The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Edwards takes pole for NASCAR decider
- MHF to hold final council meeting before disbanding
- Iskandar Johor Open reduced to 54 holes after rain halts play
| Edwards takes pole for NASCAR decider Posted: 19 Nov 2011 04:07 PM PST HOMESTEAD, Florida, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Championship leader Carl Edwards grabbed pole position for the title-deciding final race of the NASCAR season after posting the fastest qualifying time on Saturday. Edwards, who produced a quickest lap of 30.78 seconds, headed into the last event of the year with a three point lead over two-time champion Tony Stewart, the only man in the field who could possibly overtake him for the title. Stewart was 15th fastest with a time of 31.15 on the 1.5 mile oval circuit, while Martin Treux Jr and Kasey Kahne were second and third quickest after a session held in gusty winds. "If anything, this is good for our morale to go sleep easy tonight, but we have to run this race and everything can happen," Edwards told reporters. The Roush Fenway Racing driver only needed to finish ahead of Stewart on Sunday to secure his first NASCAR title. The Homestead-Miami Speedway's design lends itself to plenty of passing but securing pole position gave Edwards another important advantage, the first stall in pit lane, which should enable him to avoid any traffic problems whenever he exits. "The biggest thing is that pit stall selection. That's gonna be a big help the whole race. That's something that's hard to put a value on," said Edwards. "We didn't need to qualify poorly, get a poor pit stall and have some little thorn in our side the whole race, so this will hopefully help us for the whole race. "We know we are gonna have a good day on pit road, know we'll hopefully be able to run out front and not got caught in anything." Stewart conceded that winning pole position gave Edwards a slight edge but said he was no less hopeful about his chances in the highly-anticipated showdown. "Obviously having that first pit box is a huge advantage in this sport, they did a good job qualifying but that pit selection does not guarantee anything," he said. "I have had 13 poles in 13 years and won 43 races. We have proven that you don't have to do it from the pole. It's definitely a luxury but don't start etching his name on the trophy just yet." While Edwards posted the fastest single lap, Stewart believed the practice session times indicated he had problems maintaining his speed and he hoped his own strategy of putting in more race-style sessions in practice would pay off. "He put up a fast lap but his lap times fell off pretty hard in the one long run that he did," Stewart said. "That's why I am really confident that what we did was the right thing. Our times do not fall off as hard as his did." The last five NASCAR titles have been won by Jimmie Johnson with an unprecedented run of victories but he risked missing out on a top five finish for the first time since he joined the series fulltime in 2002. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| MHF to hold final council meeting before disbanding Posted: 19 Nov 2011 03:18 PM PST KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) will hold their last council meeting today before the federation is dissolved. After that Malaysian hockey will come under the umbrella of the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC). The meeting today will set the date for the Emergency Extra-ordinary general meeting where the disbandment will take place next month. At that meeting the delegates will also decide on the transfer of the MHF funds to MHC and its assets. The Malaysian Women's Hockey Association (MWHA) are also expected to follow the deadline which is to dissolve their association by Dec 31. MHF secretary Maninderjit Singh said yesterday that their statutes and constitution has already been approved by the delegates at an earlier meeting and this was accepted by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). "The FIH sent us a letter on Nov 17 to congratulate us on our move and have approved the constitution as well. The MHC will officially run hockey in Malaysia from January. This is a done deal at this stage and all it remains is to carry out the remainder of the proposals over the next one month," said Maninderjit. Now all states' men and women hockey associations will come under roof and under the new constitution the MHC will have 16 affiliates including the Armed Forces and Police. The MHF affiliates today will also receive a small grant today before the disbandment takes place. The MHF president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah will hand over RM10,000 for each affiliate. At today's meeting the 2012 calendar will also be discussed as the MHF need to confirm the programme for the national team quickly. Meanwhile the MHF president is also expected to reward the players of Project 2013 team who recently won the Sultan of Johor Cup. Each player is expected to receive RM5,500. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Iskandar Johor Open reduced to 54 holes after rain halts play Posted: 19 Nov 2011 06:30 PM PST JOHOR BARU: Sweden's Daniel Chopra will defend a two-shot advantage over 17 holes after organisers reduced the weather-hit Iskandar Johor Open to a 54-hole affair yesterday. Chopra, a two-time PGA Tour winner, was 13-under after playing the first hole before play was suspended at 3pm due to a downpour at the US$2mil event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour. Title holder Padraig Harrington of Ireland, James Morrison of England and Frenchman Gregory Bourdy are on 11-under after one hole at the Horizon Hills Golf and Country Club. No player finished their round, meaning a total of 72 players will return at 7:20am today to complete the third and final round. Chopra, who won his first professional title at the 1993 Johor Open, predicts an exciting finale with a strong cast of players including three-time Major champion Harrington still in with a chance of winning. "It will make it more exciting. It is going to be a bit more like a shootout because there are a number of people still in it with a chance to have a good round. It will be fun," said Chopra, who grew up in India. "Obviously, I would have loved to play. I did some work early in the morning and I felt good. I hit a couple of good shots starting of the round and then the rain came. It kills a bit of momentum but we can't control the weather. I was mentally prepared for the weather delays," the Swede added. Jose-Maria Zamora, the European Tour tournament director of the Iskandar Johor Open, said the course was deemed unplayable after heavy rain. "With that in mind, we had no choice but to suspend play for the day and, due to the disruptions we have already suffered, we have also taken the decision to reduce the tournament to 54 holes," he said. — AFP Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Star Online: Sports To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan