This year, a determined Team Singapore is upping their game plan for the 2018 OCBC Cycle Speedway SEA Championships – by fielding two South East Asia (SEA) Games medallists, hoping to clinch the crown for the first time.

These are Calvin Sim, the first male Singaporean to win a cycling Gold at the regional games since 1997. He is joined by Mohamed Elyas, who was also a podium finisher at the regional Games, clinching a bronze for Singapore.

Said Singapore captain Goh Choon Huat, 28, “Having the SEA Games medallists on the team will help and this will definitely boost our confidence going into the Championships tomorrow.”

Both of the SEA Games medallists will be taking part in the Speedway Championships for the first time.

Goh added, “But they won the medals on track and the OCBC Cycle Speedway Championships is a road race. While track and road are different, though, I am confident that all our riders are aware of what road racing is all about, and we will do our best to be on the podium at least – that is our main aim.”

Goh himself rides professionally with Malaysia based team Terengganu Cycling.

Besides Goh and the two SEA Games cyclists, Team Singapore will also be fielding returning cyclist Gabriel Tan, who had performed well at the 2017 SEA Games and was an integral part of the OCBC Cycle Speedway SEA Championships team for the past two years running.

Luqmanul Hakim, whose TWC Racing club beat 14 other teams in the OCBC Cycle Club Speedway Championships last year, is also joining the Singapore team this time around. At just 20 years old, he will be Singapore’s youngest rider and he completes the Singapore line-up for this year.

I spoke to Goh during the official press conference for the OCBC Cycle Speedway SEA Championships which took place this afternoon at the Hotel Jen OrchardGateway Singapore.

During the press conference, the draw was also held to split the eight national teams taking part, into two groups. 

Singapore will be facing Malaysia, Myanmar and Laos in Qualifying Group Two. In the other group are the defending champions Philippines, together with Brunei, Thailand and Cambodia.

The four teams in each group will compete against each other in the qualifying round and the top two will advance to the semi finals. One team will be eliminated before the top three teams battle it out for the title.

With such stiff competition to get onto the podium, Singapore would need to come up with a good game plan, according to Goh.

He explained, “For qualifying, it will not be a big problem to make it out of our group but the finals will be different; a lot of strategy will need to be planned and carried out. Philippines and Malaysia are both strong and they will be bringing their good sprinters, so we have to plan something.”

With the Malaysians hell-bent on regaining their OCBC Cycle SEA Championships crown though, the Singaporeans will surely have their hands full, in order to outsmart their neighbours from across the Causeway.

But Goh is confident that his Singapore team has, what it takes to be up there this time around.

Continued Goh, “But from what I see in my team this year, everyone is committed and there is no weakness in our team so I am confident that we will be able to produce something special.”

Beginning with the inaugural OCBC Cycle SEA Speedway Championships, Malaysia has racked up two consecutive wins, but the Philippines had beaten Malaysia to the crown last year, breaking their winning streak.

So Malaysia will be responding with an entirely new team, save for returning cyclist Nik Mohd Azwan.

Said this year’s Malaysia team captain, Anuar Manan, “We will fight hard to get back the champion title. We are confident that we can win the race as we have very strong sprinters and we aim to break away from the peloton, This year, we are gunning for the top position.”

But the defending champions, the Philippines will not give up the crown so easily though.

With a history of topping personal records at the OCBC Cycle Speedway SEA Championships, Philippines will be fielding new members Cris Largo and Jan Paul Montealegre, with every intention to retain the title.

Said Largo, the Philippines captain, “The team is definitely working hard to defend the champion title. We have prepared for the event. This year will be competitive, with the return of strong teams in SEA.”

He continued, “While Team Malaysia remains a strong competitor, we are prepared with new strategies. We will also not discount other strong teams like Thailand, Brunei and Singapore.”

Also looking for a podium position is Thailand, who will be fielding cyclists who were part of the 2017 SEA Games team that had clinched a second place cycling finish overall.

And the Singapore Cycling Federation is relishing the stiff competition this year. Said Dr Hing Siong Chen, President of the Singapore Cycling Federation, “Tomorrow we will see some exciting racing in the OCBC Cycle Speedway SEA Championships and hopefully this year we will see some exciting results.”

OCBC Cycle Speedway Club Championships

Meanwhile, in the OCBC Cycle Speedway Club Championships, 15 teams from 12 cycling clubs in Singapore will be vying for top honours and they too, were present at Hotel Jen OrchardGateway to take part in the formal draw to determine their qualifying round groups.

The teams participating this year, mostly include familiar faces who are regulars in the local cycling circuit, such as the 30Forty Racing Team, Allied World Kemp Technologies, Ascenders Team, Specialized Roval Mavericks and Matador RACING, just to name a few.

There are, however, two new clubs – Cycledelic and Rapha Cycling Club that are both looking forward to making their debut at the speedway Club Championships.

As this is their first year in the competition, Cycledelic are simply aiming to have fun and to not think too much about the competitive element.

Said Team Cycledelic’s Wong Wei Yuet, “It is our first Speedway race but we have been racing against these guys for other races, so race wise, it’s nothing new to us. Basically we plan to go out there, ride as fast as we can, have fun, and don’t crash.”

He continued, “We will also take the time to go through the course and the rules as these can make or break our race. But we are just really excited about this opportunity.”

In last year’s shock result in the OCBC Cycle Speedway Club Championships, Specialized Roval Mavericks had been beaten by newcomer TWC Racing Club in the final.

The TWC Racing Club however, will not be defending their title though, this year.

 But nevertheless, Specialized Roval Mavericks have upped their game plan by recruiting new faces as well as re-strategising the roles of their riders to prevent a repeat of last year’s upset.

Said Ben Arnott, the team captain of Specialized Roval Mavericks, “We are practising hard. Our strategy for this year is to have a mix of good breakaway riders, good sprinters and some new faces that we have been recruiting for the past few months. They will be making their debut for Specialized Roval Mavericks.”

He added “TWC Racing Club won last year because they had good sprinters. We did well in the previous years by having good breakaway riders. You need a blend of both, and to choose your team well by putting the riders in the right places. We are delighted to field two teams in, and support this event. We want to win for our sponsors and club.”

The Specialized Roval Mavericks also revealed that they are planning to work together with another club, the Swiss Club Riders, to increase their chances of a victory overall.

Said Arnott, “We have been training at the Speedway course once a week in preparation for tomorrow. We will also work with the Swiss Club Riders, to make sure that they will go into the second round tomorrow.” 

And the Singapore Cycling Federation is heartened by this increase in cycling interest from the local cycling clubs in the competition.

Said Dr Hing, “I am delighted to have witnessed the OCBC Cycle Speedway Club Championships grow into a full fledged competition that has hosted 20 prestigious local cycling clubs over the years since the inaugural race in 2015.”

He continued, “The annual affair has contributed to the local competitive scene and continues to encourage more local riders to challenge themselves and compete. We are happy to have had close to 200 riders over the years, come forth to take part and put up a good fight for the podium positions.”

Besides the Speedway Club and SEA Championships, OCBC Cycle will also feature a host of events for leisure cyclists, corporations and children. These include the non-competitive Sportive Ride (42km) and Straits Times Ride (23km) for adults, the OCBC Cycle Corporate Chase (42km) as well as the Mighty Savers® Family Ride (20 – 30 minutes) for the young ones.

And Dr Hing is heartened by the increase in interest in cycling, in general. He said, “Cycling has been growing and more people are taking to their bikes as a form of commuting, as well as for leisure or competitive racing.”