A late Manx TT star will have his memory honoured by his nine-year-old cousin who will cycle the Heritage Trail for charity.

Cronk y Berry primary school pupil Billy Kneen is getting set to cycle from Douglas to Peel and back to raise money for the new Dan Kneen Charitable Fund.

The charity aims to help initiatives that supported the late TT racer from Onchan.

Dan Kneen who was 30, died at the scene after an accident at Churchtown shortly after the start of the Wednesday evening practice session on May 30 last year.

Billy, nicknamed ’The Bullet’ by Dan, is excited to do something positive by giving aid to those who helped his second cousin with his professional motorcycling career.

’Dan was really nice,’ he told the Manx Independent.

’He took me to trials and I always used to see him at the TT and he would let me sit on his bike every year. I told mum that I wanted to raise money for his charity and she came up with the idea of cycling to Peel and back.’

Billy added that Dan was also good at cycling, having taken him on the Heritage Trail - the former railway line between Douglas and Peel - before.

Billy’s mum, Sara, who was Dan’s first cousin, said: ’Dan was amazing and very humble. Whenever Billy asked for his autograph Dan would say: "What do you want that for, you goon!"

’He would be very surprised at what everyone has done for him. Dan wouldn’t want anyone to mope about and was always so positive. We will try to raise as much as we can towards Dan’s charity.

She added: ’During this time it can make you feel like you don’t know what to do, so we’re doing this for him. Hopefully we’ll get a lot of people doing it with us - so many people have sponsored us already.

’We’re going to put our heart and soul into it!’

The event will begin at the car park at Quarterbridge roundabout in Douglas where Billy will give a few words about Dan at 10am on Sunday (June 9).

He will then head off along the TT access road with supporters stationed along the route. It is open for the public to attend and take part in.

Donations will be collected on the day. For more information, contact [email protected]

When asked how he’s feeling ahead of the day, Billy quoted his cousin’s catchphrase: ’I’m going to be on the pipe, boy!’