Emails from John Beasley

National cycling coach John Beasley is currently with the cycling team at the on-going Tasmanian Carnival. Here are his reports of the riders' performances;

Day 1 (Dec 28)

Just a quick up date on yesterdays racing.

Latrobe is a big out door flat 500m track on the north east coast of Tasmania. Weather conditions were windy and about 23 degrees. 

We had a good first day in Latrobe Tasmania yesterday with Josiah wining the 200om handicap, Jupha finished 3rd in the womens handicap and raced very well.

Jupha won the B grade scratch race, Hamimha finished second in the same race.

Edrus finished 2nd in the final of the sprint derby in a 6 up final to Simon van Velthooven of NZ.

Hamdan finished 7th in the A grade scratch race full of international six day bike riders and lots of currant and past world champions in the race, I was very happy with his ride.

The junior group did quite well for there first day on the track after there long journey, they made a lot of finals though could not quite finish there good work in the final, though lets see what today brings for them. One of the young boys crashed though is ok and finished off the days racing well just missing a little skin, I am sure they are learning a lot with every race do, they are up against some of the worlds best cyclists so it will be a huge ask for them to get a podium finish, though the main thing is they are learning alot.

I am sure I have missed some results, though it was a great first day of racing by all 25 Malaysians racing here.

Today we head to Launceston for the only indoor venue in Tasmania it is a 287.5m nice indoor track, I am looking forward to seeing how the team go today and I will keep you posted.

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Day 2 (Dec 29)

Just a quick couple of up dates to yesterday racing,

1st event of the night was the 1000m handicap, we had a lot of Malaysian made the final off of their marks,

1st and 2nd were 2 of our back up junior riders,
1st Firdaus Zonis
2nd Asyraf Naim

Ladies 1000m Handicap

4th Fatehah Mustapa off of scratch

C Grade Elimination race
1st Firdaus Zonis
3rd Irwandie Lakasek

Women B Grade Elimination race
1st Jupha Somnet
3rd Farina Shawati

Women A grade Elimination
5th place Fatehah

B Grade Elimination race
1st Sofian Nabil - Great ride

Women B grade scratch race
1st Jupha Somnet
2nd Ummi Hamimah
3rd Farina Shawati
Elite Men's Keirin final
1st Josiah Ng (pic) - nice win over the Olympic bronze medalist
2nd Simon van Velthooven

Men C grade scratch race
1st Firdaus Zonis
3rd Irwandie Lakasek

Launceston 2000m wheel race
1st Glenn O'Shea - currant world Omnium champion and silver medalist Olympics teams pursuit
2nd Fakhruddin Daud - finishing very fast a great ride

Mens B grade scratch race
1st Sofian Nabil

I apologize if I have missed any results as there were so many to keep up with last night and organize the riders for there events. It was a night where the Malaysians shined, it is starting to come together once again the endurance part of our program and they are stepping up well. There is some real potential starting to come through we just need to continue to expose them and they will keep moving forward.

I was very proud watching our very young team compete against some of the worlds best riders in both the men's and women's fields over the past couple of nights and be competitive, no longer am I having to fight people over there erratic style and reckless riding due to their poor skill level, yes they still need a lot of work in areas though we are making progress.

I am a very proud man heading up the program watching what our coaches are presenting now, Graham, Harnizam, Suod, Junaidi, and Jamaludin and Eddie in our satellite centers.

Today we are back on a big out door 500m flat track right on the coast and it is very windy so lets see how the team cope today. Some riders did get a little lost on the flat track.

All the best every one, take care and I will give you a brief run down tomorrow of today's racing.   

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UPDATE Dec 30 (9am): Day 3 (Dec 29) 

Good morning all,

here is the quick up date on yesterdays racing at Devonport Tasmania.

Yesterday was very windy and a lot of our team struggled in the conditions, it was a very strong head wind up the finishing straight and I mean very strong, most of the riders could not race with the front 5 spoke front wheel as it was blowing the rides all over the track.

This is some thing you do not get in Malaysia, though in most other places around the world we are very used to racing in conditions like yesterday as we were bought up racing on out door tracks and more often than not it was quite windy. So yesterday was a great expiriance for the team and another new stimulus that will be good for them.

The good thing about out door flat track such as the ones we are racing on here in Tasmania is it makes you a lot stronger and we need to get more tracks built around Malaysia like this as one it is great for development of cyclists, two the cyclists have to generate their own power as there is no banking to use so this is also another great reason to have this type of facility to be able to use and three the surface is ash-felt so it add's a little extra drag for the cyclist where as wood is silky smooth and fast, so this is an other good reason for every state in Malaysia to build one of these basic tracks.

This is a dream of mine that one day every state in Malaysia will have this basic facility that can be built around a football ground or athletics track at a very minimal cost.

We are back at Devonport again today for our second day of the carnival here before the rest day tomorrow, it is a beautiful sunny day about 25 degree's with a light wind compared to yesterday, so lets see what today brings.
       

Male lighting handicap 1000m

1st Fattah Amri
3rd Shah Firdaus

Male C Grade scratch

1st Fattah Amri
2nd Shah Firdaus
3rd Arfi Qhairant

Women B grade scratch race

1st Ummi Hamimah
4th Farina Shawati

Male B grade scratch race

3rd place

Fakruddin Dawood

Male Keirin

1st Simon Van Velthoven
2nd Josiah Ng
3rd Edrus Yunos

Men's 2000m handicap

4th Josiah Ng off of 40 meters - Very good ride though should have won, Josiah is riding very well he just needs to back him self a little more and he would have won a lot more races.

The wheel races today are the feature races with a good prize purse.

The mens wheel race is over 3000m which will be a big stretch for the sprinters, so it will be up to our young endurance riders today to have there chance at winning some nice pocket money.

Men's 3000m
1st  $6,500
2nd $2,000
3rd $1,000
4th $500

Women's 2000m
1st $4,000
2nd $1,700
3rd $900
4th $400

So there is good incentive for the group to give it their all today. 

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UPDATE DEC 31, 9.47am: Day 4 (Dec 30)

Here are the results of day four and our second day on the Devonport track.

Women's B grade scratch race,

2nd Ummi Hamimah
3rd Azian Maslin
4th Farina Shawati

Men's 2000m Handicap final

3rd place Shah Firdaus off 170 meters
4th Asyraf Naim off 210 meters

Men's C grade scratch race

2nd Arfi Qhairant
4th Malek McCrone

Men's B grade scratch race

1st was Fakruddin Dawood though they disqualified him saying he was put up to A grade, though funny thing was they told nobody, I think they must think we are mind readers, disappointing for him as he rode very well to get up for the win.

3rd Zulhilmie Zamri - though he got moved to second after they disqualified Fakruddin,

There has been some funny things going on here by some officials that I thought is not quite right though I have had a quite word with the people running the show so lets see if the last day works as it should.

We have been the victims of some home town decisions over here and I think that comes as this is the first time the riders have done so well and some of the locals are finding it hard to come to terms with. We have also had some really poor communication with the commissars here, though I am hoping we have sorted this out. Things like we have been victims were local riders have stepped up into our riders as they are coming past past them and we have been called in to front the commissar and accused of coming down on their riders and that is clearly not been the case, so I have sorted these issues I hope.

I see all of these things as great learning for young group when older experienced riders use all of the tricks in the book to win money, though where I draw the line is when people do not do there job and side with locals they are friends with, all good though and thats life we are here to learn and that they are, as I told you I am extremely happy with how our riders are going this year.

We have three riders now racing A grade against some of the best riders in the world and holding there own finishing 5th and there about's, unfortunately you you have to be here to appreciate how well these young men are riding, though more importantly what they are learning.

Well now its time to kick back and relax for a well earn't rest before heading to Bernie for our last day of of competition in Tasmania for this trip, this is a 500m flat track build right on the coast so it is always windy and the track it self is up hill up the finishing and down hill in the back straight, so I am looking forward to seeing how our young team perform and cope with this challenge tomorrow.

Regards all hope 2013 is extremely kind to you, have a nice celebration seeing the new year in and I look forward to catching up with you all soon in 2013.