Dan Kneen made his debut at Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough at the weekend where he was contesting the International Gold Cup races and it proved to be strong first time appearance at the venue for the Manxman.

The Valvoline Racing by Padgetts Honda rider saw the 2.43-mile public road circuit in North Yorkshire for the first time on Saturday and got quicker and quicker as the weekend wore on. Wet weather on Saturday made learning the course all the more difficult but by Sunday, he was a lot closer to the front and opened his account with a good win in the Supersport 600cc ‘B’ final, taking the victory by over 15 seconds.

With ideal weather conditions throughout the day, the feature International Gold Cup race was next and the 28-year old placed eighth ahead of William Dunlop and just a few seconds adrift of a top six finish. He then took ninth in the following Supersport 600cc race but saved the best until last in the final Superbike race.

Riding the Superstock machine, as opposed to the Superbikes being ridden by Dean Harrison and Ivan Lintin, the Braddan rider led in the early stages and although he was pushed back to fourth at the end of eight hard fought laps, Harrison taking the win, he was right behind Lintin and Dan Hegarty and ahead of 23-times TT winner John McGuinness. He also recorded his fastest lap of the weekend, an excellent 1m48.767s, and more than proved his worth at the venue.

Dan Kneen: “It wasn’t easy trying to learn the circuit in the wet weather on Saturday and although I wasn’t enjoying myself greatly at first, I liked the layout and was pleased that I was able to consistently improve over the course of the days. There were a lot of hold ups to racing due to the weather and it was a long day for everyone but Sunday was a lot better when the sun was shining and it was a lot of fun.”

“Although it was only a ‘B’ final, it was still nice to grab the win and my results were pretty good on the whole and I really enjoyed the final Superbike race when I led for a while and was able to ride in close company with the likes of John McGuinness and Ivan Lintin who have a lot more experience at Oliver’s Mount. I was only on a Superstock bike whilst it’s a circuit where you need to make a good start as there aren’t a lot of opportunities for overtaking.”

“The more laps I got under my belt, the better I felt and I think with a bit more experience, I could have a real good go. Overall, it was an enjoyable meeting and I’d like to return for all three races in 2016 and challenge for the wins.”

Picture by Stephen Davison – Pacemaker Press International