Good buddy Tim Potter has been having some trouble posting and asked if I'd forward this for him:
If you'd be so kind, pls. post this for me:
I enjoyed reading the keirin info. from Fred Rednor here. I'd say he's got it pretty straight on the various topics, although I've never heard of any such rules dictating where and how a racer is to attack in a race. I suppose it might be the case as the Japanese are certainly known for lots of arcane rules in many of their sports, arts, etc., but of all the keirin stories & gossip I've heard from actual pros I can't recall a single comment about so-and-so attacking at a different time/ place than when he promised he would beforehand.
Good buddy Tim Potter has been having trouble posting, but asked if I would post this for him.
I've heard plenty of talk by pros about the preferred style of attacks by various racers, how there weren't many racers who had much respect for Nakano Koichi as he would almost always attack from behind right before the finish, how Takizawa was revered by many in his hey-day (he just recently retired at 48 or so with over 700 career victories) 'cause he'd attack way before anyone else would ever think of going out and no one could ever catch him (saw him do it several times; amazing sight).
There was also a lot of talk about who's going to work with whom in the big races; from what I understood it seemed to be generally accepted that racers from the same prefecture (state) would help each other out in some small ways that would be within the strict rules of 'every man for themselves'
racing that keirin is all about.
By the way, my brother-in-law (retired keirin racer) reported to me this past August when I visited Japan that the NJS organization itself is having some serious difficulties due to the continued drop in popularity of keirin from the decline in numbers of gamblers. He said they were going to be merging with the organization that oversees motor boat racing. Apparently there are plans to moth-ball a number of the tracks in Japan. I've tried getting some official confirmation on that but the official keirin assoc.
web site had no news on the topic and hasn't responded to my email request.
For anyone interested in reading more about keirin here's a link to the most up to date English brochure from the Keirin Assoc.:
http://www.trackmania.de/
I've got a lot more Keirin related stuff on this web page that I maintain for the fixed-gear fans who frequent our campus bike shop:
http://www.bikes.msu.edu/
Tom Sanders
Lansing, Mi USA