In a nail biting finish to the OCBC Speedway Southeast Asia Championships last Saturday, Philippines rode a near-perfect race to beat the strongest field to date.

Taking place at the Singapore Sports Hub, the fifth edition of the event had welcomed Vietnam for the first time, bringing the total number of Southeast Asian teams to nine. This set the stage for the region’s top cyclists such as Nik Mohd Azlan from Malaysia, Jan Paul Morales from the Philippines and Trinh Duc Tam from Vietnam up against each other.

Speedway Southeast Asia Championships

The Southeast Asian final had been contested by Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines and witnessed an early frenzy as teams took their turns at the front of the pack. 

After the mid-race changeover, teams were still evenly matched as they battled for pole position. Moving into the final lap, the teams let their strongest sprinters go head to head against each other in what was a pulsating sprint finish. 

In the end, the sprinters forum the Philippines proved too formidable, finishing in 19:19.550 minutes.

Said John Mier, 26, Philippines captain, “I did not expect to win. The race was very close and we had to ride slower due to the wet, slippery road from the earlier rain. Thankfully we managed to overtake them in the last leg, as we put our fastest riders in the back. I am happy that we won, as this year’s race was especially competitive.”

Malaysia and Vietnam had proved their mettle in the qualifying stages and semi finals but could not carry their momentum into the final, with Malaysia finishing second in 19:19.580 minutes and Vietnam coming in third in 19:20.483 minutes.

Said the Malaysia captain Mohamad Fauzan, “Coming into this competition, we were confident that we could win the finals. We were leading in the first half of the final sprint and we could have lead in the second half too. We will be back next year with the same strategy.”

He added “We trained every day before the fasting month and it got a bit tiring during the fasting month. This year’s competition was tough and we were very lucky, especially when the final round has all the favourites.”

Speedway Club Championships

In the club championships, Specialized Roval Mavericks Team B squeezed past their opponents to finish with a time of 17:49.390 minutes.

Living up to their tag as the best cycling team in Singapore, they successfully held off a spirited challenge from MatadorRACING and debutantes CyclingTraining.cc who finished second and third respectively.

Said Ben Arnott, 48, team captain of Specialized Mavericks Team B, “We are very happy to defend our title this year. To win once may be down to luck, but to win twice and defend your title comes down to skill and ability.”

He added, “Each round was completely different so we had to think on our feet and adapt our strategy each round. We were lucky to have two of our teams in the finals so we could work together and create a gap for one of our riders to take the lead. It came down to the final spring so we relied on our two final sprinters to get the best pace they could. The level of the competition was very high and we had to be on top form to win.”

However Arnott pointed out that the rain in the earlier rounds had posed as a challenge. He said, “Because of the wet track, it makes it hard to come out of the corners fast and sprint. That was the main challenge that we faced.”

If he had his way, though, Arnott also added that the format of the OCBC Cycle Speedway Championships makes it a very short race. He said, “If I am honest, five laps per rider is a short race. We would like a slightly longer race but compressed in a shorter time. This would give more time to be with our families too; it is a big commitment to spent dawn till dusk here and be racing all day.”

Despite their numerous achievements, Arnott also remains modest about his team being the best cycling club in Singapore, though. He said, “Last weekend, we rode in a team time trial and MatadorRACING won that, but today we raced at OCBC Cycle and we won. Who comes out on top depends on the race and the format and everyone’s form on the day. Nonetheless, we always pay tribute to our competitors and sponsors and make sure that we respect them.”

Second placed MatadorRACING were happy with their performance too. Said Michael Naert, “I am satisfied with how the team went. We finished second by a few hundredths of a second.”

The Speedway Corporate Challenge 

And finally, in the corporate challenge, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) took the title with a powerful sprint in the final lap, with Thomas Thrall putting on the boosters and leading the sprint down to the finish line, and captain Alastair Reed capping off a sterling performance, stopping the clock for GSK in 19:48.457 minutes. 

In the earlier rounds, teams had been rather evenly placed, with riders taking turns to lead the peloton. This is GSK’s first win in the corporate category, an improvement from previous years.

GSK were surprise winners, having beaten favourites Singapore Civil Defence Force and LendLease Retail, both of whom had entered the final with the best times in the earlier rounds.

Said GSK captain Reed, “We did not expect today’s win! The competition was strong and we are very humbled to have won today.”

Added his team mate Preetesh Dalal, 30, “We knew that we had a good team to begin with, because all our members ride for regular clubs and one of our star riders, Thrall, is a strong rider in Asia and we knew that we could put him to good use tactically.”

He continued, “Today’s strategy in the earlier rounds was to put pressure on the other teams but in the final round, we wanted to put the pressure on the last two riders and use the firepower of our sprinters to break from the pack. I think that we achieved this well as a team and we pulled through when it mattered.”

And the second placed LendLease Retail, despite narrowly missing out on the top spot, finishing in 19:48.960 minutes, were still happy with their performance.

Said captain Richard Paine, “This is our first time competing in the OCBC Cycle Speedway Championships and we thought that it would be a good way to get together and do something fun outside of the workplace. It was a great new experience for the team and we’ll definitely be training even more next year.”