Thursday June 9, 2011 at 10:23am
Isle of Man TT ace Dan Kneen is encouraging race fans to support an important charity. Throughout the 2011 Isle of Man TT fuelled by Monster Energy the Manxman has been selling a special charity badge launched by his supporters club and sold in conjunction with the Martin Heyes Memorial fund.
A proportion of the £3.50 price of the lapel badge will go to the Hyperbaric Chamber in the Isle of Man. The chamber is used to help aid recovery and is regularly used by motorcycle racers who have sustained injuries.
Kneen has used the chamber twice in recent years; in 2009 after his TT crash at Black Dub and just a few weeks ago when he had a pre-season spill which left him with back injuries.
He credits his time in the chamber with helping him recover in time to contest the North West 200 and his home event, the TT.
Kneen said:
“The Hyperbaric Chamber has helped out a lot of riders including myself and I just thought it would be nice to give something back.”
“We thought it would be a good gesture to do it in conjunction with raising money for the chamber and to give half of the proceeds to them so we hope to raise a few quid to keep them running.”
Describing how the chamber helped him after he sustained two fractured vertebrae before the 2011 season got under way, Kneen said:
“The doctors said go home and come and see us in six weeks and then we can reassess your injury.”
“I went to the chamber every day and was back racing in just under four weeks at the North West 200!”
The badge is priced £3.50, and after deducting the production cost £1 from each sale will go to the chamber and £1 to Kneen’s supporters club, which came up with the design.
The supporters club is playing an integral role in ensuring Kneen can keep racing, finding ways to raise much-needed cash to allow him to contest international road races and the British Superbike Championship EVO class.
The badges are on sale at various events during the TT, from Kneen’s team base in the TT paddock or by emailing [email protected]