Auto Race

Auto Race is a Japanese version of motorcycle speedway, but combines gambling added into it and is held on an asphalt course, throughout Japan. It is regulated by the JKA Foundation.
Autorace is predominantly a gambling sport. The first ever meeting was held at Funabashi in 1950, but loose dirt tracks were banned by the government in the sixties because they were considered too dangerous.

Unlike other forms of motorcycle and gambling sport, prior to race day, the rider have to stay over at the dormitory with over 500 riders and refrain from contacting anyone within the outside world including any forms of communications to prevent race fixing which scandalized the sport during the years of the sport when the Yakuza took over the sport and as a result, crowds dwindled and it was saved when a motorcycle federation took over it in 1967. Since then the sport has very much gone its own way to develop into a form of motor sport exclusive to Japan.

Raced on tarmac tracks using bikes with two gears, the hard surface dictates riders lean round the corners rather than slide as in conventional Speedway, the sport from which Autorace was derived.
A typical Auto Race bike is 599㏄ twins and have no brakes and are designed with the left handlebar higher than the right and an extra peg on its frame to hold your knee down in order to help maintain stability while leaning the machine on the banked oval circuit.　Riders wear well-armored suits. They used to wear moto-cross protectors, but use American football gears over leather suit and needless to say, extra elbow and knee pads, steel plates on buttocks and left foot. When they fall, you will often see a lot of sparks.

An average rider usually spends half a year living away from home. A race usually involves eight riders and runs for no more than three minutes. Between races, the bike is kept together with other bikes.

As well as their real names, all the riders have an alias, or nickname, which they go by. There are eight riders in each six-lap race. All are trained in official training schools and have to pass a qualifying examination before being allowed to become competitive riders. Once qualified, riders are graded according to their results and these grades are used to ascertain racing positions, with the higher graded riders starting from the back grids. Riders are identifiable by number and shirt color.

Although they are better paid than most of their counterparts, unlike their road racing counterparts, the Auto Race riders do not have celebrity status or product endorsements. However, one of the well-known riders is the veteran Mitsuo Abe, better known as the father of late MotoGP and World Superbike star Norifumi.

Autorace official site in English