Cookstown Burrows Engineering team to continue with 2016 season

The Cookstown Burrows Engineering team have announced they will continue with plans to compete at the 2016 Isle of Man TT.

The Northern Irish squad was left devastated after the passing of Malachi Mitchell-Thomas, who lost his life at this year’s North West 200, but plans to power on with the remainder of their season in line with the family’s wishes.

Derek Sheils will ride for the team in the Superbike and Supersport classes while Peter Hickman will compete in the lightweight category. The team will also continue to support Shiels at the Irish national road races.

A statement from the team read: “The sudden passing of Malachi Mitchell Thomas at the North West 200 on sat the 14^th of May has left his Family, team, fans and the world of motorcycling in shock over the past week.

“After much thought and consideration with Kevin Thomas (Mals dad) sponsors and TT organisers, we have come to the decision to carry on and represent Cookstown Burrows Engineering Racing at the 2016 IOM TT races, plus support Derek Sheils for the remainder of the year at Irish national road races.

“We hope as a team that the fans and general public will respect our decision which has been a hard one, its bad timing that such an event is so close to the death of Mal who was much more than a rider to the team and the Burrows family.”