Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Riders not only have to worry about racing, but they're also responsible for the maintenance of their motorcycles. (Right) Mitugu Takahashi pocketed roughly 5200,000 for winning the Japanese Autorace Speedway Champ ionship . th e 32 rid ers wh o ha v e rea ch ed th e semifinals mu st finish first or second to qua lify for a s lo t in th e Go lden Race Final. All 88 rid ers a re housed fo u r to a bedroom. No riders have mechanics the y do all their own chores. . In Japan, th ere is much re spect for elde rs, so the yo u nger riders help and tend to the older club members - w hile keep ing their own eq u ip me nt toget her and trying to qualify them selves for the final. Thi s yea r's qu alifying ro u nds were hel d in p ou rin g rain, b ri nging a bou t so me shoc king resu lts. The old Dunlop tria ng le roa d race tir e, w hich all rid ers are requir ed to use, tends to lose trac tion in the wet if yo u ge t too am bitious . a tu ra lly, given th e co nd itio ns, th ere we re som e big cras hes . Fortunately, no one was hurt - but because of the gambling, no race is ev er stop ped . So if a rider is brought down through no fault of his own, he faces a tough task in still trying to qualify. . The followi ng tw o da ys fea tu red brilliant sunshine, and the form book recovered its sanity and most of the favo red ride rs qualified for t he fina l. One notable exception was six-time Japanese Cha mpion Masami ts u Iiz uka , w ho m iss ed ou t in his se m ifina l a fte r an uncharacteristically slow start. Iizuka is well-known, ha vin g tra veled to Australia in the 1970s to race co nve ntio nal speed wa y - but this was not goi ng to be his year. The oldest in the field wou ld be 47yea r -o ld Nob u hi ro Shimad a, the d efending cha mpion. The youngest was local hero Mitugu Takahashi , who is 26 years old . The average age of the finalists was 35, p ro vin g that ex perie nce is vita l in this form of racing. Ther e appears to be a new generation of yo ung rid ers in Japan ese Speedway remi nisce nt of the wi nd of change that swept th rough road racing in th e late 70s and early '80s, when ex-dirt trackers such as Kenny Roberts and Randy Mamo la arrived on the Gra n d Pri x scene. Young Takahashi is one of th e new breed. He often races to victory from the back of th e pack and he ha s attracted fans like a pop star. This kind of popularity was unheard of in past years, with the emphasis placed so heavily on gambling . The gamb lers' favo rites, mean whil e, a re reflected in the be tti ng prices. The ho ttest tip is Taku mi Katahira, w ho is n ickn amed th e "Mo ney Kin g," as he was the top earn er in 1996, pocketing in excess of $1 million . In a betting process that is similar to dog- and hors e-racing tracks around th e worl d, Japan es e Speedway also offers the opportunity to bet the exacta - wi th bettors required to correctly pick the first - and second-place finisher. II's a popular bet. While there are eight rid ers in a race , there are on ly six betting numbers. The (Left)The author. Barry Briggs , Is one of the few nonJapanese who have ever been allowed to try their hand at Japanese Speedway. (Below) Gamblers get ready to make their bets. numbers fi ve and six a re bra cketed together as number five, an d numbers . seven and eight are bracketed as number six - so you can actually have three rid ers racin g for you in your qu est to be a winner. The in trod uction prior to the final is both co lorful and exciting: Two vans carrying the racers stop in front of the main grands tand, with the riders climbin g to their numbered pla ces o n th e podium, where they are tnen in trod uced to the public - all against a backdrop of fireworks. The rid ers ar e then returned to their bikes in th e pits p rior to tak in g th eir tim ed laps. Th en it's back to the comp ound while th e gamblers pond er on where to plac e their money during the one-h our betting time period. A ft er th e ho u r exp ir es, a hu sh ed crowd gree ts the rid ers as they em erge from underground and head straigh t to th e s ta r t lin e . Th e front tire s of th e motorcycles are placed on a line under the wa tchful eye of a starting marshal, with each tire sy nchronized with' a lase r beam tha t is visible only on a television monito r in the refer ee' s box. Wi th the r id e r s in for ma t ion , loud mu si c is played , and the excite me nt builds to a cresce ndo as the race gets under way. What abo u t chea ting? With the odds stac ked heavily in favor of the referee, trying to beat the start clock is not ad visable. As th e clo ck tick ed away' for the s tart of the final, th e rider in white in posi tion one decided to opt for a quick exi t. We expected him to be exclu ded , but we re informed by a member of the fede ration that eac h rid er is all owed a seco n d ch a n ce . So wh y no t take a chance, yo u as k? The pe nal ty for ma king a false start is exclusio n from the follow in g year's cham pionsh ip. With the hu ge r ewa r ds ava ilable, it's ha rd ly wo rth the risk. From star t number two, th e unfa vo red Masanobu a ka m u ra mad e the perfect start. Coming onto the finishing s trai gh t on lap one, he held a slend er lead over Taka hashi, who was placed comfortably on th e ou tsid e. Suddenly, aka mu ra lost traction and was lucky not to crash. The miscue allowed Takaha shi and three o thers to flash p as t. Takahashi continued to pile on the pressure at the front while Nakamura fought to get back into conten tion. At the finish , it was Takahashi at the fron t, while Na kamu ra had been able to fight th rough to second plac e. Takahashi was crowned the 1997 Japanese Autorace Champion and took home a check fo r 23,000,000 yen, or a cool $200,000 - abou t $1200 a second. And that su m was pocket change com pared to what the promot ers had earn ed - the fi ve- d a y m eeting had g rosse d $49,365,720. Yes, over $49 million . There is certain to be a new wave of riders in the future - like the new cha mpi on - w ho will u se d iff erent riding sty les, and a dirt track influence is definitely creeping in. The case of a young Ja p an es e r id er who we n ick n amed "[awa Boy" illustrates the cha nge. The 22- year-old went to Ca liforni a, purchased a two-va lve [awa and rod e eve ry day for a month , teaching himself what it's like to ge t int o and out of contro lled slides. Those who put th e dirt track technique to good use are lik ely to be th e future champions o f th e Japanese Autorace. We a lso discovered, on the da y that we p u t on a speedway d emon stration at the Hond a dirt trac k facility in Japan, that d espit e the fact that these racers make. huge amou nts of mon ey, they reall y like rid ing mot orcycles just fo r fun . And th at 's no d ifferent from anywhere else in the world. I~ Barry Briggs is a four-time World Speedway Champion from N ew Zealand who currently resides in Southern California. He has also instructed st udents all over the world in the [me art of speedway. Brig~s would like to thank M r. Akio On o, tonc« i •....·.:a,"ls help made this story possible.... Editor. 31

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