Superbike race two after leading at various times throughout the race.
Team Manager Philip Neill said of the Manxman’s day in Tyco BMW colours: “With everything considered, Dan did an amazing job for us this week at the Ulster Grand Prix. With Hutchy injured it would have been easy to sit the event out this year. However, when my Father and I talked it over, we decided that we have supported the Ulster Grand Prix event for a long time, and were keen to continue to do so this year.
Dan was an obvious rider choice really and I would like to thank all of Dan’s personal sponsors including DTR for allowing Dan to ride both Tyco BMW Superstock and Superbike machinery at the Ulster Grand Prix for us.
With virtually no pre-event testing, we are extremely happy with Dan’s results and to record a 134.541mph lap was very impressive. Unfortunately he held the ‘fastest road racer in the world’ title for all of 0.5-seconds before being pipped by 0.1sec.
But altogether we are very happy with the outcome of this year’s Ulster Grand Prix and I would like to thank our sponsors Tyco Security Products and BMW Motorrad for their support.
Finally I would like to congratulate the organisers on a well organised event; I hope the large crowds around the circuit enjoyed the racing. Unfortunately there was also some sadness during the event and our thoughts are with the families and friends of those affected.”
Dan Kneen: “In the first Superbike race I was confident I could run with Peter [Hickman] and I felt strong enough to do so, but I ended up in an exchange with Dean Harrison and was happy enough in the end despite losing out on a podium. The second Superbike race was a bit different and I was challenging Peter when he retired, and then it was nip-and-tuck with Dean on that last lap. There may have been a bit of contact but all-in-all I’m happy with how I performed on the Tyco BMW machinery this week and I’d like to thanks Hector and Philip for the opportunity and the boys in the team for a big effort.”