Dan Kneen left without a ride for 2015 road race season

Dan Kneen edged out Dean Harrison to win a thrilling Superstock race at the Ulster Grand Prix

Manx rider Dan Kneen has been left without a ride for the 2015 season after the Millsport Racing team he was due to compete for pulled out of a deal to compete at road races this year.

The 27-year-old had agreed to ride Suzuki machinery for the Ballymoney-based outfit but was informed of the team's decision to withdraw last week.

Kneen now faces a race against time to be on the grid this season.

The Ulster Grand Prix Superstock winner is searching for competitive bikes.

Kneen has been a regular presence at international road races since 2009 but he scaled new heights in 2014 as he put in a series of fine performances on Burrows Engineering machines, winning numerous races on the Irish roads.

Those victories saw him comfortably clinch the Irish Superbike Road Race Championship and he went on to secure his first international success at Dundrod in August.

He took three top-10 finishes at last year's Isle of Man TT, his best result being an excellent seventh position in the Superstock race.

His eighth place in the Senior event saw him record his best-ever lap of the Mountain Course, 129.360mph, to become the 17th fastest rider of all time.

"I'm absolutely gutted to find myself without a ride for 2015 and what appeared to be a superb opportunity has turned into a nightmare," said the Braddan rider.

"To secure the deal with Millsport so early in the off-season was a real boost and although things had gone a bit quiet in the last few months. the team assured me in January that everything was still very much in place.

"However, that suddenly changed last week when I got a message from them telling me it was all off because of 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 with not a lot of time left to get something new sorted."