By Without any shadow of doubt the star of the show at the 2016 Mid Antrim 150, was Irish road racing newcomer Malachi Mitchell Thomas.
Having impressed in qualifying, he went into the opening supersport race, confident of pushing for a top three finish.
The four lap race would see him showcase to everyone his natural talent on the roads.
Gaining a great start, he quickly moved into race lead, from here he held off a strong challenge from two time junior Manx Grand Prix winner Michael Sweeney to clinch a quite superb race win.
Photo by Rod Neill
He made it back to back supersport victories, with victory in the second supersport encounter, where he produced another textbook top class all round performance on Cookstown BE Racing’s CBR 600 Honda.
A newcomer to superbike action between the hedges, Malachi like for the supersport races, had qualified third on the grid for the open superbike and grand final encounters.
Despite his lack of experience on 1000 cc machinery, he stunned everyone by winning the open superbike race, by 0.802 of a second over Cookstown BE Racing team mate Derek Sheils.
It was role reversal in the grand final as Derek sealed a well deserved victory, as Malachi finished in second place.
Malachi’s adaptability of switching from superbike to supersport to super twin machinery, was shown in the super twins race, as he secured another second place finish, finishing just 0.078 of a second behind three time TT winner Ryan Farquhar.
It’s a hallmark of all the great pure road racers to be able to switch from one machine to another, and still be near the sharp end across all classes.
In total his Irish road racing debut at the Mid Antrim 150 yielded him three wins, two second place finishes, plus he was the only rider during the meeting, to lap under 2 minutes around the Clough circuit.
Currently leading the 2016 Duke Road Race Rankings championship, Malachi’s next meeting on the horizon, is the Tandragee 100 on the 22nd to the 23rd of April.
Don’t at all be surprised to see him in contention as at Mid Antrim, for open and grand final victories, as he competes against the likes of Mar Train Racing’s Dan Kneen and reigning Irish road race superbike champion, William Dunlop.
Words by Stevie Rial
